How to prevent the Network Setup Wizard from creating a bridge in Windows XP

This article describes how to prevent the Network Setup Wizard from creating a network bridge. When you run the Network Setup Wizard, the default option is to let the wizard automatically bridge connections. If you select this option, a network bridge is created. However, you may not want a network bridge to be created. You may want to complete the wizard without creating a network bridge.

Prevent the Network Setup Wizard from creating a network bridge

To complete the Network Setup Wizard without creating a network bridge, follow these steps:

1. When you receive the "Your computer has multiple connections" message, click Let me choose the connections to my network, and then click Next.
2. When you receive the "Select the connections to bridge" message, clear the check boxes for all but one of the network devices that are listed, and then click Next.
3. When you finish the Home Networking Wizard, you do not create any network bridges.

By default, if two or more networking devices are installed on your computer during network setup, the Network Setup Wizard tries to set up a bridge connection between two network devices or between a device and a modem. The list of assumed networking devices includes the following devices:

• Standard networking devices such as Ethernet network adapters.
• Wireless networking devices.
• 1394 devices.

For additional information about a resolution for this problem, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about network bridges, search for the "network bridge" topic in Help and Support.