Internet sharing not working anymore

This solution does not work for me. Same message about "Error creating computer-to-computer network". No matter with or without security, no matter on which channel. I tried to install Snow Leopard on clean partition, but result was the same.

I've been having the second problem since the 10.5.8 update. When I called Apple about it, they were familiar with the problem and suggested reinstalling the 10.5.8 combo updater, which worked, but only temporarily. The problem reappeared at least two more times before I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Now here the same problem is again! Happened to me just this morning. I was finally able to get a "real" Internet Sharing connection after a couple of restarts and a few start/stop cycles of the Internet Sharing option.

What /seems/ to be working for me is setting my location to use dynamic IPs (I normally use static IP, both at home, work, and campus). Switching over to dynamic IP seems to let Internet Sharing do it's thing. For firewall reasons, this isn't ideal (port forwarding doesn't work or needs to be pointed at whatever IP my Macbook has been assigned each time), but it's better than nothing.

In my case, it seems like setting everything to use static IPs screws up how Internet Sharing tries to setup the Airport connection.

further investigation I found out that:

my little trick didn't work and i wasn't able to reproduce my results.

I tried different steps and mixed it all around, still doesn't work. I think there def is a bug somewhere within airport...

THX - now it works!

I've been having the same problems as everyone else here. Trying to share internet connection from my ethernet wired iMac to my MacBook and my iPhone. Tried all the workarounds, but nothing works, or lasts very long.

Yesterday, I finally talked with AppleCare for over an hour. All their suggestions (trashing preferences, changing settings, etc.) failed, as well. The AppleCare person then put me on hold to speak to an engineer, who told her that Snow Leopard no longer supports Internet Sharing as of 10.6.1.

Not willing to accept that answer, I had them set up an appointment at the Apple Store Genius Bar for me, and after chatting with the Genius for a while, he also confirmed that Internet Sharing is no longer supported under Snow Leopard. Apparently, there were many hardware issues that the engineers decided to circumvent, and so did not include support for Internet Sharing with the internal airport in Macs. They said that the Airport it is intended to receive, not to send a signals! Yet, it worked fine, doing just that, under Tiger and Leopard! The only fix he could offer was to wipe my drive and take me back to 10.5, which I declined.

However both the guy at the Genius Bar and the lady at AppleCare inferred that Apple "may" release another update to fix this issue, if they get enough complaints and bug reports.

So, there you have it. Apple no longer officially supports Internet Sharing in Snow Leopard.

I was experiencing the same issues with my home network. Have my iMac connected via ethernet, internet sharing (from an Airport network) to a MacBook Pro and my iPhone. Internet sharing consistently failed after the 10.6.1 install. Tried multiple resets and a host of other troubleshooting suggestions to no avail. After some extensive googling, I ran across this tip...

1. Go to Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
2. Delete the following:

Com.apple.airport.prefrences.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
Preferences.plist

3. Restart computer

So far, the above steps have resolved the problem. I've been internet sharing from the iMac with no apparent issues on either the MacBook or iPhone for the past couple of hours now. Previously, internet sharing was failing after a matter of minutes or even seconds.

In regards to Apple's statement about Snow Leopard no longer supporting internet sharing, I find that odd as well. As mentioned, it does appear to be working at this point from my iMac with 10.6.1 installed. Additionally, as part of my troubleshooting, I was able to internet share via an Airport network hosted by my MacBook Pro with 10.6.1 installed.... Worked with no issues for several days.

Hope this helps.

It's strange because I updated to Snow Leopard and my wife's old G3 pismo has no problem connecting with Tiger. We made no changes at all. I wonder if it's a Leopard to Leopard thing or the issue is on the receiving computer.

after trying countless fixes it seems like I can reproduce a fix ( at least for me ) the fix survived sleep and manually turning off airport etc.
Go to:

Users/urname/Library/Preferences/ and delete com.apple.internetconfig.plist

throw that in the trash and delete it. restart. I now can create computer to computer and also share my internet connection. I will see it this fix will last. cheers~

This works for me, thank you.

Not sure if this will help but it worked for me when trying to share my Ethernet Internet connection over WIFI to my iPhone:

1. Turn off Internet Sharing and Airport (Network and Sharing preference panes)
2. Repair permissions (Disk Utility)
3. In Network pref pane, select Airport -> Advanced button ->TCP/IP Tab, set to Using DHCP, OK to close
4. Restart
5. Go to Sharing pane and turn Internet Sharing on.

YMMV.

Hi adrian,

did you by chance have unstable internet connection sharing before you did the fix where by sometimes your ip address assigned by the internet connection sharing machine would switch from the normal 10.0.2.2 to 169.xxx.xxx.xxx which is when the connection stops working?

I don't want to try anything till I know it works for the same set up...

I've downgraded to 10.5.8 in the mean time.

Cheers,
Adrian

Malkie13 wrote:
/etc/bootpd.plist only exists (at least before you've done any tinkering) when Internet Sharing is turned on.

That said, this did bupkis for me. With internet sharing turned on (share an ethernet connection via airport on my black macbook) I can neither browse on the macbook OR anything connected to it (iPod Touch, XP laptop, Vista laptop, etc).

I know this is an old thread, but I have been messing up with it today and I lost 4 hours. I'd just like to add that the bootpd.plist trick is made especially for connecting videogame consoles (X360 and PS3).

Also, before to lose hours like me, remember that this steps are fundamental:

TURN INTERNET SHARING ON
copy /etc/bootpd.plist in /tmp
modify the one in /tmp
TURN INTERNET SHARING OFF
copy the modified file in /tmp to /etc

If one modifies straight the file in /etc with InternetSharing active, when InternetSharing restarts it overwrites it with the old parameters. That's why it's mandatory to make a copy.

I have had this problem off and on for a couple of years. The following fix has always worked for me.

Go to System Preferences/Sharing

Highlight (but don't turn on) Internet Sharing

Click on AirPort Options

Change the channel number (these are from 1 to 10)

After changing the channel turn on Internet Sharing which will also turn on AirPort)

Turn AirPort off then back on

Continue this rather arduous process through all ten channels until you find one that works

After this, you still have to turn AirPort off (after Internet Sharing asks you to turn it on) then back on

This has never failed for me, though it's a little time-consuming

Message was edited by: JPWG

Have a similar problem. Airport and Internet sharing is working (I'm sharing my ethernet connection) but after a xxx minutes Internet sharing just stops working. A few time have been able to fix the problem by putting the Mac (MBP 2.5Ghz) to sleep and sometimes not. I have tested all the tips found in this tread and more without finding a solution. This is what I know:

When Internet sharing stops working DHCP is also broken. This means that if I stop Internet sharing and connect to a wireless network I'm unable to get a IP from the DHCP server, tried all tricks from net regarding DHCP in 10.6.x without success.

Sniffed on my en1 (airport) with Wireshark and the card keep sending DHCP req. but are not getting any reply. Well I know that if the AP “see” the req. it will reply, so either is it not sending anything radio signals out, it sends but on wrong channel etc.

The only fix is rebooting. I hope this info could get us closer to a solution before we all go nuts.