How-To: Share your computer's internet with the Xbox

by Christopher Grant { Jan 5th 2008 at 9:30PM }

Sure, we made our own guide to help you share your Mac's internet connection with your Xbox 360, but what if you're one of the few people out there using a Windows box? If you're rocking either Mac OS X (it says here Tiger or Leopard) or Windows Vista or XP, there's a handy guide on Instructables showing you how to use that computer's internet connection to get your Xbox online. Of course, getting your Xbox online isn't much use if Live is down ...

[Thanks, WebPimp]

Tags: Leopard, Mac-OS-X, Router, Tiger, Vista, Windows-XP

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

NukeAssault @ Jan 5th 2008 9:37PM

Yeah ive been doing this in my room for a while. Glad my connection is great... or there would be no point. XD

a.j. @ Jan 5th 2008 9:39PM

nice!

James @ Jan 5th 2008 9:45PM

I've got a similar set up for my DS. Since it's has crap reception compared to, oh, about every other wireless device. iMac gets the Wifi signal, pumps it to my Powerbook via BT, Firewire or just plain old Ethernet (depending on level of sexycool I feel) and make a little network that my DS connects to.

Yesh.

Poisoned Al @ Jan 5th 2008 9:53PM

Or you could buy a router for £20 and do away with this horse shit altogether.

wickedpheonix @ Jan 6th 2008 7:05AM

Not if I want to keep a Gigabit connection to my computer - Gigabit routers are much more expensive (still) and putting a 10/100 between my computer and my Gigabit router is a bottleneck.

Otherwise... could've used this a month ago :P but I'm OK now. Didn't look at the article but its essentially Internet Connection Sharing and the instructions are on the Xbox 360 site.

jamma @ Jan 6th 2008 11:57AM

@wickedpheonix

what good does a gigabit LAN connection do if most peoples internet maxes out at 4Mbps??

eldee @ Jan 6th 2008 12:20PM

oh i dunno... LOCAL transfers? most people have more than one computer at home these days you know.

Personally, I keep all of my movies, music, etc on a headless fileserver with 2TB of storage, and stream it to my media center via gigabit LAN.

todzilla @ Jan 5th 2008 9:54PM

i have my windows xp computer hooked up to my wireless home network and share it's internet with my 360 as well as stream my videos via tversity. it works great with no lag (when XBL is working of course) and i saved myself $100 by not buying the wireless network adapter.

GunForHire @ Jan 6th 2008 11:43AM

Surely the power costs of running a PC/laptop every time you want to go on Live, and all the time you're connected, would end up costing more than the $100 wifi adapter?

Me? I got a preowned wifi adaptor for £25 after staff discount. Works like a charm.

mcatrage @ Jan 5th 2008 9:55PM

Anyone know of an easy linux alternative to this? Not using firestarter.

Poisoned Al @ Jan 6th 2008 4:27AM

No, becuase I've seen a girl naked.

camelsafari @ Jan 6th 2008 10:24AM

congratulations... uv found wt other nerds like you call "porn"

CB17 @ Jan 5th 2008 10:04PM

Wow you guys are a little behind, this is (one of) the ONLY way(s) stuff like Xbox connect used to work.

Anticrawl @ Jan 5th 2008 10:26PM

Bridging connections was hot in the early 90s maybe, but I can't believe people are still doing this. Considering how cheap hubs and routers are, not to mention how cheap setting up a wireless network is.

Such a waste of energy, I would never suggest such a thing for anyone.

Exo @ Jan 5th 2008 11:58PM

setting up a wireless network is easy. but who wants to be ripped off by paying 100 dollars for a wi fi adapter you know should cost only half that much.

MegaSnort @ Jan 5th 2008 10:06PM

"getting your Xbox online isn't much use if Live is down ..." OMG JOYSTIQ IS TOBIAS /sarcasm. After reading the MSG4 rumorang I had this post pent up.

Anticrawl @ Jan 5th 2008 10:23PM

Is this seriously an article about bridging connections? The only reason anyone should want to know how to do this is if they are on a cross country vacation by car and they have a tv/360 in their car and stop at a coffee shop/Micky-Ds and proceed to bridge the free wireless connection from their laptop to their 360 because they are too cheap to buy a wireless adapter for the 360.

And that is really pushing it. Otherwise just get a cheap 8 dollar hub and run a wired connection in your place. Bridging connections is a waste of energy, and energy is expensive these days.

ill trooper @ Jan 6th 2008 2:17AM

So it seems you don't like this technique, I'm guessing by your posts...

plyx @ Jan 6th 2008 4:07AM

Good ol' anticrawl. As far away from acting like an asshole as an asshole can possibly get.

Fernando Rocker @ Jan 5th 2008 10:26PM

Quick question:

When I acces the Marketplace, it takes a lot to load al the previews and images... I have a 3MB intenet speed, and still it take a lot...

When I download stuff, is fast (like 800 MB in 20 minutes).

Is something wrong with my 360, or my conection, or is normal?

*I have a Elite with falcon chip.

Anticrawl @ Jan 5th 2008 10:28PM

That is the majority of what has been wrong with live the past 3 weeks bro. It wasn't live gaming so much for me, but insanly long times to load up the dashboard and features. That or they just didn't load up at all.

mike @ Jan 6th 2008 2:41AM

your connection does not help either. 3MBit speeds are really stone age. Thats only a 375 k/sec download rate. Now suppose you managed to get your xbox to use up all the bandwidth from your connection (which I doubt since your computer is using some im sure). Then it would still take several seconds to view a picture around 1mb in size.

Raikage (Wii FC 5508 0487 4434 0992) @ Jan 6th 2008 3:17AM

Sheesh! 3mbps bad?! I'm at 1.5 and its about the best you can get. Heck the school district here is running on two 1.5 lines.

You guys must have figured out how to tap into an internet backbone or something...

Poisoned Al @ Jan 6th 2008 4:38AM

*feels really lucky he can almost spit on the telephone exchange where he lives so he gets a good speed.*

James @ Jan 6th 2008 7:30AM

I'm only on 512kbps but so long as nobody is running around Google Earth on the network I get a ping of 20-25 on all the games I play.

I can't imagine ~300kbps being much worse? Maybe getting 30-35 ping.

Mr Khan @ Jan 6th 2008 2:06PM

Aye, i'm on 3 Mbps DSL, and i wouldn't see why you would want to pay out the ass for Cable to get something any faster, but then again i don't do too much heavy downloading.

Jhongerkong @ Jan 6th 2008 6:07PM

I envy you guys.

My downloads are capped at 30kbps.

It takes me friggin 6 HOURS to download a WoW patch.

ShortFuse @ Jan 5th 2008 10:26PM

Connect you computer to your router via WiFi. Bridge wireless and ethernet connection (XP or Vista in Network Connections). Connect network cable to xbox360. Done.

ssuk @ Jan 6th 2008 7:29AM

I would advise against this so much. I find that all the bridges I make between my Local Area Connection and my Wireless Internet Connection usually break after a while. It's a much better route to just enable your Wireless Internet Connection or your main internet connection to allow Internet Connection Sharing. It's more diverse and will allow for any amount of connections to take advantage of that Wireless/Wired internet your PC uses, not just the 360 connection.

ShortFuse @ Jan 6th 2008 11:35AM

No, ICS is WORSE for gaming. Please. Stick with things you know. I do this for a living. I'm a network administration and database program.

ICS is just setting up a another DHCP and DNS on your network. If you Wireless Access Point you're connecting is already a DHCP and DNS you don't need to set up another which is what ICS does. It's redundant and it'll increase the network latency. An increase in network latency means more lag for your gaming which makes it all the less enjoyable.

And wtf!? Making a network bridge instead of using ICS will "eventually break". That's complete nonsense. It's like saying "Oh, I won't change your desktop background to red because eventually...it'll turn green."

And as for the stating bridging won't allow any connection, shows you don't know what youre talking about. Any device will work. You don't configure anything on the 360. I do the opposite sometimes. I connect my laptop to my router via my cellphone by tethering and set up an Adhoc network for my Nintendo DS to connect to the internet via WiFi. This is just by bridging connections (since my cellphone runs a DHCP for ICS).

Start
Run
ncpa.cpl
Select both your ethernet and wireless connection.
Right click and hit Bridge Connection.

ShortFuse @ Jan 6th 2008 11:38AM

typos: *database programmer* & *I connect my laptop to the internet via my cellphone*

Anticrawl @ Jan 5th 2008 10:29PM

Bridging internet connections is the equivalent of some nut job driving 50 miles to a store having a sale that will net them 5 dollars off a good.

Anticrawl @ Jan 5th 2008 10:32PM

In case you missed it, I'm speaking of the price of gas out weighing the amount of money you saved for taking the trip. Actually it would be more like 20 miles, forgot you'd have to drive back hahaha...

Jeff @ Jan 5th 2008 10:54PM

I was about to comment that some idiot wouldn't understand your analogy, then I kept reading. Lmao.

DWells55 @ Jan 6th 2008 6:22AM

Not really. I just set up Windows ICS in my brother's room so he could have Xbox Live access. His computer is connected wirelessly because it's not practical to run ethernet up the stairs to his room without a lot of work. He runs his computer 24/7 anyways, so I just plugged a crossover cable into his PC and Xbox, enabled Windows ICS, and there you go, he has Xbox Live that functions fine.

But you're right; I'm cheap and totally should have gone out and bought a $100 wireless adapter that costs Microsoft $5 to make.

Matt Rix @ Jan 5th 2008 11:29PM

Anticrawl: The 360 wireless adapter is $80-100, which is ridiculous for what it is. An off-the-shelf normal wireless router won't do wifi>ethernet bridging without modified/hacked firmware, so that's out too. In some locations, running wires is expensive and inconvenient(that's why people use wireless in the first place). This is by far easiest way to get a cheap a wireless connection on the 360.

mike @ Jan 6th 2008 2:44AM

you dont buy an off the shelf normal wireless router, you buy a off the shelf normal wireless access point, which can be found for $30. Does the job just fine. You just dont know what your shopping for.

Matt Rix @ Jan 6th 2008 7:05PM

I obviously, but they're usually much more expensive than normal routers... You'd be lucky to get one for under $60, as most go for over $100. Keep in mind that this laptop trick is *FREE*.

Platinum_Skeet @ Jan 5th 2008 11:43PM

Helpful for OS Leapord because I don't know how to bridge a connection there...

Cal @ Jan 5th 2008 11:50PM

Meh, http://www.xboxlivetheguide.co.uk is better =)

AirIntake @ Jan 5th 2008 11:54PM

Can anybody recommend a cheap wireless bridge or router that can be used in bridge mode (and where to buy it)? I know of the wrt54g, but it's hard to find an old enough version number that can do it.

Farseer (GDI) @ Jan 6th 2008 12:52AM

Seriously; Cat5e. Figure out a way to get a cable to the box - it's the only way you'll get a dependable connection.

Nessman @ Jan 6th 2008 12:55AM

luckily my old Xbox Adaptor still works but if it gives out i'll use my laptop :)

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jan 6th 2008 4:07AM

That's what I'm using too. but I just tried this out and this is definitely an improvement.

Brychanus @ Jan 6th 2008 1:52AM

There are other valid uses for a trick like this. Some Universities (such as the University of Denver) offer VPN-protected wireless as the only internet connection in all university owned housing. You have to run a Cisco VPN client to connect at all. What's a console player to do? Network bridging voodoo!

Dragod @ Jan 6th 2008 4:33AM

Apple makes Consoles now? Wow. It looks kinda like 360. But it couldn't be. Apple did it first, better, and there's nothing wrong with it. Microsoft could never do anything better than Apple.

Dan CiTi @ Jan 6th 2008 4:49AM

So true.

ssuk @ Jan 6th 2008 7:25AM

Yeah, I've shared my WiFi connections with the Xbox 360 for a while now. Works a treat so long my WiFi isn't being funky... Which apparently the 360 blocks WiFi signals... But I can regualy get onto Xbox Live and have a lag-free experience on Gears of War, Shadowrun and Halo 3. So I can't complain at all.
It cost me £10 for the 2m cross-over UTP cable from my local Maplins Electronics Store, you can get smaller cables for cheaper, but I route my cable all around my room so it's hidden out of sight (and so no one trips over it). It's great.

Easo @ Jan 6th 2008 11:39AM

Maybe I have the super secret, special made, only available on launch day (and only if you pre ordered 360 days in advanced)360 super pro elite sku, but my 360 can use the same wireless-g game adapter that my laptop has been using since 2003. When I first got my 360 and was too lazy to run the ethernet cable where it wouldnt be seen, I used my laptops network adapter just fine. But again, maybe my 360 is special.