Suppose you set up two  home networks or  local area networks (LAN) at a small office and want also to connect one network to another. To do this you have to buy  a router or until after you can purchase one  you can get around this  by creating “free router” from the existing computer.

 

What is router?  a router is  a network device  that serves to connect  two or more computer networks and   channel data from one computer to another within a network. Routers are also used to connect smaller networks to larger one  and are also used to divide large networks into  smaller ones

 

Now let’s get to the point. You have a computer connected to DSL / broadband connection and  run two networks (let’s say Network 1 and Network 2)  at your office and you wish to connect all computers within  both networks to access the internet or simply share files or printers between the two networks.  You can make the computer that connect to the internet a simple  router and what you need is a computer installed with Windows XP  Professional, three Local Area Network cards (NIC) , a switch or hub (whichever is applicable).

 

Step One : Enable IP Forwarding on Windows Registry

Before you proceed make sure you first back-up you Windows registry just  in case you mess up with it.

The first thing you do is to enable IP  forwarding on the computer you want to make a router. Go to Start and click Run then type in regedit to run registry editor and locate the the following registry key.

 

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/TcpipParameters
  • Right click IPEnableRouter registry object, and click Modify. Change IPEnableRouter window  registry value to 1 and then and click OK, close the registry editor and reboot your computer.

create simple router with windows xp

Step Two : Configure Router For  First LAN Card (Network I)

Go to Control Panel, select Network Connections, right click on the first  LAN Card and then select Properties.

On the General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP / IP),   select  Properties and assign it with the following profile :
Network Card I (connect to network I):
IP: 10.10.10.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway : leave it blank

Step Three : Configure Router For Second  LAN Card  (Network 2)

This second step is similar to the first configuration except for the IP address configuration :
IP: 192.168.20.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway : leave it blank

Step Four : Configure all the client computers  with following profile.

Network 1
IP: 10.10.10.2-254
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway : 10.10.10.1

Network 2
IP: 192.168.20.2-254
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.20.1

To make sure you have successfully set up a working connection between the two networks run a ping command  from a workstation computer in network 1 and nerwork 2

Filed under: Computer & Networking • Windows Tips and Trick

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