Anyone ever done this? I know a lot of people say its not possible to network two computers, with two nics, main computer hooked up to DSL via USB modem, but theres a way to bridge the connection through a router, then both computers can share the internet. WinXP Professional on one system and WinME on the other. Ideas? :D :D

Well, you should be able to enable Windows XP's Internet Connection Sharing to share the connection. Then get a crossover-cable (assuming you don't have a hub or a switch) and connect the two NICs. Set the Windows ME computer to use DHCP and you should be fine. Now, this isn't necessarily the most secure way to do it but it's a cheap and easy way to share a connection. If you have any questions about this let me know.

Chris Spangler

Heres what I have

Machine 1
DSL connection, USB modem... Windows XP Professional.... two cat 5 patch cables, Linksys Router, 4 ports, one uplink and one wan port...and a nic card

Machine 2
Windows ME, Nic card

Is it possible ? :)

I think you might be able to get it to work. One way would be to use Internet Connection Sharing (which is built into Windows) and use the router as a hub (if it supports it). Another way would be to install the DSL modem on the Windows XP machine and then set Windows up to bridge the two connections (it's talked about under Help and Support). Then you would run a cable from your Windows XP machine to the WAN port on the router and a cable from one of the other non-uplink ports to your Windows ME machine.

I don't have a second NIC in my Windows XP machine here or I'd be able to give more information about setting up bridging, but I hope this helps.

Chris Spangler

ok Thanks chris for the help.... if anyone else has other ideas please post them as well.

I did try that bridge connection thing i get, I need two or more connections or some crap Ill figure it out though..... there was no software that came with the router and nic so i have to manually do everything

Thanks for the help!

ok new update....

Bridge my dsl connection to ethernet card... now i cant even sign on or get on the net, it just sets there saying connecting... and times out. And says cable not connected while all this stuff is plug in anyways im confused. Now i know how network people feel

When I first got my DSL I received a USB only modem.... I promptly called them and said I didn't have a USB port (BOLD FACED LIE)...

I went to their office and exchanged it w/ another one... Also declining the fact that their CSR (Customer Service Rep... Add that to the abbr. list) offered me another USB modem....

Why did I do this.... B/c it's 300x easier to network it....
Why do they do this.. B/c it's 5x easier for them to work w/ those modems...

I'm not sure if this is what you're wanting but, I have 2 computers (laptop-Win98 & Desktop-Win2K) networked and sharing the same DSL connection through an internal modem on the desktop. The computers are networked through internal nic cards and a crossover cable. The desktop is running a free program called Proxy from www.analogx.com to make the internet connection available to the laptop and it works like a charm. Very easy to set up.

I did this as a testbed for our system at work with 4 computers networked and connected to the internet through a dialup connection on a computer running Proxy. Again it works like a charm.

Hope that helps.