ICS = Internet Connection Sharing. One step configuration.
This is as easy as networking gets.
One of the most vexing problem for the home user of MCH (My Cloud Home) is the damnable slow or fast white LED breathing light. Slow breathing is associated with server or internet problem while Fast is usually an ethernet connection problem. The solution offer here is to use a direct ethernet cable connection between a computer (PC or Mac) to MCH. In the past, direct connection has been problematic because the MCH is incapable of a static or fixed IP address setting so a DHCP server such as the one in a router is nearly always required. The problem of troubleshooting is compounded by Home users who are generally unfamiliar with their own router set up or they don’t have direct access to the router or their ISP owned the router and has locked down the router to port and firewall changes.
The solution here is to bypass the router and instead use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature available to both Windows and MacOS users as it is built in. For a more detailed discussion of the settings, please refer to Windows ICS or MacOS ICS links.
Requirements:
- working laptop/desktop with both WiFi and ethernet adapters, USB types okay. **
- working WiFi internet is available at this location.
- a working ethernet cable between computer and My Cloud Home
**The only requirement is actually that there are two network adapters of any type, one of which could connect to the internet.
1. Share WiFi from Your Mac over Ethernet
Or Win10 Internet WiFi adapter to ethernet
Go to Win10 control panel, right click WiFi network adapter icon, properties and choose Wi-Fi Sharing and choose the target (physical) ethernet adapter
Once ICS is working as it is enabled, one would see:
- MCH white LED becomes solid and no longer flashing
- My Cloud Home will end up at IP address as confirmed by cmd terminal
arp -a
192.168.137.2
is now the MCH IP and if one types
\\192.168.137.2
into the Windows File Explorer address bar, the My Cloud Home folders will show up.
At this point, if it is one’s objective to copy the download the files off of the MCH, go ahead and make a shortcut or quick access link in Windows and proceed to backup the MCH.
Win10 My Cloud Home ICS IP address
Because WiFi internet is being shared with the My Cloud Home at this point, it is now possible to authenticate with the Western Digital servers and to enable ‘local access’ which is recommended for MCH access without restriction from WD servers.
If a user enters the IP 192.168.137.2
into the Win10 browser, the MCH device-local will show
Finally, if one’s objective is to isolate the My Cloud Home from the internet, one would disable the WiFi to ethernet internet connection sharing above and instead install just a DHCP server without the internet sharing in the following configuration:
For those who are really concerned about their MCH and wish to isolate their MCH from the internet, this diagram is one way of doing it for little or no cost. You would replace the My Cloud shown with a My Cloud Home (MCH) of course but understand that the MCH does not have a static IP setting - therefore a DHCP server has to run on the PC or Mac, and that could be done as a service. Once the MCH received the IP assignment from the DHCP server, the ethernet adapter of the PC and the Mac will need to match on the same subnet in order for the switch to connect the devices. The ethernet is basically working without a router in this case but the Wifi router will be providing the internet only to the PC and Mac but not the MCH. It is self evident that each PC and each Mac required one ethernet and one WiFi adapter for this set up. An inexpensive USB3 ethernet or USB WiFi adapter would suffice if no built in adapter is available.
**The only requirement is actually that in each computer there are two network adapters of any type, one of which could connect to the internet. The two adapters of each computer will be on separate subnets, one of which has internet and the other doesn’t.