Does anyone know the differences between the two? As far as I know, ICS enables the internet connection a 2nd NIC on one machine so that a 2nd machine can use it. But bridging does what exactly? My logic tells me that it passes the connection through the PC, which would mean the internet connection is passed through as well. But if this were the case, why have both ICS and Bridge if they essentially do the same thing? And if the NICs are bridged and it doesn't pass the internet connection through, can ICS still be used on a NIC in the bridge? Essentially, I'm trying to find a solution to a problem of mine (Connection goes like this: PC2[hosting a server] -> PC1 -> Internet, no routers/hubs involved) that no one seems to know a solution besides get a router (which I do not want. I have one and it doesn't work that great [linksys wrt54g, with ddwrt firmware]) Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, Thank you for the post. Ive listed the definition of ICS and Network Bridge as below. Internet Connection Sharing: With ICS, users can share a public Internet connection with a private home or small business network. In an ICS network, a single computer is chosen to be the ICS host. The ICS host has at least two network adapters: one connected to the Internet and one or more connected to the private network. All Internet-destined traffic flows through the ICS host. ICS uses Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to assign private IP addresses on the network, and it uses Network Address Translation (NAT) to allow multiple computers on the private network to connect to the public network through the ICS host. Network Bridge: A network bridge is software or hardware that connects two or more networks so that they can communicate. People with home or small office networks generally use a bridge when they have different types of networks but they want to exchange information or share files among all of the computers on those networks. Here's an example. Let's say you have two networks: in one, the computers are connected with cables; and in the other, the computers are connected using wireless technology. The wired computers can only communicate with other wired computers, and the wireless computers can only communicate with other wireless computers. With a network bridge, all of the computers can communicate with each other. If you use the network bridge software built into Windows, you don't need to buy additional hardware. Regarding your environment, you may consider to create ICS. Ive also included some related links for your reference: Internet Connection Sharing and Network Bridge in Windows Vista http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/1720eb43-62cb-4327-9f26-8d7401d526531033.mspx?mfr=true Using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/bfd3bd31-82f0-4b9c-9cde-fb92bc2b14771033.mspx Hope the information is helpful. Sincerely, Joson Zhou Microsoft Online Community Support

If we follow the same setup example, and by using ICS as the preferred method of sharing the Internet; if we add up a VPN client software on PC1, will PC2 have access to the VPN tunnel as well just like it would be used on PC1? Or do we need to bridge the VPN and Internet LAN connection together , and then share the *resulted* bridge with PC2?? :- )