Connecting Xbox to your Computer! Simple

I. Introduction

First you'll need a Crossover Cable: A crossover cable is needed to directly connect your computer and Xbox. You would plug one end of the cable to your computer and the other end into the Xbox, there are no devices in between. If you have a hub, switch, or router you will not need a crossover cable though some still will work with one. With connecting to hubs, switches, or routers you should use a straight-through cable. The image below shows the difference between the two:

To easily tell if you have a crossover or not, simply look at the two ends side by side. If all the pins, 1 through 8 on both ends are all the same color in the same order, you have a straight-through cable. If pins 1, 3 and 2, 6 are swapped you have a crossover cable. Notice the TX, RX as well. This shows why in pc to pc connections a crossover is required. Otherwise one pc will be transmitting over the same wire the other pc is trying to transmit on.

This guide currently gives configuration examples for setting up an FTP connection with Evox, Avalaunch, MXM, or UnleashX as your dash. It is also recommended to use FlashFXP as your FTP client though many others will work just fine.
You do not NEED an internet connection to FTP to your Xbox. When you ftp to your Xbox from a computer in your house to the Xbox in your house, no packets (data) need to go out to the internet and they shouldn't even try. The tricky part is when you want to be able to access the internet and ftp to your Xbox at the same time. How this is done and how difficult it is depends on the devices you have.
I will not list every baby step involved for how to set things, like every mouse click required. If you're not sure how to do something I've said to configure, see number 5 below.
If something is said in this guide that you don't understand or don't know how to accomplish it, try google. It is a search engine at http://www.google.com
For example, if I say "Run a command prompt" but don't mention how; don't go immediately posting in the forums asking how you run a command prompt. First, try searching in google, "how to run command prompt windows xp". I'm willing to bet you'll get your answer faster. Another example, just so we're clear, if I say "turn off your winxp firewall", you may search in google, "how to turn off windows xp firewall". Again, I'm betting your answer will come faster.
This guide now has configuration diagrams to help anyone having difficulty understanding the configuration examples I discuss. Some people simply do better with visuals. The key for the diagrams is provided below:

II. Configuration Examples
Find the configuration that best matches what you have. Reading them all anyway could help your understanding.

1. Computer Direct Connection to Xbox
In this configuration you have your computer and Xbox directly connected. This direct connection can either be with the crossover cable, or with a straight-through cable to a hub/switch and then another straight-through cable from the hub/switch to your Xbox. Both are 'direct' connections.

2. Computer with two NICs
In this configuration you have two NICs. One possibly going to a router or a cable or DSL modem, the other you wish to make a direct connection to your Xbox with. You also have the option of configuring your Xbox for live, xbconnect, or xlink by enabling it to get out to the internet through your computer.

3. Computer with one NIC and a router
In this configuration you should have your computer and Xbox connected to the router. The router's WAN port goes to your cable, DSL modem, or otherwise out to the internet.

PRE SETUP: Before you begin setting up your configurations you should cable everything up properly. Make sure your Xbox is booted up with the dash loaded as well so you can test the settings you will put in. If you are loading your dash from a CD or DVD, any changes you need to make to the evox.ini, avalaunch.xml, config.xml or mxm.xml you will need to re-burn onto the disk then reboot your Xbox with your new boot disk. When making changes to the evox network settings when booting evox from the hard drive, make sure you scroll all the way down when you are finished and select save and exit.

Setting up Configuration 1
This is the simplest setup. Even if you have one of the other configurations, if you are experiencing problems you can always try this to help troubleshoot. This configuration can be setup in two different ways as showed in the Configuration 1a and Configuration 1b diagrams.


Evolution X Dashboard
Basically you can setup the [Network] Section of your evox.ini to look like this:

[Network]
SetupNetwork = Yes
StaticIP = Yes
Ip = 192.168.0.3
Subnetmask = 255.255.255.0
Defaultgateway =
DNS1 = 0.0.0.0
DNS2 = 0.0.0.0

You may also have SkipifNoLink and you can set that to No. Also verify your [FTP] Section looks like this:

[FTP]
Enable = Yes
Password = xbox
IGR = No

MXM Dashboard

If you use MXM as your dash in your MXM.xml file you would want the section to look something like this:

false
192.168.0.3
0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0
255.255.255.0

Also just verify there should be an FTPServer section that looks like this:

21
False
F:

xbox
xbox

Avalaunch Dashboard

192.168.0.3
255.255.255.0
0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0

8080

Also for Avalaunch make sure you set the username to this:

UnleashX Dashboard

For UnleashX, edit the config.xml file to look like this:

192.168.0.3
255.255.255.0
0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0
Yes

Also make sure the FTP section in UnleashX is all enabled (which is by default) so it should look like this:

xbox
xbox
21
2
No
Welcome to XBOX FTP Server

If you boot evox with these settings you can verify your Xbox has the correct IP either by looking on a skin that displays it or in settings it will display it in blue text up top. You can also look in the other dashes if you have an IP, if not right on the front screen (via whatever skin you have) then under a settings sub menu. If you see No Link or No IP! Then either one of these settings is wrong, you don’t have it connected to your computer with the correct settings yet, or your crossover cable is bad.

Now on your computer go to the properties of the NIC that has a crossover cable connected to the Xbox. Click on the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then properties. Enter the following:

IP Address: 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway:
DNS:
That's it. Simple huh? Now set up your FTP Client. For FlashFXP, install the program and run it. Click on "Site Manager" then click to create a new site. Name it Xbox or whatever and for the IP enter 192.168.0.3, verify the port is 21. The username and password are both "xbox", all lower-case and without the quotes. Go to options and uncheck any check marks on PASV or passive mode if you are using Evox. If you are using one of the other dashes you can leave PASV checked. Apply the settings and connect.

If you have your one NIC connection to the internet and just want to unplug that connection and plug in a crossover to your Xbox when you want to FTP there is an awesome way to automate changing your NIC settings from how they need to be set for the internet and how they need to be set for the crossover to the Xbox. Luckily someone has a perfect tutorial for that and its here: http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/switch-network.php

If you use Windows XP you shouldn’t even need to bother with making those scripts. If your one NIC is set to use dhcp for the internet and when you connect it to your Xbox you always change it to a static address you can enter that address in the Alternate Configuration tab of your NIC. So if you go to your NIC properties then select TCP/IP and hit properties you should see two tabs, a General tab and an Alternate Configuration tab. The General tab you would leave set for dhcp so when you plug into the internet it would work. The alternate tab you would enter settings needed to be connected to your Xbox. Now when you switch your internet connection to the crossover cable of the Xbox windows should detect your dhcp network is down and try using the configuration in the alternate tab automatically. In this way you never have to change your NIC settings even though you are changing from a dhcp internet connection to a static direct to Xbox connection.

If you are having problems connecting still please read the Troubleshooting Section.

Setting up Configuration 2

The configuration 2 diagram above shows the most common setup you would have with 2 NICs in your PC. The only difference between this and configuration 1 is that the second NIC would have a connection to the internet for you. Chances are this NIC to the internet is getting a public DHCP address like 64.238.121.12, or any such number. If this NIC goes to a router, you may wish to read configuration 3 and you may not need your second NIC at all. So when the NIC gets DHCP like this it is automatically assigned an ip, subnet, gateway, dns, etc. so you don't need to do anything else to it. The only "gotcha" with this configuration is that when you configure your second NIC that goes direct to the Xbox you may configure it in such a way that your computer tries to access the internet through that NIC instead of the correct one with the public DHCP. This is a routing issue and one way to ensure this doesn't happen is to configure the NIC with the connection to your Xbox exactly as in configuration 1, specifically making note that you DO NOT enter a gateway address. Your Xbox itself can also be setup just as in configuration 1. Refer to the Troubleshooting section if you are having problems and yet are set up as I described.

So if you connect one of your NICs to a router in this configuration you may be getting an internal IP like 192.168.x.x instead of an external IP address. If this is the case make sure the NIC that goes out to the Xbox is not given an IP address on the same subnet as the NIC going to your router. For example, when the NIC going to your router and out to the internet is getting an IP of 192.168.1.x and has a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and the gateway on this NIC is the IP address of the router, then set the IP address of the NIC going to your Xbox to 192.168.0.x with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 and don't enter a gateway. Then make your Xbox have an IP address on the 192.168.0.x range, and again a gateway would not be needed.

**Advanced Option** If for some reason you would like both your NICs on the same subnet then you can still force the one going internet to be used by default for everything and the one going to the Xbox to only be used when connecting to the static IP of your Xbox. Open up a command prompt and type 'route print'. With route print you can see what route your data packets will take to try to access the internet or your Xbox. What you can do is manually add a route that tells your computer that anytime it tries sending anything to 192.168.0.3 it should use the NIC with the direct connection the Xbox, not the one that goes out to the internet. To do this run the route print command. The first thing you'll see is an interface list. It'll say something like:

Interface List 0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface 0x2 ...00 06 5b b8 e3 33 ...... 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller 0x3 ...00 02 2d 26 2c 74 ...... Dell TrueMobile 1150 Series Wireless LAN Mini PCI Card
So in this case the NIC going to the Xbox is 0x2, which would be IF 2 in the command. To add the static route follow this pattern:

route ADD 157.0.0.0 MASK 255.0.0.0 157.55.80.1 METRIC 3 IF 2
destination^ ^mask ^gateway metric^ ^Interface

So in our example you would type:

route -p add 192.168.0.3 mask 255.255.255.255 192.168.0.2 METRIC 1 IF 2
to remove this at any time you would just type:

route delete 192.168.0.3
The other option you have if you want your Xbox to get out to the internet through your computer’s internet connection is to set up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on your computer. How to set this is up a good thing to google search. You can also try this page: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/connect/windowsics.htm for good details. Once set up the only thing to change is to put a gateway address in your evox.ini, avalaunch.xml, or mxm.xml file which should be your computer’s IP address, so the gateway you would use is 192.168.1.1 since that is probably what ICS will set your NICs IP address to.

Setting up Configuration 3

This is sort of like configuration 2 but instead of your NIC getting a public DHCP address it should be getting an internal private DHCP address. This address can be anything within this range: The blocks are 10.0.0.0. to 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255, and 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255.

There are very high chances your router is giving out addresses somewhere in 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x If this is the case your computer should be successfully getting its DHCP address from your router and if you can plug your Xbox into that router as well then just change your evox.ini to have StaticIP = No. So in our first configuration example you would just have to change the files to be this:

Evolution X Dashboard
[Network]
SetupNetwork = Yes
StaticIP = No
Ip = 192.168.0.3
Subnetmask = 255.255.255.0
Defaultgateway =
DNS1 = 0.0.0.0
DNS2 = 0.0.0.0

Once you set StaticIP to be No, the ip, subnet, gateway, and dns values are no longer used. You can boot your Xbox and see what IP it is getting from DHCP and simply FTP to that address.

You can also still have your Xbox use a static ip so that you always no its IP address, even with a router that gives out DHCP. Just make sure the static IP you give it is on the same subnet as the DHCP addresses it is giving out. To do that, make your evox.ini like this:

[Network]
SetupNetwork = Yes
StaticIP = Yes
Ip = 192.168.0.3
Subnetmask = 255.255.255.0
Defaultgateway = 192.168.0.1
DNS1 = 0.0.0.0
DNS2 = 0.0.0.0

Continue...