How to share your Mac's internet connection with your Xbox

by Conrad Quilty-Harper { Jul 17th 2006 at 10:00AM }

If, like me, you have your Xbox 360 placed near your wifi-enabled computer, but away from your wireless router or modem, then you'll want to take advantage of the Xbox's ability to "borrow" your computer's internet connection. For Windows users, this process is simple; it's just a matter of "bridging" your computer's wifi connection to your PC's ethernet port which is plugged into your Xbox. For Mac users, the process ain't so easy. What follows is a guide for getting your Xbox 360 to accept Mac OS X's internet sharing option.

This method worked for me, although there are several methods dotted around Mac forums on the net that seem to work for other people:

Mac OS X hints thread: Xbox Live - Internet Sharing
Jaharmi's guide to Xbox and Mac OS X Internet Sharing
Nintelligent's guide to connecting to Xbox Live through your Mac
Apple Support forums: iBook's internet to Xbox Live?

Before you start configuring, open up Terminal (in Applications -> Utilities) and type "ifconfig en0" (zero, not a capital-o). You're looking for the bit that says "inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx". In my case, the number I get here is 192.168.2.1 Second, note down the IP address of your wireless router, which in my case is 192.168.0.1

On your Mac

Connect your Mac to your wireless internet connection
Connect your Xbox 360 to your Mac via Ethernet
In System Preferences -> Sharing, enable Internet Sharing between your Airport and Ethernet connection

On your Xbox 360

Start up your Xbox and navigate to the Network settings menu
Under IP address, enter the number you got from the "ifconfig en0" command earlier on, but with the final number one place higher. In my case, I take the 192.168.2.1, and input 192.168.2.2 in the IP address box on my Xbox 360.
Under subnet, input 255.255.255.0
Under router/gateway, enter the number you got earlier from the "ifconfig en0" command. In my case, that's "192.168.2.1"
Move onto DNS. Enter the IP address of your wireless router (in my case, "192.168.0.1") in both the primary and secondary IP address fields
Leave PPPoE and Advanced settings blank (i.e. OFF and Automatic)
You should now be able to connect to Xbox Live via your internet sharing Mac

If you manage to get this method, or a similar method working, don't forget to drop by the comments thread to record your experience!

Tags: Airport, ethernet, Guide, How-to, Internet Sharing, InternetSharing, Mac, OS X, OsX, sharing, Wireless, Xbox Live, XboxLive

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Alan @ Jul 17th 2006 10:44AM

I don't have the need since my 360 is near one of my gigabit switches, but I was under the impression that only the "on your mac" steps are needed and that the rest would be automated. I've shared my powerbook's connection with various windows PC's before and I left everything on auto in windows.

Conrad @ Jul 17th 2006 10:49AM

For some reason it doesn't work if you just configure the Mac. The Xbox needs to be configured, otherwise it won't connect to Xbox Live.

matthew @ Jul 17th 2006 10:54AM

my 360 has been working this way since day one, but i never had to configure anything!

matthew @ Jul 17th 2006 10:55AM

p.s. i meant to say my 360 and mac have been working this way since day one.

mjh81 @ Jul 17th 2006 11:14AM

Thats so weird I did this over the weekend. Its not difficult but its a little time consuming. Works well though. Unfortunately you can't run Connect360 because you need a router. Poop!

DG @ Jul 17th 2006 11:25AM

Wow. You just made a once-beautiful MacBook extremely ugly. Congratulations.

Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Jul 17th 2006 11:27AM

DG, stickers are temporary. :-)

Element @ Jul 17th 2006 11:27AM

My PC and 360 have been connected like this since day one also. It saved me 100 bucks.

ljbad4life @ Jul 17th 2006 11:38AM

I have everything connected just fine, the network setup passes all the test except, when I have to download the update it then says there is a network error or my storage is full (which isn't the case)

Declan @ Jul 17th 2006 11:40AM

What about Linux???
I'm guessing its similar since OSX and linux use same underlying code (Unix isnt it?)

Josh* @ Jul 17th 2006 12:57PM

Wow. You just made a once-ugly xbox 360 extremely beautiful. Congratulations.

Pete @ Jul 17th 2006 1:09PM

I could've used this about a week ago. I bought the Datel adapter instead. It's working well though, and I got a wireless access point for 80 bucks... oh well.

Tony Jackson @ Jul 17th 2006 1:41PM

I kno what im about to say is unrelated but it still has to do with connecting a console by way of network bridging:

If my school uses a program (Cisco clean access agent) to insure that every device that connects to the network is clean. Will setting up a network bridge between my ethernet connection, computer, PS2 allow me to bypass the Cisco program and play my ps2 online? If so how would i go about doing this? Thanks for any help.

imark G5 @ Jul 17th 2006 3:07PM

now thats killer stickers placement. awesome pict

ill trooper @ Jul 17th 2006 3:44PM

Cool!

Not feeling the stickers? Don't forget the college-fridge look J. Allard is sporting:

http://crystaltips.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/3060000000057700.jpg

Twist @ Jul 17th 2006 5:20PM

If you don't want to use the Terminal, you can get your machines IP address and subnet mask from the Network PrefPane.

In step 2 of the 360 instructions you may have to increase the number by more than 1 if you have multiple computers on your network. You can keep trying different numbers if you wish or you can check out your router settings to see which addresses are already assigned and then pick another one (or just add like 20 to the number the first time and you should be in the clear unless you have one hell of a home network).

DeRock @ Jul 17th 2006 11:17PM

Or...Just open your system preferences, click sharing, go to the internet tab, and then share your connection from airport through built in ethernet. Ta Da!!!

Pete @ Jul 18th 2006 12:49AM

That doesn't always work dude, that's why this was created.

Grant Smith @ Jul 18th 2006 3:54AM

I think saying "For Mac users, the process ain't so easy" is very misleading, the problem is the 360 not recognising the network, not that the Mac cannot share the network.

Sharing internet on a Mac could not be easier, just open system prefs, click sharing, go to internet tab, and select the option you want, i.e., ethernet, airport and so on.

I personally have never had a problem sharing, apart from when I tried to set up a WPA2 security, but again this was the 360 not accepting that configuration, once I changed to WEP all was fine.

ExTester @ Jul 18th 2006 5:02AM

I have tried WPA2 as well and not worked, but just setting it to WPA should work fine. WPA is a little better than WEP, so I would go that route. Though the problem is with any security it cuts down on the data transfer a bit. Had a connection issue with a friend of my, bad placement of the wireless access point.