Installation Cont.

Keep Going

Continue to follow the screen prompts. At the next step, the system might tell you that it cannot detect your network settings. Don't worry about this. During my ICS installation, my LAN was running just peachy at the time and it didn't detect for me either. Just click Advanced Settings and proceed to the next section.

In the even that the ICS is able to detect your network settings, you will be presented with this Screen instead. In this case, you choose the device you use to connect to the Internet.

Setting up the Hardware for ICS

At this point, you will need to know a bit about your hardware to get past this portion of the installation. Assuming that you are connecting to the Internet using cable or DSL, you should have two network cards installed in the gateway computer. One connects your computer to the cable modem/DSL service, and the other network card is for your internal LAN.

If you are using two of the same brand and type of network card to connect to your LAN and the Internet, then you are in a bit of trouble because the pull down menus are going to display all your connection devices, and you have to pick the correct Internet connection device, otherwise the internet sharing will NOT work. If you are using the same exact network cards to connect to both the Internet AND your LAN, then you are going to be hard pressed to figure out which is which, since two of the exact same cards are going to be listed. If you are going to connect to the Internet with an analog modem, then you simply need to choose Dial up as the connection to the Internet.

In my case here, I am using the "Generic 10/100 PCI Ethernet Card" to connect the cable modem to my computer, and I am using the "AEF-360TX Family PCI Fast Ethernet Adaptor" to connect to my LAN. The same NIC is used in both client computers for the LAN, which makes setup easier for that part of the job, because you only have to worry about remembering specific settings for one type of network card.

You will also want to make sure that the "Enable Internet Connection Sharing" in the Setting Box is check-marked, and if you want you can also choose to have an ICS icon in the taskbar. I myself like to have a little as possible on the Taskbar, and leave this off (It's strictly a personal choice.). Make sure you have the sharing enabled here, and that you have the connection devices assigned correctly as well. Once you are sure that is correct, it is time to move on. Your system should prompt for a reboot about now, so reboot at this point.