wouldnt it be cool, want to figure how to setup null adapter

hi all,
wouldnt it be cool to be able to setup another adapter in your win network config as a fake, or virtual 2nd adapter?

the thing i would use it for first is with my personal ICS internet connection sharing adapter which i use to share an android phone unlimited internet plan usb tethered into a NAT box, or an internet share host if you will.

i use my physical adapter as the share host, as the selected share adapter when the internet broadband adapter (the phone USB in this case) is set to use ICS. this sets to physical adapter to 192.168.137.1. 255.255.255.0 with empty dns and gateway. this is proper for ICS setup.

now behind the lines, any adapter than can connect to 192.168.137.1 can get internet access. that part we know.

then you take a router and connect it into this subnet by using 192.168.137.2 as the routers address. then you generally either control it as a NAT, or you set it up as an access point.

you need to turn off the routers dhcp, then you let the ICS adapter control dhcp, which is default.

if you turn on your wireless access, any computer on the subnet will grab their ip from the dhcp on the ICS 192.168.137.1 adpater.

this is what i have been using for some time now as my favorite setup.

a while back after searching for better ways to be able to leave all client machine (such as my laptop, or any other pc throughout the place on the LAN) ip set to auto, and dns set to auto(default) so that NO tweaking would be necessary on any client to get access, i put this setup together to solve the problems noted in this post.

the client would send dhcp request across the WLAN, the router would pass it to the ICS device, the host would create the response and send it back through the router and issue a new ip, and dns, the client would be fully connected through that route.

i have this set up just fine, and have been using it for some time.

now im a picky windows user and like things to be perfect, but you might NOT guess that it bothers the hell out of me when go into 'network and sharing center' and i have to stare at a connection that refuses to act normal, is listed as "Unidentified Network", and when clicked on will NOT let you edit the name, or the icon. I want that thing to say "Belkin Router", or "Internet Gateway" or something of the Sort. And i want that ugly public bench off the screen. I would pick the gateway icon with the router and two piped clients as the image, or something besides that bench, lol.

Once i have that, i can look at my network structure as comprehensible, and it would polish off the process.

I know some of you probably know the solution right off the bat. But it also led me to a thought. first of all, please submit any ideas that you have i would like some opions on this one, as to your personal solutions, Im always open to better ones, but i also always love another tool in the arsenal.

But on the other hand it got me thinking, specifically about the topic of this post, the null adpater.
For fun, and to further organize the system and open up a bit more headroom to the default internal network adapter on the internet connection share host machine, it would be nice where insted of having to dedicate that DHCP to the physical internal adpater, it would be nice to push that off to a NULL or virtual adapter, so that the ICS adpater could either USE the NULL virtual adapter instead for its host dhcp and connection share adapter, OR it could use the standard physical adpater but push off the dhcp functions to the virtual one so that the physical one can have a little more flexibility on addressing by either setting to static, or better yet set to auto where if will get its ip from the virtual one.

will explain this one better later...

so HOW WOULD I set up a NEW NULL virtual adapter in the host pc that will act like a normal network adapter that can communicate on the subnet to the physical adapter with tcp/ip, and where this new virtual adapter will be selectable for ICS services, as found in the sharing tab of the newtork properties on a standard network propertied dialog box. Is there a registry tweak, a script, or known procedure to accomplish this one, or can someone help me figure the steps to get this accomplished?

What i want to do with the host is connect the internet device into the host machine via the usb phone adapter(broadband adapter), that network adapter will create itself on the host machine as drivers are installed, then i go to the properties of that phone adapter "broadband adapter", then to the 'properties','sharing tab', turn on ICS sharing, (if it asks you, then select an adpater [(select the NEW NULL VIRTUAL ADAPTER as the sharing host, leave DHCP enabled[default])].

Now as for the hosts physical adapter(not the broadband phone adater, but the onboard internal NIC [or wireless network adapter]) on the host machine would be alleviated from ICS duties, and will be ready for duty to connect how we see fit.

The null virtual adapter has taken over the duties of the ICS, which will reduce any futher confusion, especially for those casual users who when setting up their client adpater like to use the host machine as a roadmap or model. after all, their host machine is probably not much of a host, but just another client who ended up being in the same room as the telephone, or other internet access point happened to be plugged in, so not is it only a host, but its a slave too, because it was used because of location, not because of function.

So lets realize that its more of a client than host, so why should be have to dedicate it to host or server status just because we needed to connect the broadband adapter into it, why cant we just make sure the physical NIC card can be left alone when setting up ICS and just settle with re-naming the hosts physical adapter to something a bit more comprehensible, and stop there and let the auto ip take care of the rest? This is not currently posssibly with current ICS setup, because renaming and icon changing are blocked out. So normally, as a client, we use ip auto, this is easier. So this machine can just become another client once the machine is set up to use this null virtual adapter used as the ICS host adapter(192.168.137.1).

Now when a less-experienced or memory-compromised user comes to mess with the network settings, it will be readily obvious whats going on here, and easy to adjust without messing up any settings. If this user uses the host machine network adapter as a model or roadmap for the rest of the clients setup, then the setup is identical and clear. The adpater will normally be set up as IP Auto, setup completed, not so hard. They will never need to question the setup. That is just one benefit.

Another benefit is the fact that the actual ip address of this host physical network adapter can now be set to whatever needed, if necessary. maybe its a internet server. the host needs to be static if anything other than netbios names are being used. So you can set the ip to the desired host address, and now access this host machines services faithfully and dedicated.

and low and behold one of my reasons as being a picky windows user, i want that ugly public bench off there, so i can change my physical adapter icon now to a more suitable image, and then rename it to 'ICS host', or 'Closet Server' or something of the sort. There, that ugly icon is gone. But, now i assume that this means that the new NULL virtual adapter will be in the list and it will be an ugly public bench, and will say 'Unidentified Network' so what did we really accomplish?

Well, atleast we can get the physical address acting more like a client which is alot easier to maintain the properties of than a server adapter. This will reduce the maintenance to just the setup, as opposed to ongoing, everytime the properties are adjusted.

In the end we can now treat this physical adapter on the host machine the same as any other client machine adapter, therefore if ip is set to auto, then it will automatically register itself onto the Virtual adapter that we created and get an ip on the 192.168.137.0 subnet. Now since dhcp will issue out a limited set of adddresses some where in the middle of the ranges of the 192.168.137.0/255.255.2550 subnet, it will keep some key unused ips available.

With these extra IP's you set your router or access point LAN static ip address as either 192.168.137.2, or 192.168.137.254, this is your Gateway address. on the router/accespoint settings, you must turn off the DHCP services. If router or access point equipped with internet connection or wan settings, leave them set to AUTO or DYNAMIC. whoa, that was easy.

The network is dummy-proof now.

Your router access-point will now pass all dhcp requests to the ICS adpater (this is default behaviour for ICS adpater to look for dhcp requests), and the ICS adapter will lease out a new unused cleaned washed ip back, and the new client will get a new leased ip.

This will finish off the router or access-point setup with full internet service.

I thought i would share this setup with the community.

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How would i create a virtual network adapter that i can give this kind of control to (ICS services) and are there any opinions on further slimming this process;?

Is there a way to just rename the default ICS adapter that we know now (as created normally with the physical adapter as its host, as opposed to the new VIRTUAL adapter idea) by editing something in the registry?

Is there a way to change icon when the default method wont allow you to?

And i think i have tried this before cant remember if it works or not, but has anybody been able to get ICS adapter to serve dhcp still and connection share when the ip address was manually set to anything other than 192.168.137.1? I dont think i have found a method of this yet, so i think that is just a standard for the service(ICS) isnt it?

Find the driver for the Microsoft windows loopback adapter. I also didn't read your overly long 'blog', so I don't know if it's really what you need.

However, it can be installed this way:

Control Panel, Device Manager, Action, Add Legacy Hardware, next, Install the hardware manually from a list (Advanced), Network adapter, Microsoft Loopback Adapter, next, finish.

It then shows up as an unidentified network connection in Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections. You can click <Alt> to show the menu, then choose Advanced, Advanced settings to change the bindings etc.

It's useful for binding clients protocols and services to that you don't want to expose over the network.

Google can help.