How To: Use your Laptop as a Wireless Hub

In this tutorial, I will be showing you how to use your Laptop as a Wireless Hub for your Original Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Gamecube, Wii, or any other device that has an Ethernet port. This will allow you to connect to, for example: Xbox Live without the need to buy the $100 official wireless adapter!

Things you will need:

UPDATE: Newer consoles don't always need a crossover cable. TRY a standard and post your results.

Method 1:
(If you have a crossover cable and only ONE game console to connect to.)

1. A Laptop with both a Wireless Card and an open Ethernet port.
   
2. A CAT5e Crossover Ethernet Cable. (Not your standard cable! I found one on eBay for less than $5.)

Method 2:
(If you don't have a crossover cable and/or have MORE THAN ONE game console to connect to.)

1. A Laptop with both a Wireless Card and an open Ethernet port.
2. A Network Switch with at least 2 open ports. (Mine is a Netgear 5 port.)
   
3. 2 or more Standard Ethernet Cables
   

Ok let's begin...

• Click on Start, mouse over the "Connect to" menu and then select "Show all connections".
• Use control, shift, or a drag of the mouse to highlight both your wireless connection, and your Ethernet (wired) connection.
• Right click the two connections and then select "Bridge Connections".

• Minimize that and click Start again.
• Go to "Run" and type "cmd". (With or without quotes.)
• Type the following lines of code into the command prompt and hit enter.
  

1. netsh bridge set adapter 1 e
2. netsh bridge set adapter 2 e

This will enable "forced compatibility mode" and will allow you to surf the web while playing online.

-Method 1-

This method uses a direct connection from your laptop to the game system.

• Connect the Crossover Cable from the game system to your laptop, and power on the console.
• As you may have noticed, crossover cables might be hard to distinguish from normal Ethernet cables. The one I have has "XOVER" imprinted next to the plug.

-Method 2-

This method uses a split connection, from your laptop, to the Network Switch, and then to the game system.

The Network Switch will automatically detect the input port and split it into many connections, basically turning one Ethernet connection into several.

If you have multiple game systems in one location, you can connect them all to the Network Switch and have them all function at once!

• First, connect one Ethernet Cable from your laptop to the Network Switch.
• Next, connect the other Ethernet Cable from the Network switch to your game system and turn it on.

In my setup, yellow connects to my laptop, and blue connects to the Xbox 360.

Regardless of what method you are using...

• Go back to "Network Connections" and hit F5 to refresh.
• The end result should look something like this.

There you go, your game console(s) should be able to access the Internet and you can now play online!

Troubleshooting:
If you can't connect there are a few things you can try.

1. Turn off the game system and power it back on.
2. Disable the "Network Bridge" by right clicking on it and selecting "Disable". Then double click on it to Enable it again. You should try this with the other connections too. ("Wireless Network Connection" and "Local Area Connection")
   
3. Make sure the cables are firmly connected to all devices.
4. Make sure the Network Switch is plugged into an AC outlet.
   
5. Restart the Laptop.

Good Luck!