By Steve Winograd
ICS is much easier to set up in Win2000 than in Win98SE and WinMe. There’s no software to install, and it doesn’t add any network components or protocols. But Win2000 gives you less control over how ICS works. You can’t:
- disable the DHCP server.
- change the server’s IP address or the range of addresses allocated by the DHCP server.
- share the connection over two different networks.
WARNING #1! These instructions are for Windows 2000 Professional. They don’t apply to Windows 2000 Server.
WARNING #2 Don’t enable ICS if any computer in your network is configured as a domain controller, DHCP server, or DNS server. Don’t enable it if another computer is running ICS or Network Address Translation (NAT).
WARNING #3 To enable ICS, you must be logged on as a user which is a member of the Administrators group.
WARNING #4! If you establish a Virtual Private Networking (VPN) connection while sharing a different connection, the client computers won’t be able to access the Internet until the VPN connection is ended.
Continue below for Broadband setup. Go here if you’re using a Dialup modem to connect to the Internet.
SetUp Broadband Connection
If you are using a cable modem, ‘DSL or other high bandwidth Internet service that connects to your Win2000 computer via an Ethernet card (NIC), you’ll need to do the following to use ICS:
NOTE: It’s important that you have two network adapters installed before you try to set up ICS. (see this page if you need more info)
If two adapters are not installed, you won’t see the “Sharing” tab in the Local Area Connection properties window.
To prepare for ICS installation:
- Install your cable modem, DSL or other high bandwidth connection and test it so that you know you can connect to the Internet
- Install a second NIC and set up your LAN with TCP/IP so that you know your computers can communicate with each other.
With those steps completed, the rest is easy! Here’s how I set up Win2000 ICS to share a cable modem connection.
Open the Network and Dial-up Connections folder by right clicking My Network Places on your Desktop and selecting Properties. Then right click the Cable Modem network connection and select Properties.
The Properties sheet shows the network components associated with the connection.
Click the Sharing tab, then check the Enable Internet Connection Sharing box.
If you have more than one network adapter connected to local area networks, you’ll see this screen instead. Click the down arrow and select the one to use for sharing the Internet connection.
Click OK. Win2000 warns you that it will change the IP address of the LAN adapter. Click Yes to continue.
The ICS server is now set up, and ICS is running. You don’t even need to reboot. Now go here to configure your Clients.
