Internet Connection Sharing headache [solved]

bloodatonement

So I'm trying to set up ICS on my laptop (XP Home SP2) and every time I do I get this error:

stupid XP wrote:

Internet Connection Sharing cannot be enabled. A LAN connection is already configured with the IP address that is required for automatic IP addressing.

I found out that I needed 192.168.0.1 free. That was my routers address, so I change my routers IP, but I'm still getting the same error. I pinged 192.168.0.1 and get nothing back. I checked my router and there was no activity from 192.168.0.1. I've shut down and restarted the router and the computer and still nothing. Can some one help me figure this out?

Zxerol

It's not necessarily just 192.168.0.1 that has to be free, but the entire 192.168.0.x subnet. The physical adapter on your computer has to use 192.168.0.1 for sharing, since ICS automatically uses the 192.168.0.x subnet as the private LAN segment (and, stupidly, won't let you change it). So, your computer will be multihomed, having two different IP addresses on two different subnets.

So you have two adapters on your laptop, and I'm guessing your connecting to your router through wireless and want to share it through an Ethernet port (correct me if I'm wrong). The wifi has to use a subnet other than 192.168.0.x, like 192.168.1.x for example. You'll have to change your router to 192.168.1.1 in this case. If you grab the address from the router via DHCP, you'll have to make sure it gives out the right address range as well (from 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254), so that's another set of options to set in there.

Once you make sure your wifi is getting an address that's not in the 192.168.0.x group, you can activate ICS on it, and Windows will automatically set your Ethernet adapter to 192.168.0.1 if all goes well. Which, sometimes, it doesn't, because Windows and ICS is flaky.

AngelHedgie

Yeah...to be honest, it's worth spending the money to directly hook whatever you're trying to route through your laptop to your network. It will save you from a LOT of suffering.

bloodatonement

Zxerol, thanks. Worked like a charm.