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My OS is Windows XP.

Quoted from How to Change the IP Range for the Internet Connection Sharing DHCP service:

1. Use Registry Editor to modify the data value of the IntranetInfo value in the following registry key:

HKEY_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ICSharing\Settings\General

The first number listed is the IP address of the internal IP address of the Connection Sharing host. The second number is the subnet IP address separated by a comma. Enter the first IP address of the new range followed by the subnet mask, separated by a comma. (For example, 169.254.0.1,255.255.0.0.).

2. Modify the data value of the Start value in the following registry key:

HKEY_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ICSharing\Addressing\Settings

Change the value to the second address of the selected IP range. This address cannot be the same or a lower value than the IP address used for the IntranetInfo key.

3. Modify the data value for the Stop value in the same registry key. Enter the last the IP address of the selected IP range.

My registry table does not have HKEY_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ICSharing, and I don't know how to follow the above three steps with my registry table.

Can someone guide me through it step by step?

2 Answers 2

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First of all it would be of interest why you would like to change the IP range of the internet connection sharing service. In Windows XP the ICS service is automatically assigning so-called APIPA (Automatic Private IP-Adressing) addresses in the range of 169.254.0.0/16 (see Wireless Zero Configuration and RFC3927). This is entirely done without the use of any DHCP server.

The article you refer to (KB230148) seems to describe the ICS service and how to change the address range. However this keys might be available only after you successfully enabled ICS sharing. I think the intention of the article was probably to be able to create multiple ICS sub-networks using different APIPA address-ranges. So for example a bunch of hosts share the internet connection with host A while a bunch of hosts share it with host B (within the same network). This is supposed to be a very very rare setup. Usually you should not change the APIPA range or even try to make Windows auto-assigning IP-addresses outside of the APIPA range. Even Microsoft strongly recommends in this article not to mess with these settings and clearly states it's entirely unsupported. You might encounter routing issues if your IP range collides with public IP ranges or private IP ranges in a local network.

Regarding the missing registry keys: If the indicated ICSharing key is missing this means that the entire service seems to be missing. Are you sure that you run a recent Windows XP service pack? I think ICS requires at least SP2 (preferably you should install SP3). If the service has been removed by any tool like tune-up tool or virus/trojan/whatever, then you might be able to restore it by re-installing the services. I've found some registry exports on the web but you might simply export the missing key from a system where ICS is installed properly. Note that this is likely to fail if you run a pre-SP2 Windows XP which lacks required functionality. Just re-installing XP SP3 might fix the problem too (fixing Windows Firewall and ICS). Download the network offline-installer here: XP SP3 network installer.

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I had the same issue and did some investigation. It seems that someone at Microsoft is confused, because those instructions are for Win9x, not XP! As far as I can tell it's not possible in XP.

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  • This answer would benefit from sources - what did you find that made you conclude these instructions only apply to Win9x? Aug 24, 2017 at 1:00

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