Troubleshooting ICS between Windows7, Windows XP , Linux etc

Internet Connection Sharing has always been a pain in the a$$ for me. There has been numerous hours which went in vain trying to connect between all combinations involving Windows7, Windows XP and Linux. Though I got them connected once or twice, I could not decode the exact methodology. Each time trying to use ICS ended in broken keyboards, fists etc. After many attempts I at last found out the reason the exact modus operandi to use ICS.
I am not going into a step by step instruction of enabling ICS, which are alredy given here. I will just help you out from the most common issues faced.

Here I am explaining the scenario where, your internet is connected through the wired LAN, and you wan't share that using your WiFi. Your wired connection is in Windows [XP, Vista, 7 etc] and you want to share it with any other OS.

• Here, first you have to create a WiFi network from the host. This should not be a problem, and if at all it is, try to use [Open, WEP] authentication, instead WPA2 etc because these may not be compatible over all OSes.
• There may be a scenario where the Ad-Hoc network is created, but internet is not being shared. This can be checked by these steps.

1. Goto the client PC, and goto the command prompt and type ipconfig. You will get the ip of the PC, note that.
2. Now create a shared folder in this PC.
3. Now goto the host and type \\ip-of-client. Now if you can see the shared folder, you network is established. Only internet is not shared.

• Now to get the internet shared, you have to the following. Goto the properties of the wired connection, [the connection from which you get internet], and goto the sharing tab. There you have to enable internet sharing.
• Sometimes,, this sharing itself would not be available/present. This maybe because, the sharing is enabled in any other connection. [Only one of the connection's sharing can be enabled]. So, disable this connection first and then enable sharing in the other connection.
• Now reconnect the WiFi, this should get the internet working.
• In, Windows7, you may have to choose which connections internet need to shared. There you have to choose the wired LAN [or the network which gives internet].

I already wasted a lot of hours trying to get ICS working, and there is a general notion that internet sharing through ICS is inconsistent. The fact which I inferred is that documentation and wizards on this topic is very scarce. If you have any doubts please post in the comments section and I would be more than happy to help.
-codevalley

Windows may evolve, but bugs never.

Myth
Microsoft announced that it would delay its release of Windows XP service Pack 3, as it uncovered a new found glitch last week. The same glitch apparently is already there in Vista Service Pack 1 which it has already broadly released last week.
For lesser mortals, here is the full news.For others read on...

Reality
You need not drop your jaws if tomorrow Steve Ballmer announces that the same glitch has been found in XP Services Pack 2, 1 etc, or maybe Windows 98 Service Pack 1 as well. As each of these Operating Systems have been coded from scratch and are entirely different than their predecessors, it is only the theory of probability to be blamed if the same bug is surfacing on all the OSes. You people never listened when I said I maths is flawed!!
-Codevalley

posted in sillytech on April 2008.

Reason#1001 to port to Vista...

Everyone is geared up to face it...The underground brought it way back in December 2006, the official OEM version was already with the vendors a few fortnights back, if you are not interested in any of those, then you can buy a retail license for yourself, it was released last week. Obviously, I am talking about Windows Vista. I don't think it is unfair to say the wait has been little bit too long, but hey! it is almost over. The most printed letters on the desktop screen.. X-P- will cease to exist soon and will be replaced by clearer..glossier...vivid letters V-I-S-T-A.

Now there would be very few people who's not heard of the blazing features of Vista.. the Aero's visual delight...3d cascading of windows...are just a few of them. But here is one of those which you might not have heard about. But sure you are gonna love this one.

The concept of Wallpaper is pretty old, the practice of covering the walls with beautiful paperwork is centuries old, but it was Macintosh which actually bought it to the computer "desktop"and Windows made it popular. Now every computer desktop has a wallpaper but our conventional walls are decorated by razor thin plasma televisions. Maybe that is what made Bill think over it and give decade old wallpaper concept a break.

If that seems too poetic, I can't help it. That is how much "poetic" my technical mind can go, anyway, the news that got my jaws hitting the basement is that Vista is going to support video wallpapers. It is called Windows Dreamscene, and what they claim is that, the wallpaper, which could be your favourite mpeg/wmv video, will not eat up your CPU time. The idea sounds really unbelievable. They say they have some kind of "pre-rendering", by which your CPU is kept at lower heat. You can also put a Direct3D animation as a wallpaper. They have introduced a new format DREAM which would help author protect his creations.

But I am not surprised. When Microsoft came up with Windows 98, they added the feature where you could put a webpage as your wallpaper. Now, this is one step ahead, though, I must agree that the step has been rather steep.

Here is the rest of the story.
codevalley

Vista still not ready - Symentac
Symentac claims to have found many security holes in Vista, and were bold enough to announce that in some parts, Vista is more vulnerable than Windows XP, especially in some parts of networking code.
They say that Vista uses fresh written code , replacing most of the tested an tried code, so new bugs and errors are bound to be there. So a bumpy road is ahead for the near future atleast until the code is stabilized.
Microsoft is not taking any chances and are rigorously beta testing the operating system, which is going to be the world's most used one. Already Symentac has announced that some of the holes reported by them have been removed in the RC2 of Vista, and many would vanish in the final release. Who would not listen to a company which has a tradition of 24 years in computer security?
codevalley