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Thanks Spock for opening this thread.

Here's a difficult problem.

I have previously setup my wireless network which consists of the server (XP SP1), a wireless access point (ASUS WL330) and several laptops, XP SP1/2 and 2000.

I enabled Internet Connection Sharing which gives the server 192.168.0.1 and assigned fixed IPs to every other machine (all on subnet 255.255.255.0). This worked perfectly until my flat mate reinstalled Citrix ICA Client (with my consent).

Every once in a while I could ping a web site. So I thought disabling ICS, restarting and re-setting will help (as most of the time with Windows). But there is always an exception: When I tried to enable ICS again I got an error saying that the IP of the server is allready in use on the network, but no network adapters has 192.168.0.1. (I have some virtual machine software running which has two virtual adapter but they are set to other IPs).

Screenshot of the error.


I would appreciate some comments on that and will answer any question that arises.

In the past, I have tried to assign IP addresses and set up a true server and clients but without a true server package, the best you can do is peer-to-peer.

If you are running Windows 2000 Server then disregard anything I am about to say. If not, this may help.

The preferred setup for multiple machines to connect to the Internet is through a Gateway as show here:



Having said that, I have yet to set up my network that way because it requires two NICs in the gateway machine and also leaves it outside the protection of the hardware firewall of the router.

Without a dedicated Server and Gateway, you will be required to set up a peer-to-peer network. Fortunately this is simple using WinXP.

The first thing I would do is update all SP1 machines to SP2 as SP1 will soon, if not already, not be supported. Select one WinXP machine to start with, right-click on My Network Places, and select Properties.

Double-click on Network Setup Wizard and follow the steps until you get to the window sub-titled "Select a connection method." Select "Other".

You will now be at a window sub-titled "Other Internet connection methods..."


The example looks like this:


Continue with the setup and it will offer to create a setup disk for use with other machines. I created one as I have Win98 machines on my network. Since you have non-WinXP I would recommend the same. Use the floppy to start the setup for all your other machines. Do not hard code any IP addresses, they will be assigned dynamically.

This is the way that has worked for me so far. I have a gateway machine built and ready to add to the network but have not yet had the time to do so. Until then, my network is set up as I have described here.

The only drawback to setting up your network without a gateway is that each and every computer on the network must now have its own, dedicated protection suite of software; anti-virus, spyware blockers, etc. That is not as big a problem as it sounds as there are many good, free options available for each. Also, file and print sharing are not recomended. I use it but make sure that all shared files are read only and only store non-critical files there. If one computer needs information from another I can pull it from the host. Nothing, however can be placed in a Read Only folder from another computer.

We have some really good computer techs on this forum. Hopefully one of them will jump in and give more information ... if not better advice. Until then, I wish you the best and hope this helps your problem. Please let us know how it works out.

Hi Spock

thanks for your beautiful illustrations. I know about network and I think I did tell that the network was running smoothly before. The problem is why is Windows complaining about an IP that doesn't exist?

A quick sketch of what my network used to look like when it worked.


Black lines: Wires
Red lines: Wireless connection to the ISP
Gray box: Server with shared connection (formerly 192.168.0.1 but this IP seems to be in use.)
Blue box: Wireless access point with IP 192.168.0.5
Blue lines: Wireless connection to the clients
Green boxes: Laptops with IPs 0.105, 0.125 and 0.145

Somehow the host IP is used but I don't know where. I will turn off the gateway firewall and then retry ICS.

I have never been successful at getting ICS to work. Every time I tried to get it working it caused other problems and failed to work at all. That's why I suggested you try the direct connect for all systems. There are wireless routers that would give each of your laptops a direct connection.

The advantage of connecting as I suggest is that, when you take the laptops elsewhere, they will have all the protection they need already installed.

However, if you want to go back to the setup as you previously had it, I would recommend you uninstall the software you say your friend installed, shut down the entire network, and restart the desktop main system first. Once that is up and running properly, then try bringing each laptop back online and ensure it is working properly before bringing the next online.

I have a feeling that if your network stopped working after your friend installed his software that there is some incompatability there somewhere that is causing your problems.

BTW, if you disable BBCode in your posts, no images will display.

Hi, I recently have been experimenting with ICS, I set out to use Windows 2000 but after trying numerous things, including re-installing it I gave up as it would not work unless the firewall was turned off - despite the firewall being set to 'gateway' mode.

I have now installed Win98 and got ICS to work without too much hassle, the only problem with ICS in Win98 is there is no easy way of opening ports for games etc. The only way is to create a file which adds entries to your registry which isn't a good idea for the less confident pc user.

I've never tried it with XP, although it seems to work well in Windows 98, for the moment...

I have the setup Spock spoke about but i have no hub, i use a router-multipc adsl modem.

I am wondering ben, what firewall are you using?

And i have a question for the original poster, on wich OS did your friend install that software?

Hi Krank, I'm using ZoneAlarm Pro.

Ben, i have been browsing around a bit and might have found a sollution:

If you use zonealarm in a network, the firewall wont even see the attached systems, so you might want to try this:

[hold on to your seet, this is gonne be weird]

try putting the ip-adresses in the trusted zone of the machine that has the firewall, just might do the trick

Note i dont use zonealarm so you probebly have to look around where that option is.

hope this helps.



for the original poster: why do you want to put dos-based server software on a system wich isnt supported by that software? <---just curious

Thanks, although its ok now as it works with Windows 98, so it must have been a problem with Windows 2000.