Introduction: Bridge a Network Connection in Windows 7 (X-box-PC & PC-PC)

By Texas Airways
About: I am an Eagle Scout. I love Hunting, Fishing, Camping, Ropework, Chain Mail, Making things in general, and i love my family.

A couple months ago, i was helping a friend with her laptop in which the onboard wireless card did not function due to a missing driver after she had it serviced by Dell only a few days before. SOOO...i called up the company and had them figure the whole thing out...the Tech had me go all over the computer to find out that the wireless card was missing its corresponding driver. and the replaccement disks they sent her with the newly fixed laptop didnt contain the right driver (go figure...I still have yet to see that Dell gets anything right). SOOO the tech asked me to use an ethernet cable to connect to my router. naturally i wasnt around my router, so i tried the only other alternative...i tried to utilize my laptop as a router using the ethernet ports on both computers. needless to say it didnt work. SOOOOO i was forced to utilize my router.

now two weeks before Christmas, i went to my mom's house so she could see me, my wife, son, and daughter. My stepfather has a wireless network on the far side of my stepgrandmother's house which is 5 feet from their house. the connection sucked...but my laptop still managed to recieve the signal. My brother's netbook however didnt got such a crappy signal that it would cut out on him and would stop working completely. So he asked me to bridge my connection to him...i didnt know how to do it and he didnt know how to run my computer cause he was making a HUGE leap from XP to WIN7Ult.

just a day or so from this posting, i found out its possible to bridge a connection to the X-Box using a regular ethernet cable. so i learned and bridged my laptop with my brother in law's x-box 360. he is a happy camper. he no longer has to buy the POS wireless adapter that MSFT sells...

This is where i am now...

In this Instructable, i am going to teach you how to bridge a connection between an X-Box and a Computer, as well as how to Make a bridge from a host computer already recieving wireless to a client that has no wireless connection

Step 1: Materials

For this 'Ible your going to need the following;

1) A Host PC
2) An X-Box OR Client PC
3) A CATV Ethernet Cable OR CATV X-Over Cable

Step 2: Navigate to the Networking and Sharing Center

I am Pro-Laziness, so therefore i have shortcuts on my desktop to help out a little. the main shortcut i have is Control Panel followed by Computer shortcut followed by my Lightscribe Disk Drive followed by HP Cloud. I will put the steps on here for the long way just in case you dont have the shortcut for control panel...which i dare to venture and assume that at least 75% of the non-techy users on this site dont have on their desktop.


How i go about getting to the Networking and Sharing center is as follows:

1) DBL Click on the Ctrl PNL icon on the desktop (IMG1)
2) Once in the CTRL PNL, Click on Networking and Internet option (IMG2)
3) Now click on the N&SC Option (IMG3)
4) Welcome to the Networking and Sharing Center!!!

Getting to the N&SC without the shortcut only adds one step...First you need to click on the Start Orb, then click on CTRL PNL.

Step 3: Time to Change Adapter Settings

Now its time to change a couple adapter settings.

1) Click on the "Manage Wireless Networks" option in the window. (IMG1)
2) CLICK **ONCE** on the network you use to obtain internet. (IMG2-3)
3) Now click on "Adapter Properties" (IMG4)
4) A box will pop up with the tabs Networking and Sharing. Locate "Sharing". (IMG4-5)
5) After selecting Sharing, make sure that BOTH boxes are UNCHECKED. (IMG5)
6) Once confirmed that both boxes in "Sharing" are unchecked, you can exit the windows.

Step 4: View Network Connections (Prep to Bridge)

Now you need to get to "View Network Connections". To get to it, do this:****

1) CTRL PNL (IMG1)
2) In the search box in CTRL PNL, type in "Adapters" (IMG2)
3) Locate N&SC (IMG3)
4) Click on "View Network Connections" (IMG4)
5) If you've done everything right, you should now see all the types of networks your computer is currently accessing/have used.



****NOTE: Plug in your ethernet/X-Over cable now.

Step 5: Time to Bridge!

Now its time to bridge the connection.

1) Locate the wireless network your using, and the LAN that you want to bridge. (IMG1-2)*/**
2) Left click ONCE on either network, then press CTRL and click ONCE on the second network. (IMG2)
3) Right click on one of the networks, and look at the dropdown menu...youll see "Bridge Connections"...Click That (IMG3)
4) The network bridge alert pops up to let you know that your computer is now in the act of bridging the connections.



*For some odd reason my networks pulled a last minute switcharoo JUST BEFORE i snapped off the prt sc, but the network i am using is Adelsverien.
**The second image is showing my wireless network (on the top) re-initializing after the switcharoo.

Step 6: Success!!

Now you have Bridged your PC-XBOX or PC-PC. This is annotated by a "Router" icon that reads "Network Bridge", AND BOTH of your connections showing "Enabled, Bridged" directly under their names. You can now exit out of this window.


I hope that yall enjoyed this instructable! if there is anything that I have left out and should add, OR something that you think might make this 'Ible better, please comment on the FIRST page of this 'Ible. When i make corrections OR add your suggestions, i will reply to the comment. If you have nothing nice to say, your comment will be PROMPTLY DELETED.

Thank Yall for taking the time to read this 'Ible. i figured i would help those who needed help with their computer bridging needs in WIN7 As there are NONE that i have found on this site. It also helps those WIN7 Users who havent yet figured out how to bridge to X-Box yet.