Xbox 360 Networking With A Laptop's Wireless Connection
Is your Xbox 360 in a room far, far away from your broadband router, and you just don't have the cash to spend on the Xbox wireless adapter? You can get online easily by hijacking your laptop's wireless connection with the following tools:
- Laptop with wireless connection to some access point (assuming a nice, stable connection to a network you own with internet access)
- Internet Connection Sharing ENABLED! (this is disabled by some domain group policies, the setting is in the GPO Editor / Computer Config / Administrative Templates / Network Settings)
- Crossover cable OR:
- Ethernet patch cable x 2 (this is the normal kind of cable you use to connect a computer to the "Internets")
- A hub, switch, or other multiport mechanism with at least two non-uplink ports (preferably not a router, because it may try to assign IPs and generally includes a lot of overhead)
And the steps to get it all connected (note, I am using Vista Business here, but the same or similar steps apply for other operating systems):
- Make sure your laptop has an active wireless internet connection, and you can get to an incredible website like www.live.com
- Fire up your hub or switch, and attach your two patch cables like this:
- One patch cable from your laptop's Ethernet port to Port 1 on your hub or switch
- One patch cable from your Xbox 360's Ethernet port to Port 2 on your hub or switch
(Note, the port numbers are inconsequential, just don't use the uplink ports at all)
- Open up Control Panel / Network Connections. You should see an Unidentified Network or some such (the connection to your hub) and a Wireless Network Connection, both of which are connected.
- Bridge the two connections by selecting them both, right-clicking on one or the other, and clicking Bridge Connections.
- Windows will create a network bridge that will allow your 360 to use your laptop's wireless connection.
- Test your connection from the System tab / Network settings in your 360.
Note! If you need to download an update for Xbox Live, do it through the Xbox Live tab rather than the System Test tab, I had better luck there.
Big thanks to my friend Henry Hernandez who suggested this originally, he's the kind of smartypants who makes his own crossover cables.
Comments
Anonymous
July 18, 2007
This works for me, but i keep getting disconnected to live every 15 minutes for some reason, it's only the Xbox losing connection... the pc still has a connection. Any ideas? Been trying to figure it out for a week now...Anonymous
July 18, 2007
Hmm... Are you using a hub or a switch? Just out of curiosity. I am not losing a connection and I was hosting PGR 3 games just fine, it just took a while to figure out what I was doing. Also if you are using DSL it might be briefly resetting itself, I have BellSouth DSL and it's notorious about that (the problem was fixed when I got a newer DSL modem).Anonymous
July 19, 2007
I have tried this but when I bridge my wireless connection and the LAN connection it disconnects my wireless connection. Do you know why that is?Anonymous
July 19, 2007
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July 22, 2007
I get an IP Conflict every time I do as you say.. .Anonymous
July 27, 2007
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July 31, 2007
i'm trying to use a crossover cable ... but when i enable the port and enable internet sharing on my laptop... i seem to lose the wireless connection ... the connection shows that it is connected - but i can't go on the net with the laptop ... then it shows my other connection (wired to 360) as limited or no connectivity and fails to get an IP when I run the 360 tests.Anonymous
August 21, 2007
i don't suppose anyone could help me out here.... same problem as other people... i seem to be getting IP adress confliction between the bridge connections. Can somebody please suggest something? ThanksAnonymous
August 27, 2007
all i have is a ethernet cord....do i need a hub cause i dont know what that isAnonymous
August 30, 2007
its telling me that i can not create a bridger with an internet conetion being shared.....?Anonymous
September 02, 2007
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October 02, 2007
I have a laptop with windows vista. Can you tell me how to connect my laptop to it. By the way, I don't have a wireless card, just a connection to a linksys router.Anonymous
October 07, 2007
i seem o be having the same issue as abouve but i am not sure on the response on how to fix it , i create the bridge but my wireless network gets disconnect when i do so is there a step by step way to fix this i am using XP SP2 would be a major help if i could get a heads up on this thanks in advanceAnonymous
October 11, 2007
i have xbox 360 ethernet to laptop xp which is wifi to linksys 54g router. wifi works great. from network panel, what do i config my LAN connection for xbox to: DHCP or STATIC? from laptop with crossover to xbox, what should my xbox be set to DHCP or static? do i need to brigde the two connections? do i need to avtivate or disable internet sharing?Anonymous
October 11, 2007
i am having this same problem and its really frustrating. i have a dell desktop pc in my room with vista home basic, and its connected to a wireless adapter via usb, wich is connected to my wireless network. i want to connect my 360 to my desktops empty ethernet port and use xbox live. i have my connections bridged but my xbox doesnt pass ip test?? i need help please. thanx in advance :)Anonymous
October 12, 2007
Quote: "I have a laptop with windows vista. Can you tell me how to connect my laptop to it. By the way, I don't have a wireless card, just a connection to a linksys router." if it is an actual router (not a wireless receiver) then you can just plug the xbox right into one of the 4 ports using a standard Ethernet cable.Anonymous
October 23, 2007
I just got a new vista laptop and i stumbled across this page seeing if the same thing i did in xp was possible in vista. There was a problem on xp but its solution was setting force combatability mode through dos and this can be done by typing netsh bridge(after you create the bridge) show adapter and it should show you your wireless and ethernet after that from the netsh bridge context type set adapter (insert your ethernet adapter number) e then do it again for your wireless. Now i am going off of about a year old memory of this situation so dont quote me but it should help those using xp. I was playing xbc just fine from my neighbors router across the street.Anonymous
October 25, 2007
can i close my laptop for this to still work ( it works so far) or will it disconnect me from live?Anonymous
October 27, 2007
I bridge the connections and try and connect my 360 to the internet but it canot get the IP and a notice comes up on my p.c saying there was an IP address conflict with another system on the network.Anonymous
November 28, 2007
hi, I am having a similar problem to some of these people, when I create a switch in my laptop to connect my wifi and wired ethernet I seem to lose wireless connection about every 2 minutes, its really annoying and for some reason the Wireless is turning itself completely off, maybe because it thinks the ethernet has superiority over it, but I do not know how to fix this. I see alot of people are having similar problems, hope someone can help even a little.Anonymous
November 28, 2007
i'm sorry did i say switch, i meant bridge in my previous postAnonymous
December 01, 2007
i am picking up my wireless internet from my neighbor and i cannot enable sharing how would i do thatAnonymous
December 23, 2007
can I do this with out a hub or a switchAnonymous
December 25, 2007
i have wifi on my laptop running xp and its on my network, but when i plug my 360 into my laptop internet is away!!! then the test on 360 says problem with i.p address plz help.Anonymous
December 25, 2007
i'm about to get a 360 nd instad of spending £50 on the wireless thing that you can by for the xbox, i wana know (in lamens terms if poss) how i can put my vista laptop to the xbox so i can use my wireless via my laptop to play on the internet with my xb360. Its a simple ask ? what cables do i need? and what do i need todo? thanks alot dan :)Anonymous
December 26, 2007
Would the cable that came with the XB360 Premium work as a Crossover (Direct connection from Xbox360 to Laptop)?Anonymous
December 27, 2007
add me on anth.p@hotmail.com please if u can help me would be a big pleasure in desprete needAnonymous
December 29, 2007
I have gotten everything working (my laptop is on vista) and its working very nicely the only problem I am having is that I have a strict NAT type, when I had a wire connected from the xbox to the router it was open, but going through my laptops wireless connection seems to make it into a strict NAT. Could anyone tell me how to get it to be open again? It very hard getting into games with a strict NAT type. Email - Four_Beautiful_strings@hotmail.comAnonymous
December 30, 2007
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January 06, 2008
i have an acer and the control panel is a little different and i can't figure out how to bridge the two connections.Anonymous
January 29, 2008
how do i disable inernet sharing in the lan port?Anonymous
February 05, 2008
for ppl with windows vista trying to brigde wiresless from router not card. and ethernet. u need network connections dissable with ethernet to connect to internet. on properties. once u do that it will allow you to brigde connections. if u dont do this it say u need to have 2 lan lines to connect etc. play with it took me 2 days to figure it out but this site defenelty help thanks you all !! jCAnonymous
February 22, 2008
Do you have to use a hub or a switch because I can bridge the two connection fine with out it unfortunatly it does not seem to work very well so I am not sure what to do. I would also like an explenation as to how I should do thisAnonymous
February 23, 2008
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March 09, 2008
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March 09, 2008
This won't work for me. I'm using the ethernet cable that came with the 360... The one in the small orange bag. And once I bridge and the two connect, I can't use the internet on my laptop.Anonymous
March 13, 2008
I am having the same problem as many here - once the connection between the Xbox and the Laptop is made, the laptop loses connectivity with the wireless router. If anyone has found a more detailed guide on how to troubleshoot this, and can post a link here, it would be greatly appreciated. I find some of the networking discussion here hard to follow, as I don't know all the lingo (NAT, DHCP, etc.). I am OK with basic networking, but need it broken down a little more.Anonymous
April 28, 2008
I had the same issue if the router was set to use a fixed map of DHCP addresses. For some reason, the IP conflict was there and the router said that the MAC of the bridged connections on PC1 was the same as the MAC of the interface on PC2 .. ?!?! I just allowed the router to assign DHCP IPs freely and the problem dissappeared (still used a fixed set of MACs!)Anonymous
May 07, 2008
ok i have my 360 hooked straight into my laptop which has a built-it wireless reciever that gets internet from my wireless router blah blah blah i bridged the connections and every time i connect to live it kicks me off every five minutes and i have to fix it. i went to local are connection properties and it said something about turning off the device automaticly to save power so i disabled it...but still nothing...help?Anonymous
May 17, 2008
how do i turn off internet connection sharingAnonymous
May 18, 2008
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May 22, 2008
hello there Sorry to repeat the same question as many people here - but the connection between my 360 and vista pc is really starting to frustrate me. Like most of the people posting here i connect to the internet on PC through a wireless connection and my 360 is connected to my pc via an ethernet cable. I ve tried using the ICS and this was working fine for a while - but then started disconnecting all the time, quite ofetn allowing me to play for about 10 mins then booting me out - i would also lose the connection on my pc and i could not reconnect without resetting everything! im now trying to network bridge but it gave me an error notice about conflicting IP addresses. My understanding is that the 360 and pc have the same ip address, but i am unsure of this! if this is the case how can i assign them individual ip addresses that will work? are there any firewall or security settings i need to disable in order to connect smoothly? one of the things that really frustrated me is that it did work fine originally - i played for hours using ICS, but the next time i turned on my pc it would not allow me to connect to the internet - even though the signal was fine! "failed for unknown reason" error would come up automatically.I had to disable the 360 in the network connections and disable internet sharing. it seems really hit and miss as to wheter the PC/360 "allow" me to connect. i realise this cannot be the case but thats the ways its feeling any help would be greatly appreciated and may even save the life of a 360 many thanks AshAnonymous
May 25, 2008
i set it up through the laptop, but every time i go to test the connection the IP address fails... does anybody know how to fix thisAnonymous
June 01, 2008
Thank you so much this worked perfect for meAnonymous
July 04, 2008
I think I may have found the solution for everyone that is getting randomly disconnected. I was having this same problem until I did one thing. I changed the channel on the router to channel 11 instead of the default, which is 6. Channel 6 can get interference with things such as cordless phones and microwaves. This interference won't shut down your internet, but it can however make it hiccup. Resulting in the random disconnects.Anonymous
July 14, 2008
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October 30, 2008
This site will help you guy out http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-your-laptop-as-an-XboxXbox-360-wireless-adap/ My problem is that when I try and Sharing Media with the 360 and my PC I get the pc connection fail but everything is good. When I use the wire I don't get the pc connection fail it works. any idealsAnonymous
November 06, 2008
what happens when mtu fails and when your internet fails on your laptop is my laptops connection not strong enough or something i want knowAnonymous
March 14, 2009
OMG! IT KEEPS SAYING FAILED! NERDS THESE DAYS R STUPIDER THEN JOCKS!Anonymous
March 30, 2009
Hi, I can not bridge my connections together for som reason. it is sying that I have to at least two LAN Coneections that are not being used by a internet sharing thing Can you help meAnonymous
June 09, 2009
Ok so my laptop had connmecion thsi morning.. but then i took the cable out about 3 hours later (now) it wont connect! my brother said he used sharing to connect.. and idk but everytime i use this step and select both it says, cannot bridge must have 2 or more links selected or sumthin... idk..Anonymous
June 09, 2009
Ok so my laptop had connmecion thsi morning.. but then i took the cable out about 3 hours later (now) it wont connect! my brother said he used sharing to connect.. and idk but everytime i use this step and select both it says, cannot bridge must have 2 or more links selected or sumthin... idk..Anonymous
July 07, 2009
My bro does this with a laptop and it works but can I use this with a wireless computer?? A computer with a wireless adapterAnonymous
July 17, 2009
hi, i need to know WHAT IS A HUB OR SWITCH!?!?!?!?!?!Anonymous
August 01, 2009
I'm running Vista on my laptop. I had bridged my LAN and wireless connections fine and it worked for about a month. Suddenly now after having used it fine for a month, the xbox says "disconnected from xbox live" every 20 minutes. I still have internet on my laptop, and the network connections window says the bridge is working. Anyone know what's up? Thanks much!Anonymous
August 01, 2009
I have been able to connect fine. However downloading updates for XBOX live is a problem. Any ideas?Anonymous
August 03, 2009
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August 17, 2009
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August 25, 2009
wow, this is the first guide that actually helped me out all i had to do was update through the marketplace and i was set.Anonymous
September 18, 2009
I just wanted to say thank you, your guide helped me out; I was struggling to get online for some odd reason ofter the major "Xbox Live Experience" Update. Thanks :)Anonymous
September 19, 2009
why doesn't anyone ever answer questions about ip conflict?Anonymous
September 26, 2009
How do you bridge two connections, i have a HP LaptopAnonymous
October 13, 2009
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October 16, 2009
have to disconnect wireless connection and turn OFF internet connection sharing to bridge the two. works a champ now. Well havent tried streaming yet through media center but thats next. And yes router must be set to channel 11 to fix interuption of internet access.Anonymous
October 27, 2009
Everyones begging for an answer shut up.Anonymous
November 08, 2009
how is it possible to connect my new laptop which has vista premium and 3g broadband vodafone dongle to the web??Anonymous
December 10, 2009
Hey, this is going to be a piece of pie...err, cake! I have: 1 Linksys hub 2 Ethernet cables 1 Laptop and 1 Xbox 360! This should work just fine! Oh, and a Belkin router :D Thanks!Anonymous
December 20, 2009
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January 06, 2010
i have a sprint wireless aircard and can get through all the steps to bridge connections, but when my son turns on the xbox, the sprint aircard turns off. any suggestions?Anonymous
January 07, 2010
Alright here's the deal.. The only hub i have is routing wireless internet through out the house. (other end of the house) XBOX === Cat5 Crossover Cable === Laptop. Why would this configuration not work without a hub or switch?Anonymous
January 13, 2010
dos your xbox360 as to be turn ofAnonymous
January 13, 2010
how to git Network Connections setingsAnonymous
January 23, 2010
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February 22, 2010
Help please? I am trying to do this but I am on windows 7 and cannot find a bridge connection anywhere under Network and Internet where all that posted above should be. Can someone help with this please?Anonymous
May 07, 2010
If you want to connect your Xbox to your laptop to use its wireless then check out this site http://www.instructables.com/id/Connect-your-Xbox-360-online-using-your-laptop-Si/ another option i found out you can do if the bridgeing gives you problems is to go to your Wireless options on your laptop and go to some of its options and set it to connection sharing, this option is in Vista systems and up tho.Anonymous
May 15, 2010
thanks! it works, but I don't think you are using VISTA, because it's really hard to get to Properties, also you don't even need to merge connections:/ Yes I'm connected successful, but this isn't wireless, because I'm still using wire to connect. Although it's PERFECT for people with laptop, because they can connect anywhere in the house.Anonymous
June 23, 2010
im using a WIRELESS connection on my laptop (my modem is broken and i dont have a router) so what can i basicly do connecting to wireless on my laptop without modem or router? because it doesnt have ICS for me nor i cannot bridge. Help?Anonymous
June 29, 2010
remove the firewall on your lan networkAnonymous
July 27, 2010
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November 25, 2010
This is such an easy tutorial to follow. Thanks for this. But if this doesn't work for you, there's still one alternative you can do. You can make use of Netgear's Xbox 360 Internet Connection Kit. This wonderful device acts the same way as the WiFi adapter giving wireless internet connectivity for your Xbox 360, and it also works for your PS2, PS3, and PC gaming. Check this link out: http://bit.ly/bByST7, for more information about this wonderful product from Netgear.Anonymous
September 17, 2011
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September 21, 2011
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June 27, 2012
Great post, I had been having problems connecting my Xbox 360, followed your instructions and Bingo. Many thanksAnonymous
June 25, 2014
Hey thanks a lot this seemed to work, also if you go by the first method you won't need a hub. At least not for a pc, i have ethernet cord running from my PC to my Xbox and it's doing an update for xbox.