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All the tools needed to connect to an Internet Service
Provider (ISP) are included in Windows 95. However, how to make
a connection is not intuitive. Windows95 uses what is called
"Dial-up Networking". It is your TCP/IP dialer. Windows
95 installs differently depending who installed Windows 95 and
what they told it to install. Your Dial-Up Networking may not
be installed.
1) First, check to see if Dial-Up Networking is
installed. Open "My Computer" and look for the Dial-Up
Networking folder. Scroll down the My Computer window to make
sure it isn't hiding in there.
 2) Is Dial-Up Networking installed? If yes go to step 4. If not, follow step 3. 3) Okay, so we have to install Dial-Up Networking. Go to the "Start" button. Select "Settings" and choose "Control Panel". In the control panel select "Add/Remove Programs" which opens the "Add/Remove Programs Properties" window. Select the tab that says "Windows Setup". You probably have a check mark in the Communications box with a gray color around it. Note that the gray means that there are communications components not installed. Double click "Communications" and check the box next to "Dial-up Networking" and then press okay until you are out of the "Add/Remove" stuff. Chances are that it will install the components from your CD or disks and then restart your computer. Dial-Up Networking is now installed.
 6) For the purposes of these instructions, I am going to assume you have a modem installed. If for some reason you have made it this far and haven't yet installed your modem, you need to do so now. In the Control Panel select "Add New hardware" and follow the Wizard. You may have to tell the Wizard to not to search for new hardware and then manually select the modem driver. Tell it "Don't detect my modem" and select your exact modem and model. 7) Now you are ready to configure Dial-Up Networking using Point to Point Protocol (PPP) into your ISP. Go to "My Computer" and then find the "Dial-Up Networking" folder. Double click on 'make a New Connection". Follow the Wizard. You will need the ISP phone number you are going to dial. Now, RightClick on the connection icon you just created and select properties from the RightClick menu. Then push the "Server Type" button.
Now configure the "Server Types" so that
it says "PPP, Windows 95, Windows NT 3.5, Internet"
and select only TCP/IP.
Now press the "TCP/IP Settings…" and
check "Specify name server addresses" as shown below.
The IP Addresses entered will be different than that shown below for
your specific ISP. "Use IP Header compression" and
"Use default gateway on remote network" should be checked.
Now OK your way out and we are ready to dial. Double
click the connection icon and you will get the box below.
 Enter your username and password as supplied by your ISP. Notice that the above example has "Save password" check. If this option isn't "checkable", you need to go to "Control Panels" and enable a Password for your system so that when you start your computer, you are asked for a username and password. 8) So did it dial? You didn't press "Connect" yet? Well let's do it! In a minute you should see the following:
 Note that I have clicked on "Details" to show the server type and protocols. 9) If you were not able to authenticate and logon to the remote ISP, then they may not support Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) under their PPP. Some ISPs use a terminal access server and require that you logon through a terminal window. You can set this up so that you can logon manually after dialing. RightClick the connection icon you created earlier.
And select "Properties" again. This time
click the "Configure" button. Under the Options tab,
click the "Bring up terminal window after dialing".
This will then bring up a window that allows you
to see the prompts from the ISP and enter the username, password,
and any other terminal commands required to get into PPP.
 Once you have completed the terminal login, press "Continue" and you will be connected PPP to your ISP. 10) Now you need to check to be sure you are connected and you machine is talking TCP/IP. The basic tool for testing connectivity is ping.exe. Open a MS DOS Prompt and type "ping [IP number of your ISP]" followed by "ping [ISP Domain Name]";
C:\WINDOWS>ping 199.117.27.22 Pinging 199.117.27.22 with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=250 Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=276ms TTL=250 Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=231ms TTL=250 Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=185ms TTL=250 C:\WINDOWS>ping teal.csn.net Pinging teal.csn.net [199.117.27.22] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=244ms TTL=250 Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=190ms TTL=250 Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=224ms TTL=250 Reply from 199.117.27.22: bytes=32 time=168ms TTL=250
You are now connected and able to communicate on the
Internet through Winsock applications (TCP/IP aware). If you
were not able to ping the IP Address, you are hosed and need to
recheck the above steps. If you were able to ping the IP Address
but could not ping the ISP Domain Name, your Domain Name Service
(DNS) configuration is wrong. Check the DNS servers in your configuration
and verify that you can ping the IP addresses of the Domain Name
Servers.
This all is really pretty simple once you have been
there. But without knowing where to go and what to configure,
you are stuck buying a connectivity package like Microsoft's Windows
95 Plus!
I am interested in knowing if this has helped you
configure your Windows 95 for Internet Connectivity. If you find
things that could be explained better, please drop me a note to
lee@on-line.com and I will address your suggestions.
Lee Lasson |
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