I’ve got a brand new XBox 360 and would like to take advantage of the multiplayer gaming on XBox Live, but don’t have a network cable near my gaming setup. Is there a way to go wireless with the 360 and my laptop instead of shelling out another $100 for Microsoft’s XBox 360 wireless adapter?
If your laptop doesn’t already have a wireless network card, go out and pick one up. It will only cost you a little more than half the price tag of the XBox 360 adapter. Once your laptop is WiFi enabled, place it somewhere near your XBox 360 and connect the two of them with a short ethernet (cat5/network) cable. Plug one end of the cable into the network jack on the back of your XBox 360, and plug the other end of the cable into the network jack on your laptop. The next step depends on what operating system your laptop uses:
Windows XP
- Make sure you are logged in as a computer Administrator.
- Go to the Control Panel (click Start, click Control Panel).
- Double-click on Network Connections
- Click on the Advanced tab, then check Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection.
- Click OK
- Turn on your XBox and connect to XBox Live.
Mac OS X
- Click on the System Preferences icon in the Dock.
- Select the Sharing preference pane.
- Click on the Internet tab.
- Start Internet Sharing.
- Turn on your XBox and connect to XBox Live.
Note: if you restart your computer and cannot connect to XBox Live, nothing is broken. The system may have just reset Internet Sharing to disabled, so follow these instructions again.
