Make Windows 7 act as a DHCP Server

Question

Hi,

is it possible to make Windows 7 act as a DHCP server (IP address provider) for a LAN? If yes, is it still possible even if Internet Connection Sharing is activated (and so Windows 7 configures static IP adresses)?

Thanks.

Answer 1

To the best of my knowledge, the only way to make Windows 7 act as a DHCP server (without 3rd-party software) is to enable Internet Connection Sharing.  ICS assigns a static IP address to the host computer's LAN connection, and its DHCP server assigns dynamic IP addresses to the other LAN computers.

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Boulder Computer Maven

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

Answer 2

I didn't recommend disabling UMTS prior to enabling ICS.  Do that after enabling ICS, in order to change the Local Area network from "Public" to "Home" or "Work".

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Boulder Computer Maven

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

Answer 3

I have been working on this for hours now and your solution has come up with the most help so far because I have been able to connect to the media center, but it keeps losing its connection every time I turn off the Xbox.  Everyone wants to know why I am hooking it up this way, but it is due to the slow speed of the media center when it is not hard wired.  I will explain a little below what I have going on.

I have a crossover cable connected directly to my computer and then directly connects to the xbox and the speed is great.  I have HDMI capabilities according to the network test.

The question is do you know why the xbox is not able to connect after I shut it down and restart.  I have checked this on the computer several times to make sure it is running and the media center is running in the background.  It seems like the xbox wants to connect, but it just comes up with a check the computer and hit reconnect once the computer is turned on.

Thanks

Jeremy

Answer 4

please help me to make sever can you please

Answer 5

I've tried. It does not work.

I have:

• 1 Ethernet connection (links the Windows 7 PC with my LAN - i.e. my laptop)
• 1 UMTS connection (links the Windows 7 PC to the Internet)

When the UMTS connection was disabled, I followed the steps in the page that you've linked and the result was that I was able to set the network as Work but still I was not able to set it as an Home network (i.e., the network was still identified as an "Unidentified network", I couldn't change the name of the network and I could't access the Network Profile dialog - the one that let you choose between Home/Work/Private). Needless to say, now Windows 7 has reset the network as a Public Unidentified network.

Any other suggestions?

ICS requires you to have 2 active network connections, one for internet and one for LAN. Disabling UMTS prior to enabling ICS is a mistake. You will have 2 networks on the ICS host computer when you have enabled ICS, a single network on the client computer. The internet connection on UMTS would be designated Public. The ethernet connection between the two computers will use addresses in one of the private subnets so it will be Home or Work (essentially equivalent).  Note that you need a 'crossover' ethernet cable when connecting 2 computers directly to each other.