BleepingComputer.com: Setting Up Filesharing On Ad-hoc Wirless

My goal: To have filesharing set up on a laptop with a 100mbit ethernet to desktop and 56mbps wireless to another laptop on an ad-hoc network

My Hardware
-8Mbit ADSL Broadband-
Desktop: SpeedTouch330USB ADSL modem, VIA RhineII Fast Ethernet Adapter, XP Pro(SP2)
-which has a long piece of CAT6 connected to -
Laptop A: Toshiba Equium, Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet Adapter, Intel PRO wireless 3945ABG, XP Home(SP2)
-which as if by magic conects to-
Laptop B: HP Pavillion ze4900, TRENDnet TEW-423PI Wireless, XP Home(SP2)

My Desktop is my most used PC witch has the internet connection (i can connect the laptops to this but i dont want to keep moving the USB modem around) which has a hard wireld lan to Laptop A this connection has been established for a while and work well with file and printer sharing aswell as ICS with desktop as gateway. To achieve this I have to run a light generic proxy called "AnalogX Proxy" on the host.

I think the PROBLEM lies in Laptop A where I am trying to get it to connect to both LAN(1) and Wirless AD-HOC(2)

All networks are displaying as connected
The existing LAN is working including internet connectivity
The wireless connection shows as conneted on laptops A & B but file sharing does not seem to be working between these computers! I have tried to ping and it doesnot seem to work either way. The wireless conections are configured manualy and identically. I have manually assigned no conflicting IP's to all adaptors.
is this because it is already on a network?
how do i get it working?

Another point i would like to add is "hopefully" I can get Laptop B to connect to A's internet connection (which is a shared internet connection with the Desktop, as host)

Unfortunately windows ICS does not want to be enabled without the IP address 192.168.0.1 is there a work around for this or can I configure it to connect via another proxy or network resource sharing software?

P.S.
I understand all this can be sorted out by buying a wireless router with a built in ADSL modem (and at least ONE old fashioned LAN port). However I have just found out I am expecting my second Sprog >.< and all the pennies are precious at the moment! Is anyone out there crafty enough to do this without buying a router (i understand this will form a chain and result in each device in turn needing to be on for the device after to connect to the internet.

If not internet then at least file sharing would be a great help!

Hope to hear from somone soon, sorry it's a novel but I was trying to provide as much relavent info as possible.

Also what does the bridging feature do and is it useful here?

This post has been edited by substyler: 07 November 2007 - 05:56 PM

OK letś back up right there.

First of all, this sounds more like on of the laptops is a friend´s maybe?


Secondly this is insanely ridiculous due to the ad-hoc to ad-hoc and the lan connection.

You should in theory be able to link the two laptops through ad-hoc and use ICS in
a chainlink effect. IE desktop connected to Modem, Ad-hoc to laptop, Ad-hoc to laptop.

I don´t know the specifics of this but, why not just get a software DHCP Solution?
I mean you could use Linux or some Add In Software for DHCP and eliminate your headaches
right now. Use the Desktop maybe and add a wireless adapter with MIMO along with some
Linux Distro for DHCP? You could do this with a laptop as well.

Again, save yourself some headache and get a software DHCP server to install on one of the PCś.

I have figured it out. I dont think you understand that my dektop does not have a wireless card! else a 3 point ad-hoc would work fine ;-)

I need to bridge the connections on Laptop A but can't because the wireless card must be in monitor mode to do this and the Intel 3945ABG card ONLY supports promiscuous mode. The ICS should then work as the bridge will add all adapters to the same workgroup and subnet. I would be able to set the default gateway on laptop B to the IP of the ICS host (the desktop) yes laptop B does belong to a friend but they might aswell live here and leave the laptop here 95% of the time.

I am currently trying to get the intel 3945ABG into monitor mode following a guide I found (tutorial: cracking WEP on http://tinyshell.be). This apperars to be for packet sniffing only with intent to crack a network key (which is not what i want to do).

I would rather not install linux as I am not proficient in it (noob).

Acording to the microsoft knowledgebase artice on Windows Miniport Bridge it should resole my problem.

I can get the wireless working when not bridged but as soon as I add it to the bridge it disconnects. Or apears connected but fails to ping.

Looks like i'm gonna have to bite the bullet and get a router or wireless card for my desktop

This post has been edited by substyler: 08 November 2007 - 08:29 PM