How to share an internet connection on LAN

If you have a fully functional LAN then net sharing is few click away, yes few clicks. I assumed that you have already a broadband connection and account configured on your PC. Just go to “My Network Places” properties, and then select your broadband connection. Now right click on it and select properties. Now broadband properties dialog box should be appear. Here select “Advanced” tab.

Broadband Connection properties selection.

Now check “Allow other network users to connect through this computer" internet connection” and uncheck below two options. Now press “OK” button. This will give you a message stating that IP address of present working PC will be set to “192.168.0.1”, click OK. If you assigned this address to any other computer then change it to something else otherwise it will give IP address conflict error.

Broadband Connection properties.

Now a hand like icon should appear below the broadband connection, indicating that it has been shared.

Broadband Connection after sucessful sharing.

Go to other PC, select “My Network Places” properties, and then select your LAN connection. Now right click on it and select properties. Now LAN properties dialog box should be appear. Here select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” as did during IP address assignment. Now click properties button,” Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) properties” dialog should appear. Here you need to give the “Default Gateway” and “DNS Server” IP as shown in the image. Repeat this step on other PCs too.

Default gateway & DNS server IP assigning.

Connect the internet on server PC where internet connection is physically attached, then try to access internet on other PC. If you see the positive results then Congrats! Else;

Check LAN connection. If you can access Shared Folders then follow next step else you need to check internet sharing from beginning.

You need to check your internet connection again. Try this, press window key + R, now type this without quotes “ping www.google.com -t”. If you get reply as given in below image then net sharing is OK your internet browser corrupted or internet browser setting changed to use proxy address. Please off all proxy address. Now you should able to browse.

nternet connection ping result.

How to configure Internet Connection Sharing in Windows XP

This article describes how to set up and use the Internet Connection Sharing feature in Microsoft Windows XP. With Internet Connection Sharing, you can use networked computers to share a single connection to the Internet. 

How to use Internet Connection Sharing

To use Internet Connection Sharing to share your Internet connection, the host computer must have one network adapter that is configured to connect to the internal network, and one network adapter or modem that is configured to connect to the Internet.

On the host computer

On the host computer, follow these steps to share the Internet connection:

1. Log on to the host computer as Administrator or as Owner.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Click Network and Internet Connections.
4. Click Network Connections.
5. Right-click the connection that you use to connect to the Internet. For example, if you connect to the Internet by using a modem, right-click the connection that you want underDial-up.
6. Click Properties.
7. Click the Advanced tab.
8. Under Internet Connection Sharing, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection check box.
9. If you are sharing a dial-up Internet connection, select the Establish a dial-up connection whenever a computer on my network attempts to access the Internet check box if you want to permit your computer to automatically connect to the Internet.
10. Click OK. You receive the following message:
    When Internet Connection Sharing is enabled, your LAN adapter will be set to use IP
    address 192.168.0.1. Your computer may lose connectivity with other computers on
    your network. If these other computers have static IP addresses, it is a good idea to set them
    to obtain their IP addresses automatically. Are you sure you want to enable Internet
    Connection Sharing?
11. Click Yes.

The connection to the Internet is shared to other computers on the local area network (LAN). The network adapter that is connected to the LAN is configured with a static IP address of 192.168.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

On the client computer

To connect to the Internet by using the shared connection, you must confirm the LAN adapter IP configuration, and then configure the client computer. To confirm the LAN adapter IP configuration, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the client computer as Administrator or as Owner.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Click Network and Internet Connections.
4. Click Network Connections.
5. Right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.
6. Click the General tab, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in the This connection uses the following items list, and then click Properties.
7. In the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box, click Obtain an IP address automatically (if it is not already selected), and then click OK.
   
   Note You can also assign a unique static IP address in the range of 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254. For example, you can assign the following static IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway: IP Address      192.168.0.2, Subnet mask     255.255.255.0, Default gateway 192.168.0.1
 
8. In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, click OK.
9. Quit Control Panel.

To configure the client computer to use the shared Internet connection, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Network and Internet Connections.
3. Click Internet Options.
4. In the Internet Properties dialog box, click the Connections tab.
5. Click the Setup button.
   
   The New Connection Wizard starts.
6. On the Welcome to the New Connection Wizard page, click Next.
7. Click Connect to the Internet, and then click Next.
8. Click Set up my connection manually, and then click Next.
9. Click Connect using a broadband connection that is always on, and then click Next.
10. On the Completing the New Connection Wizard page, click Finish.
11. Quit Control Panel.

When you now start Microsoft Internet Explorer, the client computer will try to connect to the Internet by using the host computer's shared Internet connection.

Troubleshooting

When you turn on Internet Connection Sharing on the host computer, the host computer's LAN adapter is automatically assigned the IP address of 192.168.0.1. Therefore, one of the following situations may occur:

• IP address conflict
  Each computer on the LAN must have a unique IP address. If more than one computer has the same IP address, an IP conflict occurs, and one of the network adapters turns off until the conflict is resolved. To resolve this conflict, configure the client computer to automatically obtain an IP address, or assign it a unique IP address.
• Loss of network connectivity
  If your network is configured with a different IP address range than Internet Connection Sharing uses, you will lose network connectivity with the host computer. To resolve this issue, configure the client computers to automatically obtain an IP address, or assign each client computer a unique IP address in the range of 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254.