I am trying to set up a home network and am having an impossible time with ICS.

I do not have any ICS options at all. In my connections properties, in the Advanced tab, I do not have ANY options concerning ICS. All I have is a little window that says 'Windows Firewall' and a button for its settings.

I have tried the Network setup wizard and have done every possible combination therein and still do not get any options for ICS.

I am using windows XP home edition, with most recent updates. All my drivers are up to date as well.

I am wondering if there is some setting somewhere that I need to activate or click or check or change or something that will 'turn on' my connections ICS settings?

I can post pictures of what I want vs. what I have if that will help any.

Thanks for any help.

What is your internet setup?

ie. cable modem to router to computer or dsl modem to computer

If your connecting your computer directly to your modem does the modem only have one port?

I am on a dialup (56k which connects regularly at 45.2k) connection.

Phone line from back of comp straight to the wall.

If needed, my modem is a Creative Modem Blaster V.92 PCI.

Maybe I can explain what I want/need a bit better with some pictures

I need ICS set up on my computer. I do not have ICS anywhere on my computer. At least not anywhere that I know or can find.

When I check the properties of my connection and go to the Advanced tab here is what I see...



What I need is for it to look like this (ignore the name in the blue title bar, its an example picture i found)...



Now... I have used the Network Setup Wizard numerous times and I can get all the way through and it still shows the Windows Firewall option.

I may be choosing something wrong when I go through the wizard but I am not sure. I have tried it with many different choices made to see if one will work, but it still doesn't. At this point all I am doing is second guessing myself and coming up with weird possible things to check and am unable anymore to coherently think this through. If someone could help walk me through this it would be very much appreciated.

And please, do not make any assumptions about what I may or may not know or understand. I have never had to work on setting up a network before and other than clicking a button to connect to the internet I have no clue as to anything concerning a network.

I do have one question before I go any further and that is to make sure that I have every piece of equipment I need to set this up. What I do know I need, I have. That is a modem to connect me to the internet. Beyond that, I don't know what I need to set up a network and therefore can not say if I have it or not.

Anyone that can help with this please do so. I would greatly appreciate any and all help that will be offered.

Thank you.

give This a read

as a note....it's #1 not suggested to use a dialup account for ICS #2 going to be very slow

as far as networking your computers....you've got to have networking equipment...such as a network card in each machine....and at a minimum (for just connecting two computers directly) a crossover cable...it would be a better idea to get an ethernet hub/switch instead of the direct connection

I have read that. Many times. I have followed it. Many times.

I can not get ICS options to even show up.

I understand that it is not 'the best' to use dialup. I understand that it will be slow. I have no choice but to use dialup.

I understand that there are 'better ways' of doing this. I can not afford 'better ways'.

Please explain to me how I can get this...


Instead of this...


Thank you.

well....ICS isn't available untill you make a network....you can't share a connection without having something to share with.....(that's not implicitely stated in that guide however the first steps are how to create a workgroup with your computers)

this leads me to believe that y ou havent set up a network yet

and this is where i made my recomendations on how to network your computers together

Thank you for helping with this. I apologize for my abruptness, but everywhere I have gone, until here, keeps telling me to click the 'Allow other computers blah, blha, blah.' I do not have that option anywhere so how can I click it?

Anyway, I do have a question about this

Does this mean that even though I do not have a second comp to hook up to, that I can not even set mine to have the option to hook another up to later?

As you may have seen from my other post
that I am trying to connect my DS and/or my Wii up through my computer. So technically I do have something to share with. I just am unable to continue with connecting them because I can not enable ICS first.


Looking at my device mangager I find that I have two things in there.

One is an INTEL® PRO/100 VE Network Connection that, in my running programs list, has a red 'x' on it and says that a network cable is unplugged (???). The other is a NETGEAR 108Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter WG311T that does not have a router to connect to as I only have dialup available and so I have 'disabled' it. Even with both enabled other than the network cable being unplugged, and with the wireless continuously searching for a signal, there are no problems listed.

So do I have a network setup or am I still not quite there?

All I want at the very least is to enable ICS. Do I really need another 'computer' to set this up? Shouldn't my DS and/orWii be considered another 'machine' to hook up to? That's one part where I am getting confused.

pretty much....you've got to set up a network before ICS is available...

in the grand scheme of things the DS or the WII would be another machine...however...it's not another windows machine and connecting them to your computer does not create a network....at least not a windows network....