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I am looking to use a Mac (Snow Leopard) as a wireless router, so I can wirelessly connect my laptop (Windows XP) and Android 2.1 (rooted) phone. However, I would like all of my wireless traffic to be sent through a proxy server, or maybe a VPN with my home computer (Windows 7).

How can I do this?

Also, it would be preferred if all of the local Mac traffic was NOT sent through the proxy server or VPN; but its not necessary.

Please note, I know very very little about a Mac.

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2 Answers 2

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Here are instructions on setting up the mac as a router.

I'm not sure about not sending Mac stuff through the VPN, since I think it would require 2 connections on that Mac (since the one connection is the one you are sending the other devices through).

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  • Since I've found my question again...I'm not sure what you mean by the two connections thing. I have everything setup, but I still cant get the phone to go through the proxy.
    – eagle0042
    Jul 30, 2010 at 19:46
  • I say two connections because if you want to have one of the devices go through the VPN but the other not, you need to have a VPN and non-VPN connection off the macbook you are using as the router.
    – JNK
    Jul 30, 2010 at 20:12
  • Ah. I see what you are saying. The other person who answered this question mentioned something about service order. What is that? Also, I did mention a proxy too, but the same still applies: wireless traffic through the proxy, local traffic not through the proxy. Would a proxy work? And, the Android phone that I am trying to connect to the Mac does not appear to have any method of using a proxy.
    – eagle0042
    Jul 30, 2010 at 20:23
  • The service order is the priority of the connections I think - I know a bit about OSX but I am not an expert. I think it is similar to "Binding Order" in XP. Local traffic won't use the proxy anyways if it is targeting an INTERNAL ip address, i.e. inside your little ad-hoc network. It may be complicated further by trying to use an Android, though.
    – JNK
    Jul 30, 2010 at 20:29
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For your VPN question, it's possible to put all your traffic through VPN connection. The setting of VPN connection is a little bit different on Mac.

First, you can create a VPN connection in "System Preference" -> "Network". Click the "+" button at the bottom of left panel. After creating a VPN successfully, you can choose how it will be used.

That setting is done by "Tool" button beside the "-" button at the bottom of the same panel. In the drop-down menu, there should be an item called "Set Service Order...", click that.

In this setting, you can choose how traffic will go, Mac OS X will choose the connection to be used according to the order here. For example, if you drag your "VPN connection" higher than "Ethernet", all traffics including your ethernet traffics will go through your VPN...

As my experience, optimally, the connection should be used automatically, e.g. if I want to access some internal website, http://10.0.1.1, the VPN connection will be used, otherwise, something like http://www.google.com should use my WIFI or Ethernet.

However, Mac OS X has a bug regarding this in 10.5, not really sure it's fixed or not in 10.6. I have to put all my traffic through my VPN to make it work correctly, otherwise, VPN will NEVER be used.

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  • I havent had any luck with the VPN connection. It worked for about 20 seconds, then disconnected. Now, it immediately disconnects. If its helpful, I am trying to connect to a Windows 7 computer, with a PPTP connection. The credentials are correct too.
    – eagle0042
    Jul 30, 2010 at 19:48

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