Can't setup ICS, sharing (null) error when enabling, invalid IP, can't bridge

[ace432]

I have been banging my head against a wall here.. Last night I was up until 4 am trying to setup an ICS so I could share my internet from my laptop's wifi to my desktop PC via an Ethernet cable. I have spent the entire morning trying some new things after a fresh nights sleep, but I keep getting issues and no solution.

What I have done so far:
I have made sure that ICS is enabled on both PC's
All dependent services for ICS are enabled
Firewall enabled
flashed BIOS
Reinstalled ethernet driver
Reset IPV4/6
set both IPV4/6 to auto IP and DNS
Removed adware and malware


When I attempted to share my main wireless Wifi connection and allow ICS to share it with the ethernet I got "An error occurred when enabling internet connection sharing. (null)"

Google results said to enable all dependent services, and then firewall, which I did, but I still got the error and could not share my connection.

I tried to bypass or try another solution so I tried to bridge the two connections, but I got another message, not necessarily an error: "To create a Network Bridge, you must select at least two LAN or High-Speed Internet connections, that are not being used by Internet Connection Sharing."

I am not sharing my connection and I don't believe ICS is actually being used so this really confuses me. I even disabled ICS and tried to bridge the connections, but I received the same message.

Originally I had tried to troubleshoot the ethernet connection via Windows troubleshooter and it told me that the connection has an invalid IP configuration.

The network shows up as a public "Unidentified Network". I am able to see both computers and share files, but I have no access to internet.

 

[RealBeast]

I would reset everything to default and start over.

ICS should only be enabled on the machine that has Internet access and only on the adapter on that machine that has the access. ICS will configure that IP addresses of the devices that are receiving the Internet sharing.

ICS cannot be used along with a network bridge, use one or the other.

The bridge is quite simple (after insuring that ICS is off everywhere), in the machine that has Internet access just open the network control panel, change adapter settings, then highlight both the adapter that has Internet and the one connected to the other machine, right click and select bridge connection.

 

[ace432]

Thanks RealBeast for the response, however I have just tried your suggestions and I get the exact same response when I try either of those options.

I disabled ICS on the client PC, tried to share the WIFI connection with ICS enabled on the host, but I got the same null error after pressing ok/apply on the properties ->sharing window of the Wireless connection.

I then disabled ICS on both computers and attempted to bridge the Local area connection and the Wireless connection, but, again, I got the same message "To create a Network Bridge, you must select at least two LAN or High-Speed Internet connections, that are not being used by Internet Connection Sharing."

 

[RealBeast]

It does not sound like you have set up a proper ad hoc connection on the Ethernet cable yet. You probably don't have network and file sharing turned on for one or both computers. Take a look at THIS guide, but realize that you do not need a crossover cable if one or both computers has a gigabit Ethernet port (as it would then have auto-MDIX).