Microsoft KB Archive/237254

= How to Enable Internet Connection Sharing on a Network Connection in Windows 2000 =

Article ID: 237254

Article Last Modified on 2/26/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q237254



For a Microsoft Windows XP version of this article, see 314066.



SUMMARY
With the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature of network and dial-up connections, you can use Windows to connect your home network or small office network to the Internet. For example, you may have a home network that connects to the Internet by using a dial-up connection. By enabling ICS on the computer that uses the dial-up connection, you are providing network address translation, addressing, and name resolution services for all computers on your home network.



MORE INFORMATION
To enable ICS on a network connection:
 * 1) In Control Panel, double-click Network and Dial-Up Connections.
 * 2) Right-click the connection you want to share, and then click Properties.
 * 3) Click the Sharing tab, and then click to select the Enable Internet Connection Sharing for this connection check box.
 * 4) If the connection you are sharing is a Dial-up connection and you want the connection to dial automatically when another computer on your home network attempts to use external resources, click to select the Enable on-demand dialing check box.

NOTE: To enable ICS in Windows, you must have administrative rights.

IMPORTANT: You should not use this feature on a computer running DNS server or DHCP server or a Windows domain controller. When you enable ICS, the network adapter connected to the home or small office network is given a new static IP address configuration. Existing TCP/IP connections on the CS computer are lost and need to be re-established.

Configuration and Usage Issues
The ICS feature is intended for use in a small office or home office in which the network configuration and the Internet connection are managed by the Windows-based computer on which the shared connection resides. It is assumed that on its network, this computer is the only Internet connection, is the only gateway to the Internet, and that it sets up all internal network addresses.

You cannot modify the default network configuration after enabling ICS. This includes items such as the range of private IP addresses that are handed out (DHCP allocator), enabling or disabling DNS, configuring a range of public IP addresses, or configuring inbound mappings.

If your home office users need to gain access to a corporate network that is connected to the Internet by a tunnel server from a ICS network, they need to create a virtual private network (VPN) connection to tunnel from the computer on the ICS network to the corporate tunnel server on the Internet. The VPN connection is authenticated and secure, and creating the tunneled connection allocates proper IP addresses, DNS server addresses, and WINS server addresses for the corporate network.

You may need to configure programs and services to work properly across the Internet. For example, if users on your home network want to play a game with other users on the Internet, the game must be configured on the connection in which ICS is enabled. Services that you provide must be configured so that Internet users can gain access to them. For example, if you are hosting a Web server on your home network and you want Internet users to be able to connect to it, you must configure the Web Server service.

Additional query words: NAT ICS

Keywords: kbhowto KB237254

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