Win9x ICS Client Installation

Before you install/configure ICS on another Windows95/98 or NT4 system, I suggest that you
first install the network on all systems using TCP/IP-protocol and verify, that you have a working
network connection to the Windows 98 SE system, acting as ICS Host.

We use now the "Client Configuration Disk" (as created during the setup of the ICS host) :

	Start (=Double-Click) on the Client Configuration Disk the "ICSCLSET.EXE" to run the "Browser Connection Setup Wizard". It will NOT configure the network, that is YOUR job (and it is covered below in detail)
	information message : The Wizard will check the settings for your browser, to use the network connection (instead of a modem-connection) Just continue with "Next"
	Information message: Completing the Browser Setup Wizard. continue with "Finish Lets verify, what this wizard has done by checking in the Control-panel the settings for "Internet":
	Check on the tab: Connection As the wizard told us, a connection to the Internet is not using anymore a modem, but the Local network, there select as connection: "Connect to the Internet using a local area network"

It is time to have a close look at the README.TXT-file on the "Client Configuration Disk", especially the instructions for the TCP/IP-settings (see here for the complete content of readme.txt)

I strongly suggest to follow these instructions step-by-step !
(there are possibilities for different IP-addresses using ICS Advanced Configuration )

	Properties of TCP/IP-protocol: tab: "IP-Address" select to "Obtain an IP address automatically", i.e. to use DHCP. The "Internet Connection Sharing" setup on the Windows98 SE system includes a DHCP- server, which will assign IP-addresses.
	tab: "WINS Configuration" select "Use DHCP for WINS Resolution"
	tab: "Gateway" make sure, that NO gateway is defined
	tab: DNS Configuration Ensure that DNS is disabled

Any change to the network configuration will require a restart of the system.
And after the restart, you should check, that you have a valid configuration:

	Click on your "Start" button, select from the menu: "Run" and enter "WINIPCFG", then OK
	Click on the button "More Indo >>" to display the detailed information on your IP-configuration. The IP-address (in this example: 192.168.0.2) was assigned to your system by the DHCP- server on the ICS Host, which also passed on the IP-address for the "DNS-Server" and for the "Default Gateway", which is by default the ICS-host.

Ready !

Don't forget: when starting up your system, you need to logon to the network:


On the ICS-host, when starting up an Internet application, you will still be prompted to confirm, that you really intend to connect to the Internet, and the connection progress is display:




When now starting up on an ICS-Clients any TCP/IP-application (including the very simple PING) using an IP-address on the Internet, the ICS-host will establish the connection to the Internet (without asking for any confirmation and without displaying a connection progress window on the ICS-host), only the Dial-Up Networking icon will be displayed in the taskbar.

On the ICS-host, the ICS-icon in the taskbar can be used to verify the number of systems sharing the Internet-connection:

The ICS-host is always sharing this connection (so if 2 systems are listed to share the Internet connection, it is the ICS-host and ONE additional system via the local network).

When I installed ICS, it worked the first time without any problem.
However, some users have reported problems (example: a Win98SE article in the German Computer journal CT, issue 15/99, page 92) and it has been suggested in such cases to UN-INSTALL ICS, restart the system and then to RE-INSTALL ICS.

The shared Internet connection is terminated on the ICS-host like any other Dial-Up Networking connection:

(for an automatic disconnection, make sure that the Modem Idle-Timeout is configured)

In a simple home-network with just 2 or 3 systems, ICS works well using the default values.
But in an office setup, there is the need for some special configuration:

ICS Advanced Configuration