configuring two network adapters?

Hello everyone,

I use two seperate network adaptors on my system.

One of which connects to the internet through a switch, Ill call this network adaptor A

Network adaptor B connects to a router which the rest of my home network is connected to, i share files and use printer sharing over this network adaptor.
(This router has the internet as well)

I would like to force my computer to use Adaptor A for the internet, while adaptor B would be used only for network sharing. I had configured the router to block the internet on Adaptor B, however doing this also blocked my shares across the network to several computers, while still keeping them on others?

Hopefully someone knows what im after and knows a reg edit? or some values I can change somewhere to change this.

 

For the time being, i added some very strict security policys to restrict that network adaptor, however this is not how I would like to do it, hopefully some alternatives present themselves.
Thanks,
Enrique

 

You will probably need to set up both NIC statically.

The route to the internet is defined by your default gateway. Therefore the way to control which NIC your system uses to connect to the internet, is to define a default gateway on the NIC you want to connect, and not to define a default gateway on the other NIC.

So say your two NICs are 10.0.0.1/24, and 192.168.0.1/24 and the internet router is at 192.168.0.254, set up your NICs like this:

NIC 1
IP address: 10.0.0.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: (leave blank)

NIC 2
IP aaddress: 192.168.0.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.254

DNS is interesting and depends how your network is set up. If you have a very small network, I expect you will get best results setting DNS up on the NIC connecting to the internet, and set DNS with the IP addresses of your ISP's DNS server. However, if you have a Windows server running DNS on your network, point DNS at that.

 

I tried what you suggested ReggieB

Manually configuring NIC2 in this way blocks the internet and allows network shares. However my computer still trys to use NIC2 for internet usage, which results in having no internet access at all . I need to configure my computer to use NIC1 to access the internet, Disabling Internet on NIC2 doesnt work since my computer will still try to use NIC2 for internet.

In my network connections I have a internet connection icon, this icon is only around when NIC2 can access the internet. For a long time I used the router to block the internet to NIC2, this worked and my computer used NIC1 for internet, and NIC2 for network shares, however half the computers couldnt access my shares. I would like to learn to do it correctly now. When the internet to NIC2 was blocked by the router the internet icon never showed up in network connections, and all was well. With NIC2 not being restricted, that internet icon is back, and is determined to use NIC2 for the internet.

Is there a configuration somewhere that sets which NIC to use for the internet, and if so how do I change this?

Ive looked around in:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/102999
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/102994
Ive also looked in Localmachine/system/enum locations

Am i going about this the wrong way? there has to be a simple way to change which NIC xp select's for internet usage?

Edited: grammer, added information

 

It sounds like you have a proxy or network connection set up in the application that you use to connect to the internet. Commonly, that application is Internet Explorer. Go to Tools, Internet options in IE and make sure no proxies are set up and that "Never dial a connection" is selected on the Connections tab.

 

Thanks reggieb but it has nothing to do with proxies or internet browsers. Windows itself is forcing all programs to use NIC2. this is my problem.

Does anyone know how window's xp chooses which nic to route traffic to.

I have been searching for a while, and have not found anything yet.
There has to be some sort of configuration where windows has NIC2 selected.

 

What are the IP addresses of the two network cards?

 

Nic1 is given a dynamic IP from my ISP and is constantly changing.
Nic2 is given a static IP that i set on the router, its 192.168.0.15

I cannot use static IPs with my ISP on Nic1.

 

That could be your problem. If you let your router define the settings for NIC2, it is likely to include itself as a default gateway. You need to set the TCP/IP settings for NIC2 at the NIC and not at the router.