Platinum Edition Using® Microsoft® Windows® XP

Setting Up a Bridged Network

Windows XP can serve as a bridge between two or more networks (the Bridging feature is not available in the 64-bit versions of Windows XP.). A bridge forwards all traffic received from any one network to all of the others, and its main purpose is to join networks using disparate media. For example, you can use the bridging feature to join a wired Ethernet network with a phoneline network, a wireless network, or a FireWire network; you can join a slower 10BASE-T network with a 10/100BASE-T network, or you can join all of these types together. Figure 17.21 illustrates a bridged network.

Figure 17.21. Bridging joins physically separate networks into one virtual network.

To create a bridged network, install the necessary ...