How to Use AOL with Internet Connection Sharing

This article describes how to connect to America Online (AOL) 4.0/5.0/6.0 when you use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS).

AOL 4.0

If you use different AOL accounts on multiple ICS client computers, use the AOL dial-up program to establish a connection to the Internet for each ICS client computer. You can use chat, messaging, and e-mail through your Internet connection.

Host and Client Computers

If you use different AOL accounts on an ICS host computer and multiple ICS client computers, use the AOL dial-up program to establish a connection to the Internet on the computer.

AOL 5.0/6.0

Using AOL 5.0/6.0 with ICS and Digital Modems (DSL, Cable, Etc.)

If you are attempting to use ICS and AOL 5.0/6.0 on a host computer that uses a network adapter rather than a modem to connect to the Internet, you may experience difficulty in establishing connections from client computers.

This occurs because by default, Windows 98 can only bind TCP/IP to four network adapters at once. The installation of AOL 5.0/6.0 creates five instances of network adapters: You should probably not install AOL 5.0/6.0 on any host computer that is using a digital modem. Installing and using AOL 5.0/6.0 on client computers should work because they will only have four network adapters.