Setting Up A Network Bridge With a Laptop for a XBox360

[Elesirdur]

So, I'm at a new apartment where I get access to the shared wireless internet in the house. I have a PC with a motherboard that includes a wireless adapter (that can also be used to create a hotpoint too), a Windows Vista laptop, and my XBox360. What I would like to do is get my 360 online by hooking it up to my laptop using a short length of ethernet cable and then connecting the laptop to the wireless network. I've tried setting up all the cables and getting all the media/file sharing options open, but my 360 cannot access the internet (no surprise I suppose).

I don't know much about networking, but I believe I'm attempting to set up a "network bridge" of some sort. I have no clue if what I'm trying to do is possible without some extra special hardware, of if there is some freeware or built in applet in Vista that will allow my 360 to access the internet via the laptop's wireless connection.

Any input would be appreciated.

[Cephius]

It's not hard. Go to start -> Connections -> Show all Connections. Right click your wireless connection, go to the Advanced tab, and check "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection" and select your wired connection from the drop down list. Disable "Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection."

You may need to set static IP addresses on the xbox and on your wired network adapter (ie, set the laptop's IP to 192.168.2.100 and make the xbox 192.168.2.101) for everything to work correctly, but try the above and see how it works.

[Elesirdur]

Nice, thanks for the info! I've got it working now (so far), with an XBL update just coming down. Let's hope the multiplayer isn't too laggy through this connection.

[Cephius]

Nice, thanks for the info! I've got it working now (so far), with an XBL update just coming down. Let's hope the multiplayer isn't too laggy through this connection.

I used this setup for awhile and it wasn't too bad. You're probably costing yourself maybe 50ms lag because of the daisy chain setup, but overall it wasn't terrible to play in.