Question Can I safely connect my XP Pro machine to my home network via Ethernet if I stay off the internet ?

[box o rocks]

Is that even possible, or does the simple fact that it is on the same network automatically connect it to the internet? Accessing my network storage (NAS) is my reason to connect.
I'm not as concerned about the old XP Pro machine becoming infected or otherwise compromised, but the possibility of that connection allowing the other machines to be compromised. Or my NAS being accessed.

 

[faalin]

Figure out what IP address range your home network is on, most of them are 192.168.1.x but you can do a quick ipconfig in a command prompt to figure it out.

Once you figure out your IP address, before plugging the network cable into the windows xp computer go into network settings and statically assign the xp computer an ip address inside the IPv4 address block. Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and then leave the default gateway and DNS blank. The computer will not be able to access the internet without gateway ip address.

 

[USAFRet]

What will this XP machine be used for?

 

[box o rocks]

What will this XP machine be used for?

I'd like to answer, but it is a bit private. Let's just say it needs to have access to our NAS mainly. PC to PC would also be nice, but not necessary.

 

[USAFRet]

I'd like to answer, but it is a bit private. Let's just say it needs to have access to our NAS mainly. PC to PC would also be nice, but not necessary.

Well....

If it never connects to the interwebs, and you do NOT download and install any shady software...it is probaqbly OK.
I can't imagine what this 'privacy' may be, but go right ahead.

 

[box o rocks]

Figure out what IP address range your home network is on, most of them are 192.168.1.x but you can do a quick ipconfig in a command prompt to figure it out.

Once you figure out your IP address, before plugging the network cable into the windows xp computer go into network settings and statically assign the xp computer an ip address inside the IPv4 address block. Set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and then leave the default gateway and DNS blank. The computer will not be able to access the internet without gateway ip address.

Will I still be able to safely connect to the NAS? ... and my other machines that do have internet access? internet

 

[BFG-9000]

It depends on your definition of safe. XP only understands SMBv1 which should probably no longer be used on an internet connected NAS at all by this point.

There is an alternative, in that you can always have more than one network--say one internet connected, and one not. Just put two NICs into any machine you want to access both networks with. The XP machine will only have one NIC, connected to the internal-only network.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uSVVCmOH5w

 

[ImWolf]

Short answer.... YES (with a qualifier)

If you're a multi-millionaire, or work in a sensitive job where someone wants to know what you have on your machine, then it won't matter what your OS is.... they'll find a way to get in.

But if you're a retired machinist who only keeps minimum cash in your bank, uses plastic "currency" as little as possible, and really has nothing available anyone can steal from you, then you can run XP all day and night for decades.... (as I've been doing).

 

[faalin]

Will I still be able to safely connect to the NAS? ... and my other machines that do have internet access? internet

Yes, say your internal ip addresses are 192.168.1.x. I would make the XP machine 192.168.1.250, DHCP normally hands out IP addresses lowest to highest, as long as you dont have 250 devices attached to your network you should be ok. The other way to do this is to section off a set of IP addresses as static, depending on your router you might be able to do this, so say the first 10 IP addresses you list a static and then the rest can be handed out by DHCP.

In a nutshell a sub net defines how many IP addresses you can have. So a 255.255.255.0 allows ip addresses 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x to talk to each other on the network. If for some reason you were to set the IP address for the XP machine to 192.168.2.x it would not be able to talk to anything on the network.

Typically your router would have an IP address of 192.168.1.1, leaving the default gateway blank basically leaves the computer in the dark and doesnt know how to get to the internet since it doesnt know how to contact the router. It would be like me asking you to drive from the East coast to the West coast but i dont tell you what your final destination is.