Use airport as base and airport express to establish network

Basically, because the AirPort Extreme Card in your iMac is not a wireless router and cannot be configured to be a Base/Remote/Relay Station in a WDS configuration.

You could, however, use the Internet Sharing feature of OS X to share your iMac's Internet access with your spare PC.

For Internet Sharing to work, one device has to be both wired/wireless capable, and the other needs just to be one or the other.

So, if you want to share the Internet with the PC wirelessly, the PC (of course) would need to be wireless capable. The iMac would need to be connected to the Internet via Ethernet, and then share it wirelessly (thru it's AirPort Extreme Card) to the PC.

So this is exactly what I'm trying to do-- connect my new Macbook to the internet via airport thru my desktop with an airport card and a dsl modem connected by ethernet. I turned on internet sharing on the desktop but for some reason the laptop will not connect to the internet thru the desktop. I do have an Airport Express but I'm using that to connect Itunes on the desktop to my stereo. Am I missing something?

Don

Let's double-check your Internet Sharing settings...

To setup for Internet Sharing (Wired to Wireless):
Enable Software Firewall - Desktop
System Preferences > Sharing > Firewall
- Click Stop to start the software firewall

Setup the Network
DSL Modem > (Ethernet cable) > [Ethernet port] Desktop > (wireless) > MacBook

Setup Port Order - Desktop
System Preferences > Network > Show > Network Port Configurations
- Verify that "AirPort" and "Built-In Ethernet" are enabled.
- Verify that "Built-In Ethernet" is at the top of the list, followed by "AirPort".
- Click "Apply Now."

Configure the Internet Connection - Desktop
System Preferences > Network > Show > Built-In Ethernet > TCP/IP
- Configure IPv4: Using DHCP
- Configure IPv6: Automatically or Off

Enable Internet Sharing - Desktop
System Preferences > Sharing > Internet
- Share your connection from: Built-in Ethernet
- To computers using: AirPort (checked) (Note: Uncheck all other entries in the list.)
- AirPort Options
-- Network Name: <anything you want>
-- Channel: Automatic
-- Enable encryption (using WEP) (optional)
-- Password: (optional)
-- Confirm Password: (optional)
-- WEP Key Length: (optional)
-- Click OK
- Click Start

So the only thing I really had to do there was reorder the list of items in the setup port order.
Now when I check the airport monitor on the laptop's menu bar I see both the Xpress and the desktop as networks. Joining the desktop I still get no connection however the network status pane tells me I am connected to the desktop and the internet. Can't get Apple.com to load, though.

Don

Hmmm, just curious, if you temporarily take the AirPort Express Base Station (AX) out of the network, can you access the Internet from the MacBook now?

Just to make sure I understand your current network configuration, is it something like the following?

DSL modem > (Ethernet cable) > [Ethernet port] Desktop [AirPort Extreme Card] > (wireless) > [AirPort Extreme Card] MacBook...correct?

...and how do you have the AX configured? Client mode or Internet Router?

You have the network config correct.

When I activiate the internet sharing on the desktop, the airport icon on the menu bar changes to an arrow pointing up over a grayed out signal strength indicator and the only entry in the pulldown is the desktop computer network name.
The laptop still shows all the networks available.

Disconnecting the AX has no effect.

I'm not sure where to look for the client/router configuration. Airport Admin utility on both machines scans no base stations but the AX is not connected to the modem, only the stereo with it's network name and Itunes is set up to broadcast to it.

Don

by the way...thanks for your time and help. It's much appreciated. DC

Message was edited by: Don Chesnut

When I activiate the internet sharing on the desktop, the airport icon on the menu bar changes to an arrow pointing up over a grayed out signal strength indicator and the only entry in the pulldown is the desktop computer network name.
The laptop still shows all the networks available.

Yes, those would be what I would expect as well. Sorry, I'm not sure why this isn't working for you at the moment. Let me ponder on it a bit and I'll let you know. Maybe someone else in these Discussions might have an idea or two to try.

Hopefully you're still subscribed here...

Now the AX won't connect to the stereo with an error 3256.

Can you point me to an Apple doc or tutorial that would help me set up the whole system from scratch? I think that may be what's necessary. I've tried so many kludgy solutions today I'm sure I screwed something up but good!

Don



emac 1ghz combo, Macbook Pro 15' w/Tiger Mac OS X (10.3.8)

"Can you point me to an Apple doc or tutorial that would help me set up the whole system from scratch?"

In addition to the steps I have already provided, here are some additional references that should help:
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=166669
- AirPort & Mac Wireless for Dummies. No insult intended. This book has some well written step-by-step procedures and includes one for Internet Sharing...specifically Chapter 6 - Networking Wirelessly Without a Base Station.

I have an AX that was being used solely for AirTunes and has been working perfectly for over a month. Today, I am getting the 3256 "Unknown Error". Have reset both AEBS and AX and still not working...

Any ideas?