Wireless Ad-Hoc problems

Hi all.

I've gone through the messages here, but can't come up with a solution, so
I'll ask again, in case my problem is truly unique.

Yesterday I removed all our wired hardware and replaced it with wireless
network cards, and tried to configure an ad-hoc network (as decribed on
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...02april08.mspx). I've been regretting that for almost 24 hours now...

The hardware seems to work fine. The wireless monitor utility that came with
the cards says we're connected and all, with almost perfect signal strength
(PCs are less than 10 feet apart for now).

What also works is accessing shared desktops from one PC to another.
Printing from the client PC to the printer on the host works like a charm. A
third PC, with Windows 2000, and a third (identical) wireless adapter also
sees and gets connected to the network, but nothing further.

However, internet connection sharing is a big problem. I had to set up the
default gateway on the client PC to the host PC's IP address, in order to get
some, very limited access to the internet. Which I find strange, because with
the wired network all I had to do was set "obtain IP / DNS automatically".
Not a clue about the DNS address. Internet access works as long as I type in
the IP address of the website I want to visit. Needless to say: that's an
impossible situation.

Outlook Express doesn't work anymore either. I start it, get a number of
"can't connect to this or that server" messages, and that's it.

The instructions in the article I referred to above are (I think) for XP
SP1, and both PCs here have SP2, so I couldn't follow them word for word.
Because of that it is possible that I missed something...

On the host, the ICS is enabled. Under Network Connections I find our shared
broadband internet connection, the wireless network connection and a local
area connection. Nothing is bridged.

That's about the best I can describe the situation.

Where did I go wrong? Surely if all adapters detect the network then it must
be something in my software settings?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Erik

The computers need DNS address resolution to translate website names to IPs.
You have to get it from somewhere, either from an internet gateway (which
would be your host computer or a router) or from the ISP's DNS servers. You
can try entering in your Host computer's address as the DNS server for each
of the other computers. If that doesn't work you can try using your ISP's
DNS server address.

If there is a Gateway setting in your host computer's firewall configuration
enable it. If you are using a free firewall other than Windows Firewall on
the host it might not support ICS at all.

"Erik" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:68B76D75-D477-4D5C-AB1A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi all.
>
> I've gone through the messages here, but can't come up with a solution, so
> I'll ask again, in case my problem is truly unique.
>
> Yesterday I removed all our wired hardware and replaced it with wireless
> network cards, and tried to configure an ad-hoc network (as decribed on
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...02april08.mspx).
> I've been regretting that for almost 24 hours now...
>
> The hardware seems to work fine. The wireless monitor utility that came
> with
> the cards says we're connected and all, with almost perfect signal
> strength
> (PCs are less than 10 feet apart for now).
>
> What also works is accessing shared desktops from one PC to another.
> Printing from the client PC to the printer on the host works like a charm.
> A
> third PC, with Windows 2000, and a third (identical) wireless adapter also
> sees and gets connected to the network, but nothing further.
>
> However, internet connection sharing is a big problem. I had to set up the
> default gateway on the client PC to the host PC's IP address, in order to
> get
> some, very limited access to the internet. Which I find strange, because
> with
> the wired network all I had to do was set "obtain IP / DNS automatically".
> Not a clue about the DNS address. Internet access works as long as I type
> in
> the IP address of the website I want to visit. Needless to say: that's an
> impossible situation.
>
> Outlook Express doesn't work anymore either. I start it, get a number of
> "can't connect to this or that server" messages, and that's it.
>
> The instructions in the article I referred to above are (I think) for XP
> SP1, and both PCs here have SP2, so I couldn't follow them word for word.
> Because of that it is possible that I missed something...
>
> On the host, the ICS is enabled. Under Network Connections I find our
> shared
> broadband internet connection, the wireless network connection and a local
> area connection. Nothing is bridged.
>
> That's about the best I can describe the situation.
>
> Where did I go wrong? Surely if all adapters detect the network then it
> must
> be something in my software settings?
>
> Any help would be much appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Erik

Hi RalfG.

I got it set up and working now. After a couple of calls to my ISP they were
able to give me the IP numbers for their DNS servers (I had tried using the
host computer's IP as DNS server for the client, but that didn't work).

Thanks for your fast and generous help, very much appreciated!

Erik

"RalfG" wrote:

> The computers need DNS address resolution to translate website names to IPs.
> You have to get it from somewhere, either from an internet gateway (which
> would be your host computer or a router) or from the ISP's DNS servers. You
> can try entering in your Host computer's address as the DNS server for each
> of the other computers. If that doesn't work you can try using your ISP's
> DNS server address.
>
> If there is a Gateway setting in your host computer's firewall configuration
> enable it. If you are using a free firewall other than Windows Firewall on
> the host it might not support ICS at all.
>
> "Erik" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:68B76D75-D477-4D5C-AB1A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hi all.
> >
> > I've gone through the messages here, but can't come up with a solution, so
> > I'll ask again, in case my problem is truly unique.
> >
> > Yesterday I removed all our wired hardware and replaced it with wireless
> > network cards, and tried to configure an ad-hoc network (as decribed on
> > http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...02april08.mspx).
> > I've been regretting that for almost 24 hours now...
> >
> > The hardware seems to work fine. The wireless monitor utility that came
> > with
> > the cards says we're connected and all, with almost perfect signal
> > strength
> > (PCs are less than 10 feet apart for now).
> >
> > What also works is accessing shared desktops from one PC to another.
> > Printing from the client PC to the printer on the host works like a charm.
> > A
> > third PC, with Windows 2000, and a third (identical) wireless adapter also
> > sees and gets connected to the network, but nothing further.
> >
> > However, internet connection sharing is a big problem. I had to set up the
> > default gateway on the client PC to the host PC's IP address, in order to
> > get
> > some, very limited access to the internet. Which I find strange, because
> > with
> > the wired network all I had to do was set "obtain IP / DNS automatically".
> > Not a clue about the DNS address. Internet access works as long as I type
> > in
> > the IP address of the website I want to visit. Needless to say: that's an
> > impossible situation.
> >
> > Outlook Express doesn't work anymore either. I start it, get a number of
> > "can't connect to this or that server" messages, and that's it.
> >
> > The instructions in the article I referred to above are (I think) for XP
> > SP1, and both PCs here have SP2, so I couldn't follow them word for word.
> > Because of that it is possible that I missed something...
> >
> > On the host, the ICS is enabled. Under Network Connections I find our
> > shared
> > broadband internet connection, the wireless network connection and a local
> > area connection. Nothing is bridged.
> >
> > That's about the best I can describe the situation.
> >
> > Where did I go wrong? Surely if all adapters detect the network then it
> > must
> > be something in my software settings?
> >
> > Any help would be much appreciated!
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Erik
>
>
>