IMac internet sharing with WinXP

Question

Hello everyone,
I'd like to post a little issue I found with my new iMac (OS X 10.5.7). I had it connected to the internet, directly through the ethernet cable modem. I used the Internet Sharing option to share the connection through Airport.
I have a mac mini running Windows XP for media centre purposes. The XP in the mini sees the wifi network created by the iMac, but when I select the option to "connect", it suddenly reports an error and says the network is out of range...
(Wifi network config: Automatic channel selection, WEP password only)
Any ideas on what could be causing this? I "solved" the issue by reversing the process (i.e., connected the cable modem to the mini, created the network in XP, and connected the iMac to that network).
My iPhone connects flawlessly to the internet through wifi on both configurations, as does my macbook...
In either case, this is going to be a temporary solution until I can get a Time Capsule, so I'm more curious about cause of the problem than actually worried about it.
Thanx in advance for any input on this!

Answer 1

Based on your description of your devices this is how I would set this up.
In System Prefs/Network make sure Airport is a network service in the list on the left. If it is not, add it to the list by clicking + and selecting AirPort from the Interface pulldown menu, give the service a name, such as AirPort and click Create. Highlight the service in the list on the left and Turn AirPort On to the right. Lastly, check the Internet Sharing box on the list to the left. (As you can see, you must do these steps in this order because as soon as you check the Internet Sharing box, the other options are greyed out and unavailable to configure.)
In System Prefs/Sharing choose Ethernet from the Share your connection from pulldown menu. Then click the Airport option in the list for To computers using. In AirPort Options give your network a name, choose Enable encryption, and select 128-bit in the WEP Key Length pulldown menu. Because it is 128-bit you should enter a 13-character password and confirm the password. Click OK.
I do not have Windows on a machine to actually set this up and test it, but I have XP on my Mac in a virtual machine and these are the instructions to connect to an encrypted, secure network;
1. Open Network Connections.
2. Click the wireless network connection icon, and then, in Network Tasks, click View available wireless networks.
3. Under Related Tasks on the left, click Change the order of preferred networks.
4. Click Add.
5. In Network name (SSID), type a name for the wireless network.
6. In Network Authentication, click an item in the list.
7. If this is a security-enabled network, in Data encryption, select the encryption method.
8. In Network key, type the network key, and then in Confirm network key, retype the key.
Dah•veed