What is the Windows Internet Connection Sharing tool and how does it work?

The Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) tool allows you to share an Internet connection with other devices on a local area network (LAN). But how does this tool work and how to activate it? What are its advantages and disadvantages ?

This article will answer all these questions. Additionally, we will show you how to configure various settings of the ICS tool.

The ICS tool uses a computer (the host) to connect other devices to the internet. It does this by using network address translation (the technology that allows devices on a local network to share the same public IP address).

The device that shares an Internet connection using ICS is the gateway machine. This means that internet traffic flowing to other devices must also pass through this device.

So how do you activate the ICS tool on your Windows device? Let’s find out.

Here are the steps to activate the ICS tool:

1. Hurry Win + X to open the Quick Access menu.
2. Select Network connections among the options.
3. Click it Wireless option on the left side.
4. Click on Change adapter options on the right pane.
5. Right click on the Wireless option (or any other relevant option) and select Properties.
6. Navigate to the Share tongue.
7. Check the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection box, then press OKAY. Now the ICS tool is operational.

To disable the tool, follow the previous steps then uncheck the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection box. Finally, press OKAY then close the Internet Connection Sharing Tool.

Now let’s see how to connect another device to the host PC:

1. Activate the ICS tool on the other device by applying the previous methods.
2. Right click on the network icon in the taskbar and select Open Network and Internet Settings. Otherwise, type Network status in the Start menu search bar and select the Best match.
3. Click it Network and Sharing Center option under Advanced network settings.
4. Select the Set up a new connection or network option on the next screen.
5. Then click on Manually connect to a wireless network then press the Next button.
6. Finally, enter the host device details on the next screen. From there, press the Next and follow the on-screen steps.

You may need to configure a few system settings for the ICS tool to work properly. We will therefore see how to configure the “ICS tool” parameters and the “ICS Service” parameters.

ICS Tool Settings

Let’s explore how you can configure the ICS tool settings:

1. Hurry Win + X to open the Quick Access menu.
2. Select Network connections among the options.
3. Then click on the Wireless option in the left pane.
4. Click on Change adapter options on the right pane.
5. Right click on the Wireless option (or any other internet connection option you are using) and select Properties.

By default, you should land on the Networking tongue.

The Networking The section is a place where you can configure various network settings.

To start, press the Configure button to configure network adapter settings. From there, follow the on-screen instructions, then tap OKAY.

Then scroll down to “elements” in the Networking tab. From there, check the appropriate boxes to enable the options in this section.

Now let’s go to the Share tongue. This is where you can configure Internet Connection Sharing settings.

Follow these steps to configure the Sharing tab settings:

1. Check the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection in the Sharing tab.
2. Click it Home network connection drop-down menu and select the appropriate option.

Then check the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection box.

From here you can configure advanced settings by clicking on the Settings button. When you are finished, press the OKAY button to save these changes.

Now let’s see how you can configure some ICS service settings.

ICS service settings

Here are the steps for configuring the ICS service settings:

1. Hurry Win + R to open the Run Command dialog box. You can also try the various other ways to access the Run Command dialog box.
2. Type services.msc and press OKAY to open the Services window.
3. Locate and right click on the Internet Connection Sharing service.
4. Select Properties among the options.

Navigate to the General tongue. From there, select the Start type drop-down menu and select Automatique. Finally, press the Begin button, press Applythen press OKAY.

Then open the Properties window again and navigate to the To log in tongue. From there, choose the account you want to use when running the ICS tool. By default, the local system account should be selected.

Here’s how to add another account in the Login tab:

1. Click on This account among the options.
2. press the Browse button.
3. Enter account details, then tap OKAY.
4. Finally, press Apply then press OKAY on the Connection tab.

Now let’s head to the Recovery tongue. This is where you can select your computer’s response if the ICS tool fails.

To access this section, open the ICS Properties window according to the previous steps, then select the Recovery tongue.

Here’s how to configure the Recovery tab settings:

1. Click it First failure drop-down menu and select Restart the service. This way, your PC will restart the ICS tool if it encounters any problems.
2. Then configure the same settings for the Second failure and Later failures drop-down options.
3. Hurry Apply then press OKAY to save these changes.

Finally, let’s find out Dependencies tongue. This section contains the services that the ICS tool depends on.

To access this section, open the ICS Properties window, then select Dependencies.

Looking at the options on the Dependencies tab, it is clear that the ICS tool only depends on the Base Filtering Engine service.

For now, we will not configure the Base Filtering Engine service settings. But if the ICS tool is having problems, you might want to change a few basic filtering engine service settings.

Now let’s explore the pros and cons of using this tool.

Some of the benefits of using the ICS tool include:

• Free and easy to use: You do not have to pay to use the ICS function. The best part is that the tool is also easy to set up and use.
• Connect different versions of Windows: The ICS tool allows you to share an Internet connection with any type of Windows version, be it Windows 10 or Windows 11.

The disadvantages of using this tool include:

• Data privacy issues: The ICS host has access to all Internet traffic flowing through all connected devices. This therefore means that it is possible that the host will end up gaining access to your sensitive information.
• Connected devices depend on host: If the ICS host device has problems, it also affects other devices. Thus, you will likely have an unstable connection if the host device continues to experience issues.

If you want to share an internet connection with multiple devices, look no further than the Internet Connection Sharing Tool. This feature is free and offers many benefits.

And if you are looking for better speed and reliability, you can consider merging multiple internet connections.