XBox 360 Live Connection Through Ethernet (And Wireless Computer)
How to set up your xbox 360 to live using an ethernet cord (comes with your xbox =o) and a wireless computer (most likely a laptop) by setting up a bridge between your computer’s Internet connection and your Xbox 360.
To start things off, most people say this is a very confusing and frustrating process, but i found it to be very simple.
Things you need to make this work:
1) An Ethernet Cable
2) a computer with an Ethernet jack
3) obviously, an xbox
(and of course, an Internet signal =P)
A) OK, first things first, plug in your Ethernet cable into your Xbox 360 (the plug should be in the back) and plug the other side into your (turned on and connected to the Internet!) computer.
and 
-(for settings such as manually putting in you IP address, your mac address, and gateway, just leave them on automatic, if your computer is able to get on the Internet, these are already set up just fine.)
B) 1)go to the start menu and open up your control panel)
2) Turn on your Xbox 360
3) Open your network and sharing section and on the left side in blue, click manage network connections.
(on your computer)
4) (you should see your Internet signal and your xbox’s plugged in signal) hold down Ctrl and select both of them. now right-click and you should see an option to bridge the connections, click it and wait for the page to re-load (you might be disconnected from the Internet for a few seconds as it sets up the bridge)
5) now make sure your computer is still able to access the Internet (i had to reset mine) by going to google or something quick and simple. If you are, try and test your xbox’s connection to live.
now you should be able to connect to xbox live! congratulations!
Hi i was wondering if you could give the same tutorial for when you are using the wireless adapter for xbox live??
I used to be able to connect to xbox live but after i went to a friends house and changed networks it doesn’t work. i don’t know my PPPoE address or whatever and its really annoying..
wait, are you trying to connect to your friend’s internet or your own?…and because you say you don’t know your PPPoE address that sounds like you put your settings on manual, does your router automatically assign new computers (or xbox 360s) IP addresses?
thanks. sounds good. I will give it a try!
problem. I don’t see the network bridge under network connections. how I do I fix this. THanks for the help.
make sure you are connected to the internet, check the connections on the Ethernet cord to make sure they are plugging in properly, and make sure your Xbox is on, then it should work
This is a lot better than paying $100 for the wifi accessory.
Is there a difference between “bridging” and just “sharing” the internet connection with my ethernet card?
what OS are you running?
So just plug the cord into your mac and or pc and to the xbox and bam you have xbox live?
nooooo- this guide is how to set it up for when u do plug it in….you can’t just plug it in and expect it to work…you need to basically tell your computer to share internet with the xbox thru the ethernet cord….just to clarify; no, if you just plug it in it wont work
When I plug the cord to the xbox, and configure the computer to share the network with the xbox, it doesn’t work. I went to properties and configured that. Am I doing something wrong?
-.- read the guide….connecting it has nothing to do with sharing the network, it involves making a network bridge, not enabling sharing.
I’ve bridges the connections and am able to access the internet on my laptop but on the xbox live connection test its seeing the network but wont connect to the internet. what do i do?
im going to give it a try , i have windows xp home edition service pack 3 , should it work?
the bridge yes, but I Don’t know if the access to get there to set it up is the same
I can’t make a bridge to the xbox as the network I am connected to the internet on is listed as dial-up. It is not dial up though, it is wireless broadband. I am confused!
thats the wired connection from your xbox, not your internet
OMG IT WORKED!
Thank you so much I appreiciate this very much. 
Thank you so much. This worked out great for me. Thanks again!
Brilliant help – thank you very much!
will I be able to acces market place and download demos??
Jst about to do it in the morning thanks for the very clear instructions, fingers crossed it works
yes, you will be able to access everything including the marketplace…its the same as having the wireless adapter without the 100 dollar price tag
My lads computer only has 1 ethernet port that he uses to connect to the network at his university (no wireless network). Is there any way of conecting his X Box to his laptop and then to the internet with this configuration?
Many thanks
how do you connect to the internet after bridging the connection.. thats where im having issues…?! i keep losing the connection after bridging.. how do people get around this?!?!
thanx
dave
Kev B- you can buy special ethernet port splitters so you can connect two jacks into 1 port
dave-turn on your xbox so your computer connects to it (local connection only) then go the network and sharing center, and in the picture click between your computer (middle) and the internet icon (left)…there should b a red X. it will look for options to repair, select “reset bridge” let it reset, and it should work.
Hi, I just wanted to say thank you so much for the guide, I really didn’t want to spend the money for the adapter, and now I don’t have to.
Wow this helped a lot! I just followed the steps and it worked like a charm. I don’t understand why others are struggling with this though.
Thanks alot man this worked great for me. Instructions very well set out and easy to follow!
Hi, please god I hope someone can help! Im not a complete retard when it comes to getting my way round computers, hense why this is even more frustratibg. My PC in my basement is connected wirelessly to my BT Voyager 2110 router up stairs. I am trying to simply connect my xbox with a wired connection to my pc to then use my PCs wireless to connect to xbox live. I have tried bridging the two connections, sharing the wireless connection, setting static IP addresses, leaving them DHCP, enabled peer to peer, ethernet cable, crossover cable. Nothing gets it to work! lol. Basically as soon as I share the wireless connection or create a bridge i can no longer connect to the internet on my pc. One thing im not sure of is if i disable my wireless NIC and just have the ethernet connection open to the xbox and set both on a static ipaddress, i cant ping the xbox and the xbox cant connect to my pc, is this normal with an xbox? hope this is clear. many thanks!
like i said earlier, if you are having trouble connecting to your regular internet connection after setting up the bridge, turn on your xbox so that your computer is connected to it, then go to network and sharing center, and click on the red “X” inbetween the desktop picture and the internet globe, it will give you the solution to reset the ip address of your xbox, do it and you should be able to connect to the internet again =)
Hi Lax, thanks for ur help, however i noticed ur doing this on vista, wat bout xp pro/home? as this is what im using and cant say ive ever seen this option? Ta
sorry jack, this is for vista…idk what to do for xp =/ ill look it up and see if i can find anything for ya tho
Cheers for your help mate, got it working last night finally. Dont know what I did different but hey it working!
Hello. Thank you for this guide and I’m sure it will work but I’m having trouble when it comes to manage network connections because I am using Windows 7 and it doesn’t give me that option. Does anyone know a solution to this or what to do on Windows 7? Many thanks.
Nevermind, I was able to find it. If anyone else has this problem it is under “change adapter settings”
im running xp so how do i do this on on my OS
got me, i did this guide for vista bud, I don’t even own a computer that’s running xp anymore
hi, i can get to step 4 but when i try to bridge them, this coms up…..
“to creat a network bridge, you must select at last two LAN or Hig Speed Connections that are not being used by Internet Connection Sharing”
Can you please help me..
email me on dan.owen15@hotmail.com
danny, this wont work if you’re getting your computer’s internet by connecting to another computer and getting internet from there. To simply put it if your connection is “being used by internet connection Sharing” it wont work…sorry
then turn off the internet connection settings on your wireless network connections, properties and sharing tab
Well, first off, thanks for showing me the bridge feature. Never heard of that before. But, when I bridged them, even though it said my wireless connection was “connected” I lost all access to the internet on my laptop, and of course the xbox got none either. The only way to regain wireless connection was to remove it from the bridge. What do I need to do to keep the bridge, but actually be able to access the internet?
I have a dell laptop with a verizon air card. I want to get on live
but i only have the standard grey ethernet card with my xbox. Some ppl on youtube said i need to bridge connections and use the crossover cable, others said i had to just enable sharing and use the crossover cable… Which is right. I need to play som emodern warfare 2!!!!!!!!!!111
Tom.
I can’t get the bridge to appear on my laptop, it discovers another public connection everytime i plug it in but not the same picture as on the instructions, only the local area connection appears with the ethernet cable
do you know what I can do?
oh wait never mind, i sorted it out
Sounds daft I know but I can’t get the XBox to connect with the ethernet cable at all. Tried 2 different cables and it just doesn’t show on the Network Connections screen. Should I already have a subscription or a bigger hard drive than the Arcade standard?
I have windows 7 how can i get into the same menu? Doesnt seem to be anywhere i can bridge the connections
go to network and sharing center, then go to change adapter settings, and that will bring you to step 4
legend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU! WORKS FINALLY! A key thing that helped us: do not change any of the xbox network settings. leave it to the default. (should be 0.0.0.0 all the way). I can\’t access internet on my laptop at first but also don\’t be alarmed, could just be the screwy internet like mine. So, keep trying to get access to ur net on ur laptop/comp. I tried like 10 times or more! Hope this helps.
Hi my xbox used to work fine with the cable to my laptop but now will just not connect, i tried these steps but my laptop doesnt recognise the cable as my xbox it comes up as Local Area Connection so if I try to bridge connections it wont let me, whats gone wrong and how do i fix it?
delete that remembered connection from your computer, unplug the cable, turn off the xbox, plug the cable into the xbox’s side, then plug it into the computer. should work, hope i helped
holy smokes. I thought i broke my computer when it showed everything was offline. i have a fully updated windows xp. so i just tried the internet and its working just as fast as usual. AND it works magically on my Xbox. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
i dident know it was that easy ;P thanks
hi lax, this info was very helpful, followed all the steps, and i when i check my xbox live connection, its all good……. the one issue i worry about before purchasing a subscription is that when i test pc connection, it says there is a problem, and my pc is \’unknown\’, like i say my live connection is ok, and my laptop still gets on the net, will this be a problem when i go to play games online…. thanks in advance
yeah it should work fine =)
Hi I\’ve , everything in ur outline but still can\’t connect , I\’ve been on youtube even followed those guides there.
I\’m do n sum n wrong? My xbox 360 , keeps tell n me it can\’t find / connect because of routers dns.
Wtf , I connect 2 a wifi signal from my sisters pc which has a att modem/router all in 1, is the router the problem .
If anyone can shed sum light plz do my addy is JASONSANTANNA@yahoo.com
Thnx
im am obviousley trying to connect to xbox live, in my pc the is only one ethernet jack, whick the internet connection cable is plugged into, is there a way to connect to xbox live? I heard about splitters, would they work for me? help please cos im unsure??????
yes a splitter will work for you, but instead of having to set up your computer to do so, simply put the splitter at the jack in the wall and have one line going to your 360 and the other going to your computer.
thanks, ill try it. will i need another splitter going into the xbox?
set up bridge and even manually put in i.p address and all that bust still wont connect. i also have a crossover cable and seem to have done everything right. any suggestions?
do you think i will need another splitter going into the xbox? Thanks for your help so far.
never put in the settings maunally…that didn’t work for me when i tried it before writing this guide. just leaving the settings on automatic, and to tomS, no, you wont need a second splitter going into your 360
Thanks laxplayer973 I connected to xbox live all thanks to your help.
Nevermind its working
Hey, I have tried and tried and tried this damn bridging, whenever i go into my ‘manage networks’ i have two sections, one for dial-up( which has 3 options, 3g, some other one, and one called Mobile, which has a big green check mark next to it). Then below the dial-up section, there is a LAN section with three available options also, Local Area Network connection, Local Area Connection 2, and Wireless Connection. idk why there are two LAN connections, all of these options have big red X’s by them, and say they are not connected. I recieve internet service through Sprint, and i have a USB internet NIC. I have used regular cat5 patch cables, and i just recently got a crossover cable, and i got a switch/hub. SO basically, my problem is: when i create the bridge, it comes up as an ‘Unidentified Network’ but it says it is connected, so when i see that it is connected, and make sure my internet is connected, i go to by xbox, and select text xbox live connection, and it wont connect, it wont even identify the network, it says the problem is that the xbox wont generate an IP adress, but when i look in the Configuration Settins on the xbox, there is an IP adress, ( Could i resolve this by setting up a static IP?? or downloading a small DHCP server and placing that on my computer???) WHAT DO I DO!!!? IM DYING i want to play live so bad. haha please help. Shoot me an email at devonbenoit@gmail.com if you have any resolutions for me, all help is greatly greatly appreciated. Thanks so much,
Devon
hi mate came across this after hours of trawling the web and this worked a treat for me but only when i had disabled internet sharing in local area connection.
your a star.
I have the problem of it thinking its using an ethernet when theres a wireless adapter in it. I tryed simple things to try and fix this but i have no clue what to do.
That’s what I’m talking about. Effin sweet. Be patient it will work. All you guys/gals rock…..
ok i know this will be confusing but here it is i have a xbox adpater hook up to my other xbox..i have a jtag so will it work if i plug the ethernet cable in both of the xboxs..and will it connect
messge me back at my email
Natedawg3236@yahoo.com
Brilliant, i have been having problems with this forever, always hit and miss, works prefect now thank you
only thing slightly different to your instructions was that i had to highlight both individual connections and right click to bridge the connection, but that’s not rocket science to work out 
tried all these steps but after ive bridged the connections then reset the bridge my laptop wont connect to the internet at all ?????????? but if i remove the bridge it works fine ??? any ideas people am really frustrated just wanna play COD:)
i am connected to xbox live, but am stuck on a strict nat type. anyway to change that using only the pc into xbox 360 connection?
by the way, i am using my cell phone’s internet hotspot app for my laptop’s wifi, then relaying it to the xbox via an ethernet cord. is that even possible to do?
im havin problems i cnt find the manage wired network only wireless so i cnt make a bridge how do i fix that problem
I have ethernet hooked up and comp is showing xbox, but xbox will not start kinect.
hi, i am using a laptop with windows 7, and i did all your steps and it connected and i did the test and all was well, but when i try to log in to the EA servers (for example) it just doesn’t work, and it keeps disconnecting after like 2 min or so. if someone has a solution for this please email me to (daniel_jorge10@sapo.pt)
This fucking site sucks shit, who would waste a moment of their goddamn time here.
Excellent walkthrough, thanks for the help! This site is also worth checking out if you guys have some time to kill: http://www.arcaderush.net/
Hi, this is a great tut but i am having one issue. I cant connect to the internet on my laptop ( i have windows 7) after i have made the bridge and my xbox wont connect to the network. It says that he bridge doesn’t have a valid IP connection. any one have any tips?