Sharing a Broadband Card Internet Connection between Mac and Windows

J

jmartin

Bit poster
I've seen several articles about this issue, but none that have solved my problem: I can connect my Mac OS or Windows Guest OS to the internet using my AT&T mobile broadband card, but not both at the same time. I'm guessing the solution may be to upgrade to Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.x and enable "Shared Networking" (an option that is grayed out in v2.5), but want to confirm there's not some simpler/cheaper solution.

The Problem
I can connect the Mac OS to the internet using the GT Ultra Express PC card and GlobeTrotter Connect software, but the connection isn't shared with the Windows Guest OS. Alternately, I can connect the Windows Guest OS to the internet using the broadband card, but only if I uninstall the GlobeTrotter Connect software from the Mac---and of course I can't share the Windows internet connection back to the Mac OS.

Environment
- MacBook Pro running OS 10.4.11
- Parallels Desktop for Mac v 2.5, Build 3214
- AT&T GT Ultra Express PC Card

Is upgrading to PDfM 3.x the only solution? Is it a guaranteed fix?
 
The problem is that most of such drivers shutdown our interfaces
Parallels Nat , and Host-Guest
You can run ifconfig -a
and check for 169.254.x.x IPs, on en2 and or on en3
 
Unclear

Thanks for the quick reply, John. Three questions:

1. What am I looking for when I run the ipconfig command?

2. Do I run ipconfig from the Mac OS terminal or Windows' cmd?

3. Should I be able to share a broadband card internet connection between Mac and Windows Guest OS without upgrading to PDfM 3.x?

Thanks!
 
1. Failed Parallels DHCP server, it means that modem drivers kicks out our en interface
2. ifconfig -a in Applications/Utilities/Terminal on Mac
3. If it allows to run our interfaces then yes, this is what we are trying to discover
 
having same problems and can add more information

I am having this exact same problem with Parallels 3.0 for Mac OS 10.5.4
In fact, I can't start Parallels as all due the fact that the Option Ultra drivers have created their "location" in the network services, and knocked the Parallels drivers out. ifconfig shows no sign of the IP addresses you listed for en1 or en2. I have tried extensively to reconfigure the network settings/locations, with no luck. I need to run parallels while connected to the mobile network, so what is the solution?
Thanks
dan
 
Not that this solves your problem, but I'm taking my mobile broadband card back to AT&T. It works great about 1/3 of the time; other times it may not be detected by the software, the network may drop or not be found in the first place, etc. Really disappointed and I think Parallels is only part of the problem...
 
We are trying to communicate with Verizon and AT&T as sometimes their devices shutdown our interfaces,
But I am not sure will they agree to rewrite their drivers
 
dbhoch said:
I am having this exact same problem with Parallels 3.0 for Mac OS 10.5.4
In fact, I can't start Parallels as all due the fact that the Option Ultra drivers have created their "location" in the network services, and knocked the Parallels drivers out. ifconfig shows no sign of the IP addresses you listed for en1 or en2. I have tried extensively to reconfigure the network settings/locations, with no luck. I need to run parallels while connected to the mobile network, so what is the solution?
Thanks
dan
Click to expand...

If you even cannot see any interfaces, when connected, it is completely shutdown our interfaces, is your card working in WIndows, if yes, it is possible to configure connection to internet from Windows and make Mac to share this connection as described bellow

Solution:

1. Attach device to Virtual machine
2. Install drivers, according to hardware manufacturer's recommendation
3. on Mac OS side open System Preferences ->Network
4. Edit settings for Parallels Host-Guest adapter as bellow:
Configure: Manually
IP address: any in range 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.254
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.0.1
DNS server: 192.168.0.1
Search Domains: leave empty

5. In Windows navigate to Control Panel - Network Connections
6. Right click on Network device which provides Internet Connection -
select Properties
7. Click Advanced tab
8. Select Allow other network users to connect through this computer's
Internet connection
9. In Home Networking Connection by default Parallels Network Adapter is
selected click OK
10. Click OK. You receive the following message:
When Internet Connection Sharing is enabled, your LAN adapter will be
set to use IP
address 192.168.0.1. Your computer may lose connectivity with other
computers on
your network. If these other computers have static IP addresses, it is a
good idea to set them
to obtain their IP addresses automatically. Are you sure you want to
enable Internet
Connection Sharing?
11. Click Yes.
 
Sprint, AT&T or Verizon Cards Work Best?

I'm also using the GT Ultra Express and unable to access my broadband connection from within Parallels running XP. I have 3 questions:

1) Have your discussions with AT&T been fruitful? Do they plan to update the driver?

2) You mention that AT&T and Verizon devices sometimes shut down your interfaces. Is there another US vendor that offers broadband devices compatible with Parallels? Sprint perhaps?

3) I noticed the "Imperfect Workaround" post over on MacRumors and was intrigued by the author's approach toward eliminating the GlobeTrotter Location Profile in the Mac's Network Preferences area, then adding the GlobeTrotter Modem to his default configuration. Despite my inability to implement his suggestions , in theorywouldn't his approach enable all the drivers to be active at the same time, thus perhaps allowing parallels to see the broadband connection?

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
Last edited:
1) Have your discussions with AT&T been fruitful? Do they plan to update the driver?

Sorry, no comments on this

2) You mention that AT&T and Verizon devices sometimes shut down your interfaces. Is there another US vendor that offers broadband devices compatible with Parallels? Sprint perhaps?

By the way, if device can work from Windows you can use my workaround above

3) It looks like correct, but I am not 100% sure, as we didn't test such solutions.
 
Best Card On Market

John,

The AT&T card continues to give me headaches for reasons both related and unrelated to Parallels. As such, I think I'm going to return it. If I were to pick any card on the market, which one have you seen to have the greatest compatibility with Parallels? Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, or someone else?

btw -I may still try your workaround, but I'd like to find a solution that's "mac-centric" if possible.


Thanks again,

joeyz
 
I had a user running 10.4.11, the GT Ultra Express card, and parallels v.3 build 5604 (I think).

Interestingly the card worked using shared networking.

On a test system running 10.5.4 I am not having as much luck, shared networking isn't available (parallels was reporting an error).

Apple has a list of support WWAN products here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1122
 
PD4 fixes this, but...

Hello,
apparently Parallels Desktop 4 fixes this, or at least did so for Option ICON 225 HSDPA USB stick, which could not be shared with PD3. Unfortunately PD4 is still plagued by virtual memory problems with converted virtual machines, so this is not the ideal solution, but better than none.

A. A.
 
Hi ppl,
I have a SINGAPORE TELECOM mobile dongle, which works fine for Mac or XP but in parallels it only worked after i updated the mac to 10.5.5 and ran cocktail which cleaned up the stuff inside. then adjusted the parallels network adapter settings to 'shared network". make sure all the other settings arent changed. It worked fine after that. Dont know about AT&T though.
 
Can't Connect to internet

Hi, i hope someone can help me.
Already installed Windows Vista Ulimate 32bits, using Parallels 4.0 on my macbook leopard 10.5.6
I did all the configurations to share Mac on windows, but it doesn't show anything when i log in windows desktop is emty. i tried all the options on parallels but nothing, also i used Ethernet.
If somebody had the same problem, please help. my em@il:

antonyyanez@gmail.com

Thanx
 
Broadband internet sharing

So, I have a Mac desktop and Cricket broadband card. Can I create a home network using only these two things? I've managed to pick up a signal on my iTouch and windows laptop with the name of my Mac desktop in the title of the network. Though I can connect to the desktops network, I am not able to connect to the internet through my desktops cricket broadband card. Any help to set me in the right direction? Thanks - Curits
 
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