Hi there, I have two computers networked together with a Cat 6 cross-over cable, my main computer (XP Pro SP2 machine) is sharing a DSL connection to my other computer running XP Pro SP1, I had recently downloaded VMWare Workstation, but found it didn't do quite what I wanted, so I un-installed it, after doing so, my network connection to the other computer failed to continue working, my other computer would receive a 169.254.*.* IP address, I have tried the "netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt" command, I have tried "ipconfig /release" AND /renew, I have un-installed/re-installed both network cards both in a hardware and software sense, I have tried the WinsockXPFix utility, I have tried ipconfig /flushdns and ipconfig /registerdns, I've also tried using system restore on both machines, and doing a "clean basic boot" on both machines, only loading system startup services on bootup.. Short of forking out for new network card(s), is there anything any of you can suggest? Thanks in advance. P.S - I also tried a Windows XP Connectivity Fix patch from Microsoft.com, that fixed nothing either. Also! does anyone know how to get rid of a bridged network connection? I've tried to delete it many times but can't seem to get rid of the damn thing. Thanks again..

Dear, From the registry search for entries by name Winsock and Winsock2. Delete both of them.This will uninstall TCP/IP from ur system. so restart and install TCP/IP. It Works..169 IP add is called APIPA and it gets stuck when ur Winsock2 entry is corrupt. Regs. Navdeep

Navdeep, Thanks for the advice, unfortunately it didn't work, if anything it seems to have made the problem worse.

Disregard my messages, I managed to fix it. :) What worked for me was this; I disabled ICS on the host computer, then re-enabled it. Voila, it worked perfectly. Of course it HAD to do that after I'd already bought myself a router, didn't it? ...I hate Microsoft for being so weird...