Internet Connection Sharing slow on Win 7, fast on Ubuntu

[CapinWinky]

I've got ICS going on my laptop (windows 8.1 standard) to provide internet to a desktop that doesn't have wifi (I don't have physical access the router for several days). If I boot the desktop off of a live USB of Ubuntu, the internet is plenty fast. If I boot to fresh install of Windows 7 Pro N and select Home Network as the connection type, it detects the internet and can ping websites, but IE never actually loads the websites (same story with Chrome after I got a redistributable install to work). FYI, the N just means the European version to comply with some anti-competition ruling.

I've tried disabling the Windows Firewall for home connections and it made no change. When using IE, it gets stuck in the Waiting for <WebsiteName> phase, which makes me feel like incoming connections are being blocked. I doubt this is the host laptop's fault, since Ubuntu has no issues whatsoever.

I've also noticed that accessing shares on the host computer is slow, but works. Both computers have gigabit LAN and they are both reporting 1Gbps connection. I forced a 100Mbps connection and it didn't help things.

Any ideas?

 

[CapinWinky]

Update: I got a second router and set it up for client mode and after a slow start, it started working. I switched back to ICS and the connection issue showed back up. I'm fine with the two router setup, but curiosity makes me still want to figure out why ICS is blocking incoming connections on a fresh Win 7 Pro install.