The Family Connection: Building a Windows XP-based Home Network
Published: September 10, 2001
By Barb Bowman, Windows XP Expert Zone Community Columnist
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When my cousin Dick decided to install Windows XP Professional on a new computer, he joined the growing ranks of multiple computer households with a need to share a single dial-up connection to the Internet.
He was both enthusiastic and concerned about using Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). The prospect of leaving his new Windows XP Professional–based computer in an always on configuration made him uneasy, because he lives in the center of the lightning capital of the world. He also didn't want his wife to have to power up his computer every time she wanted to connect to the Internet. But he knew that he and his wife would often want to be connected simultaneously and agreed that Internet Connection Sharing was a better (and more economical) solution than a second phone line, provided we could find a secondary independent connection option for an ICS client computer. This was an interesting challenge to which we found an easy, custom solution that allowed Internet Connection Sharing and stand alone dial-up Internet access for the second computer when needed. Here's how we did it.
 | This was an interesting challenge to which we found an easy, custom solution that allowed Internet Connection Sharing and stand alone dial-up Internet access for the second computer when needed. |  | |
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Building the Home Network
The first requirement was a home network to connect the two computers. We'd already completed the transfer of files and settings from the computer running Windows 98 SE to the new Dell Dimension 4100 running Windows XP Pro, and networked them together in order to complete the new computer setup, so the home network was already complete. (You can read about the easy setup, network configuration, and transfer of data from the old to the new computer in my last column, The Ultimate Warp Speed Upgrade.)
Configuring the Dial–up Connection
The next task in enabling the shared dial–up Internet connection was verifying that Dick could connect to his ISP from his new computer running Windows XP Professional, and that it was setup to remember the dial-up password. All of his settings for dial–up were transferred by the Files and Settings Wizard except his password. Dick, of course, had a carefully printed sheet of all log on names and passwords that he kept hidden for emergencies. He saved the user name and password for anyone who uses the computer.
The next step was to verify that Dick's computer was configured to dial his ISP whenever an application needed to access the Internet. He clicked Start, then Control Panel, then Network and Internet Connections, and then clicked Set up or change your Internet connection. When the Internet Properties dialog box opened, he clicked the Connections tab, and then clicked the Always dial my default connection radio button.
He was returned to the Network and Internet Connections menu automatically when this was completed.
Sharing the Windows XP Dial–up Connection
Next, he clicked the Network Connections icon in the Network and Internet Connections window, which opened the Network Connections window.
He right–clicked the icon for his dial–up connection, AT&T WorldNet, and clicked Properties, and in the Properties dialog box, he clicked the Advanced tab. He checked the first two boxes to enable the Internet Connection Firewall (using the default configuration settings for full protection) and Internet Connection Sharing. The settings (seen in the image of the AT&T WorldNet Properties dialog box) allowed the second computer to initiate a dial-up connection to the Internet if a connection was not already present. (Note: the name of your own dial–up ISP will be shown here).
The current configuration of his dial–up connection was now shown in the Network Connections window as Disconnected, Shared, Firewalled. The information displayed here changes dynamically; when he connects to his ISP, Disconnected changes to Connected.
Configuring the Client Computer for Shared and/or Independent Access
All that remained was to customize how the second computer (running Windows 98 SE) connected to the Internet. Dick didn't want to leave a computer in an always on state. Our final task was to find a way to ensure that the computer running Windows 98 SE could connect to the Internet whether the computer running Windows XP was up and running or shut down.
Because the computers are side by side in the home office, there's no guesswork in determining if it's possible to share the connection through the Windows XP Professional-based computer at any time.
We wanted Dick's wife to have easy access to the Internet, and although there were several solutions, we selected the one we thought most closely matched the way she was accustomed to accessing the Internet. The first step was to plug in a standard telephone RJ11 two-way phone line splitter into the wall receptacle and connect phone lines to the modems of Dick's new computer and his wife's Windows 98 SE-based computer.
Because the Windows 98 SE-based computer was Dick's old computer, it was already configured for dial–up access to the Internet using his ISP. What remained was to tweak the connectivity configuration to easily provide two methods to access the Internet. This computer was originally configured to always dial a connection. From the Internet Explorer menu, he selected Tools, Internet Options, and then the Connections tab, and clicked Never dial a connection.
This allowed two easy and transparent methods for the Windows 98 SE–based computer to connect to the Internet:
| • | As an ICS Client: If Dick's Windows XP Professional–based computer was powered on and running, all his wife needed to do was open any Internet client such as Internet Explorer or Outlook Express, and she could browse the Internet and send/receive mail immediately. If Dick had not yet connected to his dial-up ISP, this action on her computer would cause Dick's computer to dial and establish the connection. |
| • | As a Stand Alone Computer: If Dick's computer was powered down, his wife could manually connect to the dial-up ISP by clicking the shortcut on her desktop and then clicking Connect. |
Note that there are two drawbacks to the dual configuration employed here:
1. | On the rare occasion that Dick's Windows XP Professional–based computer is not running and the Windows 98 SE-based computer is already directly connected using dial-up, when he wants to connect to the Internet, the computer running Windows 98 SE will need to disconnect to allow Dick's computer to use the phone line. In most cases, this will mean only a momentary interruption on the computer running Windows 98 SE. |
2. | When used as a stand alone computer, the computer running Windows 98 SE will not be protected by the Internet Connection Firewall on the host Windows XP Professional-based computer. To overcome this, Dick is considering upgrading the amount of RAM in this computer, and installing Windows XP Home Edition in October which will provide the flexibility of turning ICF on or off as needed on the older computer. |
Barb Bowman enjoys sharing her own experiences and insights into today's leading edge technologies. She is a product development manager for AT&T Broadband Internet Services, but her views here are strictly personal.
