Using your PC as an Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter
If like me your XBox 360 is in a separate room from your router you’ll probably want to connect it to your internet connection via wireless. However the Xbox 360 doesn’t come with a wireless adapter built in, Microsoft sell a Wireless Bridge however it’s costs updwards of £50. If however you have a PC or laptop near your Xbox with a wireless adapter and a spare ethernet adapter you can use this a bridge from your Xbox 360 to your router.
To do this the only extra thing you’ll need is a Cross Cable (apparently this works with a normal ethernet cable, but i haven’t tried it)
The first thing you need to do is connect your Xbox 360 to your PC with the Cross Over Cable, and then turn the Xbox 360 and PC on. Once both are booted up go into your NetWork Connections menu.
You should see two connections in there, one is your wireless adapter (usually labled Wireless Network Connection) the second will be your wired ethernet connection. It’s easiest to rename the wired connection to something meaningful like Xbox Live.
OK, now to create a network bridge highlight both connections, right click and then click on Bridge Connections. A message box will pop-up saying Please wait while windows bridges the connections. Your networks might disconnection and reconnect during this.
Once this has finished you’ll be returned to the network connections menu and you’ll see an extra object called something like Network Bridge.
Next open up a command prompt window on your PC, to do this go to Start then Run and the type cmd and click OK. Once the black command prompt window opens type in ipconfig /all. You should se a screen similar to below:
You’ll need to now note down several pieces of information, these are:
- IP Address
- Subnet Mask
- Default Gateway
- DNS Server(s)
Once you’ve noted these reboot your Xbox 360, and go into the network settings. In there you’ll need to choose to set all options manually. Go into IP Settings and choose Manual, in here you’ll need to set the IP address as a different address on your network, basically replace the fourth value in the IP address with a higher number that is unlikely to ever e given out by your router. For example if your PCs IP Address was 192.168.1.4 set your Xbox 360 as 192.168.1.66
It’s highly unlikely to conflict with any other devices connected your network unless you have 40+ devices connected to your router at some point. Set the rest of the values (Subnet Mask, Gateway and DNS Server(s) as the same as your PC. Now choose to test your Xbox Live connection. All being well you should connect fine.
If the NAT resut from your Xbox Connection comes back as moderate or strict, it might be worth while you going into your routers settings (normally accessed by putting the IP address of your router into a web browser). Here you should have an option called virtual server or port forwarding. From this option you’ll be able to specifiy TCP and UDP ports that will be mapped to a IP address on your network.
The following ports should be mapped directly to the IP Address you entered on your Xbox 360:
- UDP 88
- UDP 3074
- TCP 3074
Once this is done, reboot your router and run Xbox Live connection test again. You should hopefully see open as the NAT result.
So now you’ve bridged you Xbox 360 and PC connection, you’ll need to have you PC on to use XBox Live in this way, but it’s better than spending £50 on a USB Adapter from Microsoft.
7 Responses to “Using your PC as an Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter”
Leave a Reply
hi.
ive followed the guide through. when i come to bridgeing my xbox and wireless network connection the wirless turns off. before i bridge the 2 its fine. but when they complete the wireless turns off and cannot re-connect. ive turned the computer and 360 off. have you got any ideas why this happens. E-mail me @ eggman2@hotmail.co.uk
yours sincerely sam
este programa é demais, muito bom, sem ingual.
YOU ARE WIN!
thanks so much!!
Thank you so much!
what if you dont have a wireless adapter?
what if you dont have a wireless adapter but just an ethernet cord?