Tutorial: Mac Internet Sharing (with Xbox 360)
A very hidden and somewhat unused feature of Mac OS X is the internet sharing application which can be found in System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing. This feature is very basic and easy to setup but it allows you to share the incoming internet connection on your Mac with other computers in your vicinity. You can even turn your Mac into a wireless hub using this feature. We’ll help show you how to set this up properly in this guide, along with a step by step tutorial of how to use your Mac’s internet connection in order to get your Xbox 360 online without having to purchase a wireless adapter.
The first step is getting familiar with Internet Sharing. As mentioned above, you need to navigate to System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing (which is an option listed on the left). Once on the Internet Sharing option page, you need to setup exactly what you want to do before you proceed to turn it on. As you can see, you need to select where you want the shared connection to come from and then where you are going to output it. So, if you want to turn your Mac into a wireless hub, you would select “Share your connection from: Ethernet”…”To computer using: Airport”. You can mess around with any configuration here including Airport to Ethernet, Bluetooth to Ethernet, etc. In order to enable it, you must click the check box next to internet sharing. You can now turn your Mac into any sort of internet hub that you want it to be. This works great when you are somewhere such as a hotel which might only have one Ethernet plug but you have 4 laptops. You can create a wireless hub for everyone else in the room to connect to.
One of my favorite uses for this feature is sharing my MacBook’s Airport connection with my Xbox 360 through an Ethernet connection. I have been doing this for years, and it has saved me the $100 I would have had to spend on a wireless adapter for my 360. Here is a step by step guide on how to setup your Xbox 360 to share an internet connection with your Mac:
1. Enable internet sharing as described above in System Preferences. You will want to select sharing from Airport to Ethernet.
2. Connect your Mac to your Xbox 360 using an Ethernet cable.
3. Open up Terminal on your Mac by going to Applications > Utilities.
4. In terminal type “ifconfig en0″ (that is a zero)
5. In the terminal screen, you need to look for the line which displays as “inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx”. Write this number down. For example, mine is currently 192.168.2.1
6. Also get the IP Address of your wireless router. This can be found in System Preferences > Network> Select Airport > Advanced> TCP/IP Tab > Router. Write this number down. Mine was 10.0.1.1
7. Start your Xbox and get to the Network Settings menu. You will now have to put some numbers in manually…
8. For IP Address you need to enter the inet number you found in your terminal but with the last number being 1 digit higher. For instance, mine would be 192.168.2.2
9. For Subnet, enter 255.255.255.0
10. For Router/Gateway enter the inet number from earlier. Mine was 192.168.2.1
11. For DNS (both primary and secondary) enter the IP of your router. Mine was 10.0.1.1
12. You need to leave PPPoE and advanced settings blank (default was off and automatic).
13. Test the connection and enjoy having a shared internet connection to your Xbox from your Mac.
If you need any help with this, please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
Also, do not forget to set the correct ports for forwarding in your internet gateway for the 360’s IP address. Otherwise you’ll be working with a STRICT NAT…
Haven’t tried this method, but it sounds like it should work. I’ll check into configuring Mac OS X IPtables.
when i try to connect to xbox live, network connects, but internet fails. i know i’ve done all steps right, and when my ethernet cable is connected to my mac, i can not use my internet, though it says it’s connected. any suggestions?
I’m the exact same problem as the above user (lui)
Any fixes?
This works on my MacBook running 10.5.6 and my XBOX 360 with NXE update installed.
You must first go into System Preferences > Sharing and enable internet sharing.
Then, if you want to, disable your firewall (System Preferences > Security > Firewall). If my firewall was not disable XBox Live gave me a NAT error, but still let me connect.
Network Settings:
Manual IP/Manual DNS
IP Address: 192.168.2.2*
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.2.1*
Primary DNS: 192.168.2.1**
Secondary DNS: 192.168.2.1**
*Run “ifconfig en0″ in the Terminal, use the IP address returned after “inet”. I’ve been told that it’s always 192.168.2.1, but I’m not sure. For “IP Address”, add 1 to this number, for “Gateway”, use the number.
** This is the same number returned using “ifconfig en0″. Others have said to use the DNS of the ISP or the router, this has never worked for me. Instead, using the IP of the Mac did.
taken from htt*://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8300945231/m/820003898831
ok wen i type “ifconfig en0″ in the Terminal, I get this:
en0: flags=8863 mtu 1500
ether 00:23:df:7b:58:92
media: autoselect status: inactive
supported media: none autoselect 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 1000baseT 1000baseT 1000baseT
It doest say inet anywhere, and I don’t see anything that looks like an IP address, if thats wat we’re looking for. I’m not sure why. I am using the MacBook OS X Version 10.5.6 if that matters at all.
does anyone think this can be done using an ethernet connection from the modem to the computer, and another from the computer to the xbox? cause i have the regular ethernet plug on my computer and i have an extra usb ethernet adapter from another computer.
this worked for me for about a week and then all the sudden it says my pc cannot be found. shows the network is fine but the internet is a no go
How can I share my printer with a laptop? I saw it in the system preferences, but don’t know how it works.
jim; i’ve tried that before, it doesn’t work, not with your explenation either. if i have to use my DNS or ISP or router, where can i get those? complete data n00b in those arias
When I try connecting to xbox live it says my dns server can’t resolve the xbox live or xbox.com servers
Which ports do you forward, or how do you find out your xbox 360’s ip address to forward so you dont have a ’strick NAT’?
It says that mt MTU failed how do i fix this
I got it to work for the most part, but it says on the Xbox my NAT type is moderate, how do i get that to open?
has anyone found a fix to the problem that lui and alex had?
“when i try to connect to xbox live, network connects, but internet fails. i know i’ve done all steps right, and when my ethernet cable is connected to my mac, i can not use my internet, though it says it’s connected. any suggestions?”
I don’t have a problem using the internet on my mac tho, i hate how microsoft has to have such strict thing for XBL i rember the old xbox had a lot of problems trying to connect arugh it’s anoying
i have found a solution although i still have that restricted NAT error
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071223001432304&query=xbox%2B360
i followed the steps from the link above and not only didnt it work, i now cant even get a network connection like i used to
i had the same problem some of you had with the internet failing on the xbox. You should do all the steps above but befor you finish try system prefrences> sharing>services and then enable personal web sharing. it worked for me hope it works for you too.
well, now that i cant even get a network connection for some reason it doesnt seem like anything is working at all
not to jinx myself, but now i just set everything to automatic and im on Live
good grief. we’ll see how long it lasts
ah that sucks and i resized turning on personal web sharing only works for on line play but you can always turn of your fire wall for when your downloading stuff im still trying to find away to not have to turn off my fire wall to download stuff.
Yeah its working up to the point and gives me “Your NAT type is Moderate. people on networks with…. blahblah”
Damn how annoying!
its as though my xbox takes a week to figure out what i did then tries to work against me. once again, no xbox live…
I need help! I think “noob” has the same problem as me.
When I go into terminal and put “ifconfig en0″ it doesn’t have inet anywhere.
I’ve been trying to get it to work for days but I don’t know what to do! I posted my problem on the Xbox forums,here:
http://forums.xbox.com/25854259/ShowPost.aspx
E-mail me if you can help me!
brar.amber@gmail.com
Network=connected
internet=FAIL!
i dont know what to do, this is so frusturating
The number i get after inetis different every time I restart my compueter and it always starts at 169.xxx.xxx.xxx You say it should be 192.xxx.xxx.xx is this odd? Also I got a network set up but was unable to get on the internet. It said my DNS was wrong. My DNS was 192.168.1.4, you said it should b3 10.0.1.1, is that odd?
If your having trouble with your 360 not connecting to the internet but it will connect to the network it’s more than likely a problem with your DNS. to fix it go to the terminal (look above for instruction on where to find the terminal if you don’t know how) and type “cat /etc/resolv.conf” notice the space between “cat” and the first slash. Something like this should come up
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
domain hsd1.co.comcast.net.
nameserver 68.87.85.98
nameserver 68.87.69.146
The two addresses are your DNS servers that your Internet provider has supplied for your network. Now type the first one into you Primary and secondary DNS on your Xbox and you should be in business.
I typed in “cat /etc/resolv.conf” and only got
andrew-garcias-macbook:~ gwarcia$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 192.168.1.1
am I messing up? Should I have the two addresses or is the one sufficient?
Thanks for the help.
I’m having the same problems as everybody else it seems. My 360 will connect to my macbook, but will not connect to the internet. I have checked to make sure my DNS server settings are correct, and that did not seem to effect anything. Could it be my wireless router being stingy? I have a D-link router, thats pretty much the lowest of the low. What kinds of routers are everybody else using who have this problem?
So if all else fails use the cord that came with the Ethernet cord that came with the xbox not one you already owned, such was my problem and after deciding to troubleshoot I switched the cords and worked perfectly, just to mention I am using a mac to connect and it all worked out very well.
Thank you … Thank you … Thank you … You’re directions were PERFECT !!!!
well i entered the manual stuff and it can connect to my network, but it says it cant find the DNS xbox live servers. PLZ HELP!
NVM! yay! look at the 4TH comment and do exactly what he says. it worked for me
this is frustrating
i cant get my DNS thing to connect
plz help me
Same problems here… I’ve been sharing my internet through my mac for a long time and have tried everything that used to work but now something is wrong. Getting very annoyed here… There has to be a better way.
Yeah, Follow the 4th comment. I did and it worked! Thanks!
i dont know how to get my connection to open instead of moderate can some one help
i need help plz i had this workin yesterday and now it doesnt let me pass dns!!!!
nvm bout the dns now but how do you change the nat?
again, i also am having trouble.
same as many other people, mine was working for a few days and now all of a sudden something’s wrong with the DNS and connecting to the xbox live or xbox.com servers.
the difference is the fact that i used this exact method all winter break and it worked perfectly.
for my primary and secondary DNS, i’ve tried every method. the actual way described in the tutorial, the 4th comment and using inet for both DNS’, and even bumping up the inet 1 digit, and using 192.168.2.2 for both of them.
nothing is working, not even enabling personal web sharing. this is so incredibly frustrating because it worked before and now it just doesn’t.
When I do this I consistantly get a DNS error when I log in saying that it can’t resolve the names of the xbox live servers or xbox.com
I followed the steps Jim told us above (Use the Gateway adress returned from terminal as DNS servers).
For me it works perfectly. thanks a lot!!!
“This works on my MacBook running 10.5.6 and my XBOX 360 with NXE update installed.
You must first go into System Preferences > Sharing and enable internet sharing.
Then, if you want to, disable your firewall (System Preferences > Security > Firewall). If my firewall was not disable XBox Live gave me a NAT error, but still let me connect.
Network Settings:
Manual IP/Manual DNS
IP Address: 192.168.2.2*
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.2.1*
Primary DNS: 192.168.2.1**
Secondary DNS: 192.168.2.1**
*Run “ifconfig en0? in the Terminal, use the IP address returned after “inet”. I’ve been told that it’s always 192.168.2.1, but I’m not sure. For “IP Address”, add 1 to this number, for “Gateway”, use the number.
** This is the same number returned using “ifconfig en0?. Others have said to use the DNS of the ISP or the router, this has never worked for me. Instead, using the IP of the Mac did.”
taken from Jim (above)
I am not sure how to get my xbox live to work i am a profile i have xbox live but when i try to get on A display comes up and says ” Connection failed because Xbox Live is resticted on this gamer profile. WHAT DO I DO ?????
I have this setup going, but i am having trouble forwarding the ports. All the right ports are forwarded to my mac by the router but my mac is not passing them along to the xbox. Any clues on how to fix this? I am running 10.5.
im gettin the nat prob. any suggestions?
What if i go to get the wireless router ID and it is blank in the feild?
Man, thank you so much. I read on a forum how to do this and it just kept NOT working. Read your tutorial and it is running great. Thanks, you saved me $100.
The directions here:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071223001432304&query=xbox%2B360
Make solving this problem on the mac WAYYY easier.
I can connect and play but it tells me i have a restricted NAT, this prevents me from playing Halo efficiently. Whenever i play Halo 3 i get booted from the game, but all of my other games work fine. Any solutions?
,Dan Brazier
THANK YOU it was a great help PERFECT and it’s all because of you much love JP
Hey,
does anybody have any tips on how to set up an connection between my xbox 360 and my macbook via an vpn server to let my xbox think it is connected via an us ip?
i tryed alot of stuff and there are some tuts for doing it with windows, but ot for the mac…
any help would be nice…
Thanks in advance.
THANKYOU!
worked a treat!
Hey,
I did everything you said to do and it still didn’t work. I can connect to the network but not from the network to the internet. My Xbox says that my “DNS server can’t resolve the names from of the Xbox Live servers or Xbox.com”
Guys I am having the same DNS error. The crazy frustrating thing is that everything was working perfectly, went on a 1 week vacation, and now it doesn’t work. I have tried freaking everything…any ideas?
I used the tutorial above but whenever i test my xbox live connection the network adapter says wired, IP Adress says confirmed, but DNS says failed, and i’m not sure why..help?
When I typed “ifconfig en0″ i got this:
inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
And when I typed “cat /etc/resolv.conf” into Terminal i received three nameservers…
nameserver 192.168.2.1
nameserver 209.18.47.61
nameserver 209.18.47.62
Can someone please be patient with me and tell me what numbers to use?
You have to turn off YOUR FIREWALL! Under system pref>security>firewall (set to allow all incoming traffic) also under internet sharing turn it off and on and make sue the window pops up saying “start sharing” I had a headache trying to get my DNS to work but after this works like a charm. Hope this helps
[...] looked up Mac Xbox 360 sharing on google….. TRy this link: Tutorial: Mac Internet Sharing (with Xbox 360) | MacApper [...]
You are awesome. this worked perfectly. Saved me 100$!!!
Works Great! I had some trouble at first. Then I went to System Preferences — Network and manually entered my IP Address. For some reason the automatic DHCP config was assigning some random address.
Configure: Using DHCP w/ manual address
IP Address: 192.168.2.1 (per directions)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DNS Server: in the same place (System Preferences–Network) see what DNS Server and Search Domain your connection has. In my case 10.0.1.1
Search Domain: follow DNS step… in my case ca.cox.net
that fixed my problem
i dont know who you are, but you sir, who made this tutorial, are my savior. you saved me 100$.
i need help my internet router crashed a day ago and now my xbox linked with my mac does not get the inter net from the mac ive tried all the settings and nothing will work plz helpme
Wow that worked like a dream thank you!
Hey so i am having troubles like a couple of people above
i can connect to the network but not the internet
i am following all the steps but nothing is working
whats wrong?
Excellent tip, thanks a million, really useful.
This worked great! (see below) …although about 6 addresses came up, I typed in the first two, and it worked like a charm.
>”If your having trouble with your 360 not connecting to the internet but it will connect to the network it’s more than likely a problem with your DNS. to fix it go to the terminal (look above for instruction on where to find the terminal if you don’t know how) and type “cat /etc/resolv.conf” notice the space between “cat” and the first slash. Something like this should come up
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
domain hsd1.co.comcast.net.
nameserver 68.87.85.98
nameserver 68.87.69.146
The two addresses are your DNS servers that your Internet provider has supplied for your network. Now type the first one into you Primary and secondary DNS on your Xbox and you should be in business.”
when i test it works till it gets to DNS then it “fails” i put in the one that i got from ipv4 address but it didn’t work. i also tried the inet on. neither worked
i tried the ipv4 and the network address
For those of you having problems with the internet connection failing when plugging in the ethernet cable, try this:
1. Go to System Preferences > Network.
2. Select “Ethernet”
3. Set “Configure” to “off”
4. Type in your routers ip adress in DNS.
5. Hit apply and insert ethernet cable.
Solved the problem for me
i was able to get through to the internet but then is stoped at the pc part. it said pc not listed but what do you do when it is the mac
none of this is working for me. as soon as i test connection i get “test failed” instantly. I’ve tried everything that i can think of. I restored to defaults to try again and it will not let me enter the subnet mask. says its not valid, must be in xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx format (which it is). Its just not connecting at all.
anyone having problems with DNS try turning your network sharing off and on. it fixed my issues everyone seems to be having.
hope that helps.
See Tom Erik (comments September 22, 2009). Followed the tutorial instructions and without success during the internet test. I stopped internet sharing. Put my routers IP address in the DNS server field for the ethernet connection. Restarted internet sharing and connected without delay on the next attempt.
I’m able to connect, for now!
It says it doesn’t have an IP address when I connect it to another computer over airport.
No success after trying EVERYTHING
Thanks for the tutorial!! Worked perfectly, and saved me from buying an wireless adapter :]
Also, I was amused after going through the trouble to get all the numbers and addresses I needed, they were the same ones you used in the tutorial haha.