How to connect a device using Internet Connection Sharing

[Cigaras]

How to access a device connected to another device on the network

Hello everyone.

First of all I am not very educated on networking, so sorry in advance for any stupid stuff I say. Also sorry if it's the wrong forum, please move it where it should be if needed.

One important notice before I begin: I do not want to connect the TV directly to router, I want to access it already connected to another PC on the network. Please read further for clarification of situation:

I have 4 devices at my home:

1. Router, IP 192.168.1.1, internet comes from here
2. PC with two network adapters, IP 192.168.1.2 connected to the router and IP 192.168.2.1 connected to the TV
3. TV, IP 192.168.2.2 connected to the PC
4. Phone, IP 192.168.1.3 connected to the router

Router is Asus RT-AC87U, running Merlin's firmware.
PC is running Windows 7 and has Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) (optional of course) enabled on network adapter 192.168.1.2.
TV is an LG Smart TV and gets the internet over PC.

Everything kind of works, If I'd have some kind of server on my TV, I could set up port forwarding on 192.168.1.2 to forward them to 192.168.2.2 and that would work, but I am unable to use remote app on my Andoid phone that is connected to the router

After some googling and common sense I found out that app in question broadcasts a message to the network its connected to, so my TV is out of reach unless I forward the message to 192.168.2.2. Then, when TV gets the message, it gives a response with its IP or mac address so from now the app and TV can communicate directly and TV shows a pairing code that must be entered in to app to finalize pairing. Rumors on the internet say the post used is 9740, I am not sure if that is true and I do not know how to check it, but I have set up port 9740 forwarding to TV just in case, but no luck: when I try to search for available TVs on the network, I get no response, nor the pairing code shows on TVs screen. If I connect TV directly to the router, everything works fine, but it is not an acceptable solution, TV does not have a WiFi adapter and cable would mess up the interior.

So RT-AC87U is a router filled with features, Merlin pushes it even further, Windows 7 is also not a calculator, so there definitely should be a way to make the TV a part of 192.168.1.* network, I am just unable to find the guide how to do that, could someone please help me? Of course I could buy a WiFi dongle or a bridge, but router already took a big bite of my wallet and my wife would kill me if I spend any more on "toys"

I also tried to bridge the adapters on the PC, but then my TV had no internet connection at all, maybe I did something wrong?


Update 2015-01-06:

My TV has some settings for connection, I can either set it on auto, so it would get the IP from DHCP, or I can set it manually, but then I have to enter everything including DNS, so now it looks like this:

IP: 192.168.2.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.2.1
DNS: 8.8.8.8

Does not work with bridged adapters, neither did the auto mode (on my router I have a DHCP entry for tv, ip 192.168.1.15).

Also after some googling I found a thing called static routing that looked quite promissing, however I have no idea how it differs from bridging and I am getting quite lost in here.

I tried running command route ADD 192.168.2.2 MASK 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.2 on the PC, but without ICS TV could not connect to internet, and TV was still invisible from router or any device on 192.168.1.0 network...

As I already mentioned, I have very limited knowledge on networking and I am kind of just trying random things, have no idea which of them should work and which of them are just time wasting...​

 

[thiggins]

Shut off ICS. The router is handling sharing the Internet connection. ICS is probably messing you up by having a second DHCP server.

 

[Cigaras]

Shut off ICS. The router is handling sharing the Internet connection.

Please explain more, if I shut off the ICS, TV can't connect to the internet then.
How is router handling the sharing? I can not see the TV from router...

 

[thiggins]

A router's whole purpose is to share an Internet connection. Shut off ICS, then repeat the network connection process, connecting to the router SSID.

 

[Cigaras]

A router's whole purpose is to share an Internet connection. Shut off ICS, then repeat the network connection process, connecting to the router SSID.

Are You aware that my TV can not connect to router directly?

 

[thiggins]

Why can't it connect directly? Have you tried?

 

[Cigaras]

Why can't it connect directly? Have you tried?

Because there is no wifi adapter on TV or cable between TV and router...

TV does not have a WiFi adapter and cable would mess up the interior.

 

[thiggins]

Use a wireless bridge to connect the TV

 

[Cigaras]

Use a wireless bridge to connect the TV

I do not have one, and have no money to buy one , all explained in the first post.

 

[bobsilver]

There are very inexpensive wireless bridges like the Netgear WNCE2001. You can find many on Ebay for $20 or so.

Bob Silver
Netgear

 

[Asmodian]

So RT-AC87U is a router filled with features, Merlin pushes it even further, Windows 7 is also not a calculator, so there definitely should be a way to make the TV a part of 192.168.1.* network, I am just unable to find the guide how to do that, could someone please help me? Of course I could buy a WiFi dongle or a bridge, but router already took a big bite of my wallet and my wife would kill me if I spend any more on "toys"

Actually the way windows network sharing works is that it makes a new network, there is no way to use it to attach your TV to your main network. Theoretically you should be able to open the needed ports between the TV and your phone but as you found this is not that easy.

I also tried to bridge the adapters on the PC, but then my TV had no internet connection at all, maybe I did something wrong?

This should work, have you tried restarting the TV after setting up the bridge?

 

[Cigaras]

have you tried restarting the TV after setting up the bridge?

Yes, I tried that, also rebooted the PC just to be sure

My TV has some settings for connection, I can either set it on auto, so it would get the IP from DHCP, or I can set it manually, but then I have to enter everything including DNS, so now it looks like this:

IP: 192.168.2.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.2.1
DNS: 8.8.8.8

Does not work with bridged adapters, neither did the auto mode (on my router I have a DHCP entry for tv, ip 192.168.1.15).

Also after some googling I found a thing called static routing that looked quite promissing, however I have no idea how it differs from bridging and I am getting quite lost in here

I tried running command route ADD 192.168.2.2 MASK 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.2 on the PC, but without ICS TV could not connect to internet, and TV was still invisible from router or any device on 192.168.1.0 network...

As I already mentioned, I have very limited knowledge on networking and I am kind of just trying random things, have no idea which of them should work and which of them are just time wasting...

 

[JoBo]

So if your smart TV has all the ip network settings then there's either a wireless or wired internet port and maybe both, as simple as that.

Please provide us with your TV's brand and model so we, I, can look it up for you.

I looked at this one and it has Wi-Fi so I'll "assume" yours does too.
http://www.lg.com/us/tvs/lg-40UB8000-led-tv

Joe

 

[JoBo]

Are You aware that my TV can not connect to router directly?

I'll bet lunch it can and that's how it's intended to work.

 

[Cigaras]

Sorry for my bad phrasing I guess, I'll try to clarify: I do not want to connect the TV directly to router, I want to access it already connected to another PC on the netwrok.

I did not say it is not possible to connect directly, I even said that I did that and it works flawlessly, everything is written in the first post, but I can not use direct connection because of reasons that I can not change.