5.1. Configuring Windows 95

Configuring Windows 95 to act as an attached resource on your LAN is relatively simple. The Windows 95 network configuration must be slightly modified to use the FreeBSD system as the default gateway to the ISP. Perform the following steps:

Create the Windows 95 "hosts" file:

In order to connect to the other TCP/IP systems on the LAN you'll need to create an identical copy of the "hosts" file that you installed on the FreeBSD system in Section 3.4.

• Click the "Start" button; select "Run..."; enter "notepad \WINDOWS\HOSTS" (without the quotes) and click "OK"
• In the editor, enter the addresses and system names from the hosts file shown in Section 3.4.
• When finished editing, close the notepad application (making sure that you save the file!).

Configure the Windows 95 TCP/IP Network Configuation settings:

• Click the "Start" button on the taskbar; select "Settings" and "Control Panel".
• Double-click the "Network" icon to open it.

  The settings for all Network Elements are displayed.

• With the "Configuration" tab selected, scroll down the list of installed components and highlight the "TCP/IP->YourInterfaceType" line (where "YourInterfaceType" is the name or type of Ethernet adapter in your system).

  If TCP/IP is not listed in the list of installed network components, click the "Add" button and install it before proceeding.

  (Hint: "Add | Protocol | Microsoft | TCP/IP | OK")

• Click on the "Properties" button to display a list of the settings associated with the TCP component.

Configure the IP Address Information:

• Click the "IP Address" tab
• Click the "Specify an IP address" radio button.

  (In our example LAN the Windows 95 system is the one we've called "Larry".)

• In the "IP Address" field enter "192.168.1.2".
• Enter 255.255.255.0 in the "Subnet Mask" field.

Configure the Gateway information:

• Click on the "Gateway" tab

  For our example network the FreeBSD box will be acting as our gateway to the Internet (routing packets between the Ethernet LAN and the PPP dial-up connection. Enter the IP address of the FreeBSD Ethernet interface, 192.168.1.1, in the "New gateway" field and click the "Add" button. If any other gateways are defined in the "Installed gateways" list you may wish to consider removing them.

Configure the DNS Information:

This guide assumes that your Internet Service Provider has given you a list of Domain Name Servers (or "DNS Servers") that you should use. If you wish to run a DNS server on your local FreeBSD system, refer to Section 6, "Exercise for the Interested Student" for tips on setting up DNS on your FreeBSD system.

• Click the "DNS Configuration" tab
• Make sure that the "Enable DNS" radio button is selected.

  (If this button is not selected only the entries that we put in the host file(s) will be available and your Net-Surfing will not work as you expect!)

• In the "Host" field enter the name of the Windows 95 box, in this case: "Larry".
• In the "Domain" field enter the name of our local network, in this case: "my.domain"
• In the "DNS Server Search Order" section, enter the IP address of the DNS server(s) that your ISP provided, clicking the "Add" button after every address is entered. Repeat this step as many times as necessary to add all of the addresses that your ISP provided.

Other Windows 95 TCP/IP options:

For our purposes the settings under the "Advanced", "WINS Configuration" and "Bindings" tabs are not necessary.

If you wish to use the Windows Internet Naming Service ("WINS") your attention is invited to http://www.localnet.org for more information about WINS settings, specifically regarding sharing files transparently across the Internet.

Mopping up:

• Click on the "OK" button to close the TCP/IP Properties window.
• Click on the "OK" button to close the Network Control Panel.
• Reboot your computer if prompted to do so.

That's it!