Choosing your Internet Connection Sharing host computer

You can choose one computer to share an Internet connection with the rest of the computers on your home or small office network. This computer is called the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) host computer.

To determine which computer should be your ICS host computer, use the following guidelines:

The computer should be running Windows XP.
The computer must be one that you can leave on at all times so that other computers on the network can access the Internet. If the computer is turned off, the connection to the Internet will not be available.
If one computer has a DSL or cable modem, use that computer as the ICS host computer.
If you plan to use a shared printer for your network, the printer should be installed on the ICS host computer.

If Internet Connection Sharing is already set up on another computer, turn off ICS on that computer before you turn on ICS on the new host computer.
If you upgraded to Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and your shared printer no longer works, open Windows Firewall in Control Panel and select File and Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab.
To open Windows Firewall, click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Windows Firewall.