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.)
- A Laptop with both a Wireless Card and an open Ethernet port.
- A CAT5e Crossover Ethernet Cable. (Not your standard cable! I found one on eBay for less than $5.)
(If you don't have a crossover cable and/or have MORE THAN ONE game console to connect to.)
- A Laptop with both a Wireless Card and an open Ethernet port.
- A Network Switch with at least 2 open ports. (Mine is a Netgear 5 port.)
- 2 or more Standard Ethernet Cables
- 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.
- netsh bridge set adapter 1 e
- netsh bridge set adapter 2 e
-Method 1-
This method uses a direct connection from your laptop to the game system.
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.
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.
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!
If you can't connect there are a few things you can try.
- Turn off the game system and power it back on.
- 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")
- Make sure the cables are firmly connected to all devices.
- Make sure the Network Switch is plugged into an AC outlet.
- Restart the Laptop.
Just a quick question. Can I somehow connect to the Internet with my xbox if I only have a wireless connection home without using the Xbox USB adaptor? Can I somehow substitute the adaptor with my laptop?
ReplyDeleteThanks
I'm using XP Pro Corp. I just have to right click on the wireless connection in Network Connections and click enable "Share this internet connection" under properties.
ReplyDeleteCrossover cable still required, of course!
so do both the connections need to have a connection? cuz i just bridged my wireless connection witch is connected and my local area connection which is enabled but says that a cable is unplugged so its nt connected. will that work if i connect the laptop to the xbox via cross over cable? it says the bridge is connected. i only have an ethernet cable so i can't test it. so will this work?
ReplyDeleteYes it works, I have tested and confirmed it. In fact I use my laptop to access Xbox Live while in my basement where there is not Ethernet, all the time. You will defiantly need a crossover cable otherwise it will NOT work.
ReplyDeleteif i no longer want to use my laptop with the xbox, what should i do? do i have to run a different command?
ReplyDeleteYou can run these commands...
ReplyDelete1. netsh bridge set adapter 1 d
2. netsh bridge set adapter 2 d
And then delete the Bridge from Network Connections.
But just unplugging the Ethernet Cable will work too if you want to save the settings for later. Good Luck!
Good words.
ReplyDeleteCan you make it go the other way? I've got an ethernet cable providing internet access to my laptop, and would like to create a wireless signal with my laptop that my iphone can connect to.
ReplyDeleteI know it's possible to use your iPhone as a Wireless Access Point for your laptop, but i'm not sure you can do it the other way around. Sorry I'm on Verizon with no iPhone here haha
ReplyDeleteI plugged my crossover cable into my computer and my xbox360 without any of the setup and it worked for me. Then I tried sharing a folder of That 70's Show from my computer onto the 360 and the connection doesn't work anymore. I then tried your setup and it still doesn't work. Any clue how to undo the Sharing Wizard I used to try and share the video? Thanks
ReplyDeleteYou can delete the Bridge, and try disabling, repairing or just re-enabling the connection. Then making the bridge again. That seems to be the cure all for me. Btw if you Download either the Zune software or have Windows Media Player 11 or Windows Media Center, streaming media to the Xbox 360 couldn't be easier! Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteSorry to bug you again, this is the same guy from the last post. I've tried deleting the bridge, reseting my adapter settings, reseting the 360, and switching laptops and still nothing. I think the problem is coming from the router or the computer it's hooked up to. It's an RCA DCW725 router. The 360 keeps telling me it's not receiving an IP address from the router as I'm sitting here posting this. Any help as to what I can do to fix this is greatly appreciated as I'm paying for wasted time on Live trying to fix my problem. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI'm confused about your setup. Is it your RCA-DCW725 is a wireless router that your laptop is connected to, then you have the Xbox connected to your laptop? If that is not working try plugging the Xbox into the router directly to make sure you can even get a connection at all. The we ca troubleshoot the wireless.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even have to go through all this. I plugged the ethernet cord that came with my 360 into my laptop and opened up the network connections.
ReplyDeleteThen, right click on the wireless network and select Properties. When the screen pops up, select Advanced and then check the box that says "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection." After that, I was connected to Live.
Are you using Vista or Windows 7? Thats actually a real time saver, nice find if it works.
ReplyDeletecould someone help me? I have tried every way possible suggested in this post (I am just using option 1 above), nothing works. I have vista os laptop using a xover cable. I have tried the right click wireless enable other users option (I think that he is using xp, as there appears to be no check box "to enable other users" in vista. Help! Could I get a very detailed step by step instructions? I appear to be missing something.
ReplyDeleteYeah I was using XP when I wrote this guide. You say you created the bridge ok and it gets a valid IP address?
ReplyDeleteit just says that (on my 360) that it is unable to connect. I do have an ip address for my console, but other than that, I am not sure what is wrong.
ReplyDeleteGo to the network settings on the Xbox 360 and run the diagnostics. See which part fails and let me know.
ReplyDeleteinternet
ReplyDeleteHmm see if you can reset to the defaults for the Xbox settings. Also try deleting the bridge and recreating it with the Xbox on and trying to connect. But otherwise since it fails at the Xbox Live/Internet stage that more of an issue to check with your ISP I would assume.
ReplyDeleteYep, this would be the third time I have tried this, same result. Might be something with my isp, not sure. They do not answer my emails. This is my last attempt before switching isp's.
ReplyDeleteHaha who is your ISP, just curious and best of luck.
ReplyDeleteits wireless escape, pay by the hour/day/month thing, it runs in the barracks here on a military post. I do not want to go back to allegiance, as they are hideously expensive and their cs blows, so its not funny either way.
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't realize you were in the armed forces dude! But yeah I'd put money on the fact that they are blocking Xbox Live, maybe because of limited bandwidth or for other purposes I couldn't say though.
ReplyDeleteu said it
ReplyDeleteOne thing that will work is if you set up a VPN and then use that for the bridge with the Ethernet connection. The outgoing data will be encrypted and this your ISP won't be able to block it.
ReplyDeleteill try it and see if that works
ReplyDeletei have a ps3 and i want to play online. I have a laptop which has high speed internet but my internet is ran through one of those laptop connect cards that go in the usb port and i was wondering if there is any way i can play my ps3 online
ReplyDeleteAs long as you can bridge the connections, yes it should work.
ReplyDelete