If your computer connects to
the Internet through a residential gateway or router, there won't be an
Internet Connection Sharing host. With a residential gateway, you'll
likely have an Ethernet hub to which all computers, and the gateway,
attach. The gateway, in turn, connects to a cable or DSL modem, which in
turn connects to a phone jack or cable jack on the wall, as shown in Figure 1.
A router behaves in much the same way as a
residential gateway, but everything is combined in a single unit. In
fact, the router will look like a modem. But the big difference is that
you can connect several computers — not just one computer — to the
router. Figure 2 shows an example.
With a router or residential gateway, your first step
will usually be to get online from one computer. You'll need to refer
to instructions that came with your router, as well as your ISP's
instructions, to do that. Windows will attempt to find the network for
you. To see where you stand, follow these steps:
Click the Start button and choose Control Panel.
If Control Panel opens in Category view, click the Network and Internet icon.
Open the View Network Status and Tasks link below Network and Sharing Center.
As shown in Figure 3, the system is connected to a local network, but the local network does not have a connection to the Internet.
After
reconfiguring the wiring connecting the network hardware and opening
Network and Sharing Center, the network now looks like Figure 4.
In Figure 4,
Windows sees the local network and also sees the Internet connection
from the local network. If your networking hardware is configured
correctly, Windows sees the network and will set it up for you
appropriately.
If your network is configured correctly for the first
computer, try configuring your next system on the network using the
steps outlined earlier.
If you have wireless devices that you want to connect to the network, follow the instructions in the next section.
