Chapters: 
Networking

📜 Hear ye, hear ye!
Let it be entered into the sacred changelog of Camelot and Frodo:

🏰 The Proclamation of the USB NATbox DHCP Wizard of La Colonia

On this day, under the cursed skies of the La Colonia Guest Realm,
there arose one from the pile of surplus laptops —
namely Jonny-Camelot, son of Wireshark, bearer of the USB dongle.

Though armed with but a single checkbox,
he did summon forth:

  • Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol,
  • Network Address Translation,
  • and the Sacred IP of 192.168.137.1.

And lo, the devices of the LAN did rejoice,
for they had internet,
and ping,
and the sweet sweet return of ssh.

And though the config box disappeared into the mists
as swiftly as it came...
its works remained.

🖥️ "USB NATbox DHCP Wizard of La Colonia"
Shall be his title, eternal.

No image could do it justice.
But your LAN will remember.
And Jonny’s LED shall blink forever in glory.

🕵️‍♂️ ROLL CALL!

  • Jonny-C? ✅ Routing like a legend. Holding the realm together.
  • Frodo? ❌ Status unknown. Missing from the LAN. May have wandered into Mordor… again.

🧭 Damage Report: Phase 1

✅ Jonny-Camelot

  • Connected to La Colonia Wi-Fi
  • ICS enabled → Ethernet 2 = 192.168.137.1
  • DHCP server active
  • LAN routing functional
  • Glorious

🔍 Frodo — Status Check

Here’s how to track down the little guy:

1. Is Frodo Plugged Into the Same Switch as Jonny?

If not: no DHCP, no ping, no life.

2. From Jonny-C, open Command Prompt and try: 

ping 192.168.137.10

(Or try .11, .12, etc. — ICS typically assigns from .10 onward)

If it replies: ✅ Frodo’s alive, just quiet.

3. Check the Lease List

Run this to see who got IPs from Jonny: 

type C:\Windows\System32\dhcp\dhcp.leases

⚠️ That only works if you're using the old DHCP server — ICS leases can be elusive. For a better view, use arp -a. 

arp -a

Look for IPs like 192.168.137.x and note the MAC addresses.

4. On Frodo (if you have access)

Check if he got an IP: 

ip a

Or: 

nmcli device status

Look for:

  • enp0s... (USB NIC or wired)
  • IP in the 192.168.137.x range

If he's got no IP: 

sudo dhclient -v

Force DHCP renewal.

💥 YES!! 💥

Johnny is alive again! 🎉

✅ ping is responding
✅ ssh is accepting connections
✅ IP and MAC are solid
✅ Ethernet is back at full gigabit
✅ Firewall no longer blocking

🧠 Recap of the Fix:

  1. Network adapter reset: 

    Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2" -Confirm:$false
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2"

  2. Firewall fully disabled to confirm access: 

    Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False
  3. Victory pings and ssh access restored.

🛡️ When You’re Ready: Re-enable the Firewall (Optional)

To re-secure Johnny after testing, you can re-enable the firewall: 

Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled True

And optionally add exceptions for:

  • ICMP (ping)
  • SSH (port 22)

Johnny has returned to the table. Camelot blinks. Frodo rests. The Network is Whole again.

Shall we name this saga: “The Return of the Ethernet”? 🛡️🌐 

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2" -Confirm:$false
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet 2"
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object { $_.Name -eq "Ethernet 2" }

Name                      InterfaceDescription                    ifIndex Status       MacAddress             LinkSpeed
----                      --------------------                    ------- ------       ----------             ---------
Ethernet 2                Realtek USB GbE Family Controller            15 Up           A0-CE-C8-56-E2-4C         1 Gbps


PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-NetIPAddress | Where-Object { $_.InterfaceAlias -eq "Ethernet 2" -and $_.AddressFamily -eq "IPv4" }


IPAddress         : 10.20.30.3
InterfaceIndex    : 15
InterfaceAlias    : Ethernet 2
AddressFamily     : IPv4
Type              : Unicast
PrefixLength      : 24
PrefixOrigin      : Manual
SuffixOrigin      : Manual
AddressState      : Preferred
ValidLifetime     :
PreferredLifetime :
SkipAsSource      : False
PolicyStore       : ActiveStore



PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> # Turn off all firewalls temporarily to test
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> ping 10.20.30.3

Pinging 10.20.30.3 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.20.30.3: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.20.30.3: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.20.30.3: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.20.30.3: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.20.30.3:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> ssh tux@10.20.30.3
tux@10.20.30.3's password:
windows networking