Bridging Wireless Connection

I have a desktop machine (Desktop1) with LAN and WLAN connections; a laptop
machine which I used to connect over the WLAN and another desktop machine
(Desktop2) which connects over the WLAN. The WLAN is ad-hoc, and internet
connection sharing is provided by Desktop1 via a USB ADSL modem.

I have now conected the laptop and Desktop1 with an ethernet crossover
cable, and re-established internet connection sharing on Desktop1 with a
Network Bridge. The ethernet connection between the laptop and Desktop1
works perfectly at 1Gb/s. Both computers can see each other and the laptop
gets an internet feed from Desktop1. However, the WLAN connection with
Desktop 2 will not work if it is inside the bridge. (I have also tried it
with the laptop with the LAN connection disabled.) The connection appears to
be made on both machines, but the machines do not see each other in My
Network Places.

If I remove the WLAN connection from the bridge (using the right click
menu), it works again, for both the laptop and Desktop2, (though, of course,
they cannot share Desktop1's internet connection) - Desktop1 can see both the
laptop and Desktop2 in My Network Places, but the laptop and Desktop2 cannot
see each other. If I return the WLAN connection to the bridge (right click
menu again), the wireless connections again show as connected, but there is
no functionality. I have tried switching the WLAN connection into and out of
the bridge several times, and the results are consistent - it works outside
the bridge but not inside.

Any ideas, please?

First of all not all wireless cards and drivers support bridging. So it
simply might not be possible with your hardware. If you have setup ICS
correctly you should be able to both connect to the Internet and share
resources. Bridging and ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) are not the same
thing. It's unclear to me just what hardware you are connecting by ICS, and
what hardware you are bridging.

--
David Hettel

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group for everyone
to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions addressed directly to me in
E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

DISCLAIMER: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, made in relation to the accuracy, reliability
or content of this post. The author shall not be liable for any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of, or
inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post and confers
no rights.


"WilliamGeorge" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:300BEF45-EF0B-43AA-A939-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a desktop machine (Desktop1) with LAN and WLAN connections; a laptop
> machine which I used to connect over the WLAN and another desktop machine
> (Desktop2) which connects over the WLAN. The WLAN is ad-hoc, and internet
> connection sharing is provided by Desktop1 via a USB ADSL modem.
>
> I have now conected the laptop and Desktop1 with an ethernet crossover
> cable, and re-established internet connection sharing on Desktop1 with a
> Network Bridge. The ethernet connection between the laptop and Desktop1
> works perfectly at 1Gb/s. Both computers can see each other and the
> laptop
> gets an internet feed from Desktop1. However, the WLAN connection with
> Desktop 2 will not work if it is inside the bridge. (I have also tried it
> with the laptop with the LAN connection disabled.) The connection appears
> to
> be made on both machines, but the machines do not see each other in My
> Network Places.
>
> If I remove the WLAN connection from the bridge (using the right click
> menu), it works again, for both the laptop and Desktop2, (though, of
> course,
> they cannot share Desktop1's internet connection) - Desktop1 can see both
> the
> laptop and Desktop2 in My Network Places, but the laptop and Desktop2
> cannot
> see each other. If I return the WLAN connection to the bridge (right
> click
> menu again), the wireless connections again show as connected, but there
> is
> no functionality. I have tried switching the WLAN connection into and out
> of
> the bridge several times, and the results are consistent - it works
> outside
> the bridge but not inside.
>
> Any ideas, please?

David

Thanks for your response. The hardware I am trying to bridge is an ASUS
802.11b/g Wireless LAN Card and a Marvel Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet
controller, both integrated onto my ASUS A8V-E Deluxe mobo. I appreciate
that bridging and ICS are not the same thing, but when I set up ICS on
Desktop1 for the new ethernet link from the laptop (after disabling the
previous ICS which was for the WLAN connections which I was using for both
the laptop and Desktop2) the bridge was set up automatically when I checked
that I wanted both the LAN and the WLAN connection to be able to use ICS, so
I assume that either only one network or a bridge can share the internet
connection. (Certainly when the WLAN connection on Desktop1 is outside the
bridge the other 2 machines cannot access the internet over the WLAN, as they
could in my original setup, before the bridge was created.)

Desktop1 is essentially the hub of my system. It has the adaptors for both
networks enabled; it also connects to the internet via the USB ADSL modem.
The laptop is connected to Desktop1 by an ethernet x-over cable, i.e. direct
cable between ethernet ports on the 2 machines, no router. The ethernet
connection on Desktop1 is inside the bridge, and works fine. Desktop2 (in
another room) connects to Desktop1 over the WLAN. (It does have its own
internet connection, so ICS is not important for this machine, but did work
prior to the bridge.) My main requirement is that all 3 machines should be
able to see each other, and I did think it would be undesirable to have the
laptop connected to Desktop1 both by ethernet and WLAN, so that the only way
would be to bridge the 2 networks on Desktop1. However, I have now tried
enabling both ethernet and WLAN on the laptop, and there does not seem to be
any conflict, so I think I have solved my problem; I am going to delete the
bridge and restrict ICS to the ethernet connection. I remain puzzled,
though, that the WLAN connection would not work inside the bridge.

WilliamGeorge

"David Hettel" wrote:

> First of all not all wireless cards and drivers support bridging. So it
> simply might not be possible with your hardware. If you have setup ICS
> correctly you should be able to both connect to the Internet and share
> resources. Bridging and ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) are not the same
> thing. It's unclear to me just what hardware you are connecting by ICS, and
> what hardware you are bridging.
>
> --
> David Hettel
>
> Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group for everyone
> to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions addressed directly to me in
> E-mail or news groups.
>
> Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
>
> DISCLAIMER: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranty of any kind,
> either expressed or implied, made in relation to the accuracy, reliability
> or content of this post. The author shall not be liable for any direct,
> indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of, or
> inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post and confers
> no rights.
>
>
> "WilliamGeorge" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:300BEF45-EF0B-43AA-A939-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I have a desktop machine (Desktop1) with LAN and WLAN connections; a laptop
> > machine which I used to connect over the WLAN and another desktop machine
> > (Desktop2) which connects over the WLAN. The WLAN is ad-hoc, and internet
> > connection sharing is provided by Desktop1 via a USB ADSL modem.
> >
> > I have now conected the laptop and Desktop1 with an ethernet crossover
> > cable, and re-established internet connection sharing on Desktop1 with a
> > Network Bridge. The ethernet connection between the laptop and Desktop1
> > works perfectly at 1Gb/s. Both computers can see each other and the
> > laptop
> > gets an internet feed from Desktop1. However, the WLAN connection with
> > Desktop 2 will not work if it is inside the bridge. (I have also tried it
> > with the laptop with the LAN connection disabled.) The connection appears
> > to
> > be made on both machines, but the machines do not see each other in My
> > Network Places.
> >
> > If I remove the WLAN connection from the bridge (using the right click
> > menu), it works again, for both the laptop and Desktop2, (though, of
> > course,
> > they cannot share Desktop1's internet connection) - Desktop1 can see both
> > the
> > laptop and Desktop2 in My Network Places, but the laptop and Desktop2
> > cannot
> > see each other. If I return the WLAN connection to the bridge (right
> > click
> > menu again), the wireless connections again show as connected, but there
> > is
> > no functionality. I have tried switching the WLAN connection into and out
> > of
> > the bridge several times, and the results are consistent - it works
> > outside
> > the bridge but not inside.
> >
> > Any ideas, please?
>
>
>

Hi

It is a little hard to follow the all story, so let me try in general.

Bridging is used to connect two Networks, and has nothing to do with sharing
Internet.

Therefore, if you do not want the Internet at the second computer you can
configure the second computer with a static IP and configure the Host
computer Ethernet card with a static IP of the same subnet, you should be
able to share files, No Bridging, and ICS is necessary.

If you want to Share the Internet connection, you need a Routing agent.
Bridging does Not Route so you have to use ICS.

If your DSL USB is a combo Modem/Router, then you have to use Bridging (and
switch ICS off) in order to avoid double NATing.

If the two computers have viable ping able connection, and your File Sharing
does not work it might me another issue.

Successful Sharing involves some general consideration in Network settings,
http://www.ezlan.net/sharing.html

As well as specific adjustment of each computer according to what is allowed
to be shared.

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;304040

Jack (MVP-Networking).



"WilliamGeorge" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:300BEF45-EF0B-43AA-A939-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a desktop machine (Desktop1) with LAN and WLAN connections; a laptop
> machine which I used to connect over the WLAN and another desktop machine
> (Desktop2) which connects over the WLAN. The WLAN is ad-hoc, and internet
> connection sharing is provided by Desktop1 via a USB ADSL modem.
>
> I have now conected the laptop and Desktop1 with an ethernet crossover
> cable, and re-established internet connection sharing on Desktop1 with a
> Network Bridge. The ethernet connection between the laptop and Desktop1
> works perfectly at 1Gb/s. Both computers can see each other and the
> laptop
> gets an internet feed from Desktop1. However, the WLAN connection with
> Desktop 2 will not work if it is inside the bridge. (I have also tried it
> with the laptop with the LAN connection disabled.) The connection appears
> to
> be made on both machines, but the machines do not see each other in My
> Network Places.
>
> If I remove the WLAN connection from the bridge (using the right click
> menu), it works again, for both the laptop and Desktop2, (though, of
> course,
> they cannot share Desktop1's internet connection) - Desktop1 can see both
> the
> laptop and Desktop2 in My Network Places, but the laptop and Desktop2
> cannot
> see each other. If I return the WLAN connection to the bridge (right
> click
> menu again), the wireless connections again show as connected, but there
> is
> no functionality. I have tried switching the WLAN connection into and out
> of
> the bridge several times, and the results are consistent - it works
> outside
> the bridge but not inside.
>
> Any ideas, please?

Jack

Thanks for your comments. I am sorry if the problem is a little hard to
follow - a diagram would help. As you may have seen from my second post, I
have solved my problem at least to the extent of achieving the functionality
I need.

I understand that bridging is to connect 2 (or more) networks. However, it
DID seem to be involved in ICS, because it was at the point of going through
the Network Setup Wizard (after identifying the connection to the internet),
where it asks to "Select your private connection", that it says the wizard
will create a bridge if more than one is selected. This is what I did when I
tried to allow both the LAN and the WLAN to use ICS via Desktop1.

My Desktop1 is connected to the internet by a plain USB ADSL modem, i.e. not
a router (there are no hardware routers anywhere in the system, although it
seems to me that a bridge is essentially a software router) so no problem of
double NATing. The wizard assigned a fixed IP address to the bridge
(192.168.0.1), and I left DHCP enabled on both the other machines. They
receive dynamic IP addresses OK.

However, ICS is probably a red-herring, because the networks just won't
communicate across the bridge. The LAN worked inside the bridge (i.e. the 2
computers connected by ethernet see each other), and the WLAN connections
seem to get set up on all 3 machines, but there is no communication between
the machines over the WLAN. But, if I remove the WLAN from the bridge, the
machines DO see each other over the WLAN.

I don't think there is much mileage in pursuing this thread further. The
conclusion I came to about 6 months ago is that wireless networks are far
from simple, and not very robust.

Regards
WilliamGeorge


"Jack (MVP-Networking)." wrote:

> Hi
>
> It is a little hard to follow the all story, so let me try in general.
>
> Bridging is used to connect two Networks, and has nothing to do with sharing
> Internet.
>
> Therefore, if you do not want the Internet at the second computer you can
> configure the second computer with a static IP and configure the Host
> computer Ethernet card with a static IP of the same subnet, you should be
> able to share files, No Bridging, and ICS is necessary.
>
> If you want to Share the Internet connection, you need a Routing agent.
> Bridging does Not Route so you have to use ICS.
>
> If your DSL USB is a combo Modem/Router, then you have to use Bridging (and
> switch ICS off) in order to avoid double NATing.
>
> If the two computers have viable ping able connection, and your File Sharing
> does not work it might me another issue.
>
> Successful Sharing involves some general consideration in Network settings,
> http://www.ezlan.net/sharing.html
>
> As well as specific adjustment of each computer according to what is allowed
> to be shared.
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;304040
>
> Jack (MVP-Networking).
>
>
>
> "WilliamGeorge" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:300BEF45-EF0B-43AA-A939-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I have a desktop machine (Desktop1) with LAN and WLAN connections; a laptop
> > machine which I used to connect over the WLAN and another desktop machine
> > (Desktop2) which connects over the WLAN. The WLAN is ad-hoc, and internet
> > connection sharing is provided by Desktop1 via a USB ADSL modem.
> >
> > I have now conected the laptop and Desktop1 with an ethernet crossover
> > cable, and re-established internet connection sharing on Desktop1 with a
> > Network Bridge. The ethernet connection between the laptop and Desktop1
> > works perfectly at 1Gb/s. Both computers can see each other and the
> > laptop
> > gets an internet feed from Desktop1. However, the WLAN connection with
> > Desktop 2 will not work if it is inside the bridge. (I have also tried it
> > with the laptop with the LAN connection disabled.) The connection appears
> > to
> > be made on both machines, but the machines do not see each other in My
> > Network Places.
> >
> > If I remove the WLAN connection from the bridge (using the right click
> > menu), it works again, for both the laptop and Desktop2, (though, of
> > course,
> > they cannot share Desktop1's internet connection) - Desktop1 can see both
> > the
> > laptop and Desktop2 in My Network Places, but the laptop and Desktop2
> > cannot
> > see each other. If I return the WLAN connection to the bridge (right
> > click
> > menu again), the wireless connections again show as connected, but there
> > is
> > no functionality. I have tried switching the WLAN connection into and out
> > of
> > the bridge several times, and the results are consistent - it works
> > outside
> > the bridge but not inside.
> >
> > Any ideas, please?
>
>
>