Z|a Blocking Home Netowrk! Using ICS over Wireless LAN

[Omkar™ 0]

I've been using ZoneAlarm Pro for about an year now with my personal desktop to be protected with all the various Internet Connections I've opted for. Most recently, I've been using Broadband over my Ethernet LAN card, and Z|A protects my PC perfectly fine!

 

But now, I wish to share my Internet connection with a laptop over Wireless LAN (Ad-hoc connection). I've successfully configured both systems for the wireless connectivity, and have enabled ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) for my broadband connection with the Wireless Adapter. Note that I'm not using a router, and am connecting directly to the laptop using a secure Ad-Hoc connection!

 

Everything works well and fine and I can access the Internet from both systems, as long as Z|A is not interfering! As soon as I start Z|A, it block off access to the ICS only! I can still the the laptop in my workgroup and access its shared resources! Just that I cannot use the Internet from the laptop any more.

 

Z|A detected the Wireless Network when it was first established, and I've configured it to be in the Trusted Zone. It shows the following Network config:

IP Address : 192.168.0.0

Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.0

(I guess nobody could have settings more default than these! )

 

Now, my desktop (the host with the Broadband connection) has a static IP as 192.168.0.1 and the laptop has an automatically assigned IP by DCHP. The Default gateway for the laptop is again 192.168.0.1

 

Can anybody figure out why Z|A is getting against my wits?! I liked it so much for the best firewall against the Internet! Guess its not oiled up enough to handle WLAN Connectivity...

 

P.S.:I tried the ZoneLabs Instant Support, but its just a bot that can answer to simple questions. As you can see, mine is actually a scenario!

Edited April 23, 2007 by Omkar™ (see edit history)

[HellFire121 0]

I personaly don't use zonealarm anymore though i used to use it so i don't know how apparent this info will be to you..You might want to check if there are any networks in the blocked zone (Or i think there was another zone too). If there are delete them and add them to the trusted zone. If that still doesn't work you might want to try adding a whole network range to the trusted list. I know zonealarm has it's own method of doing this but basically you want to allow a range of ip addresses from 192.168.0 to 192.168.0.255. Alternativly find out what ip your wireless adapter is running on (If it's different from the others) and add that too.As you can see the easiest solution is just to add every ip address.Hope it helps-HellFire

Edited April 27, 2007 by HellFire121 (see edit history)

[jimmy89 0]

I think I have found a solution on the Zome Alarm website. II found this quote on a few different sites.

The free product ZoneAlarm does not support Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), and is not recommended on the ICS gateway PC.

which I don't think is your problem as you said you are using the Zone Alarm Pro.
I suggest going to this website (http://www.zonealarm.com/ and following the steps they say to take in setting up ICS and Zone Alarm.

To configure for ICS:
1. Verify that the DHCP and DNS boxes are checked in ZoneAlarm Plus or ZoneAlarm Pro. To find out how to do this:
- Open ZoneAlarm Plus or ZoneAlarm Pro and press F1.
- From the search tab, type "blocking ports" (no quotes).
- Double-click on "Blocking and Unblocking Ports."
2. Make sure that your local subnet has been added to the Trusted zone. To find out how to do this:
- Open ZoneAlarm Plus and ZoneAlarm Pro and press F1.
- From the search tab, type "subnet" (no quotes).
- Double-click on "Adding to the Trusted Zone."
3. Configuration steps can be found in the help files as well. To find out how to do this:
- Open ZoneAlarm Plus or ZoneAlarm Pro and press F1.
- From the search tab, type "ICS" (no quotes).
- Double-click on "Internet connection sharing."

As long as you leave the Trusted Zone security level at Medium, your computer will have access.

hopefully these steps allow you to use the Internet on your Laptop. If not, my other suggestion is to try opening the ports that ICS uses to share the Internet, which at the moment I cannot find!

Anyway, Good Luck
-jimmy

[Omkar™ 0]

Thanks everybody, the problem has been resolved. I just had to adjust the settings for ICS/NAT Gateway in Z|A. I just wonder, I have Z|A Pro on the host computer, but there's no firewall on the laptop (I mean its got the Windows one, that's as good as nothing! ) - so does this Z|A protect the laptop too? Does the data flow to/fro the Internet by the laptop filter through the Z|A Firewall? Or do I have to install Z|A on the client laptop too?

 

And yes ~ I'm not exactly sure how ICS works on clients. I mean each client has got its own IP address in the local subnet. That's not nothing to do with that of the Broadband Service. My ISP automatically allocates me a dynamic IP address each time I connect, but if I share this connection with my laptop, which appears on the local subnet, is it that for the ISP it apprears as if the transactions made to/fro the laptop are coming from the c\same IP address as the host computer?