The idea of this guide is to provide alternative methods to playing online on the Nintendo DS. For years, I was stuck with no way to connect to the internet with my DS even with the USB connector but now I have several ways to make this possible. I will keep this very general and provide plenty of solutions. Chances are most of these will not work for you or are not accessible, but there is probably at least one that may be of use to you.
1. Compatibility Mode
This is an extremely useful guide on how to run compatibility mode on Windows 7. Make sure that you grant yourself administrator access when you run the program. This method did not work for me, but I feel that it is worthwhile to list because it is the simplest method here.
2. Windows XP Mode
This is a more reliable alternative to running the .exe in compatibility mode. However, you must have Windows Professional or Windows Enterprise to download the program. I have not tried running this program on my Windows Home Premium but I have a feeling that it would not work.
3. VirtualBox
VirtualBox is a very useful tool to have so you may want to download it anyways. VirtualBox is a virtual computer that supports almost any operating system, including Windows, Mac, and plenty of Linux distributions. Of course, you're going to want to run Windows XP, but the catch is that you need a boot disk to use VirtualBox.
4. Wine
Another alternative is to abandon Windows and switch to a Linux distro. Then you can install Wine which runs Windows programs on your Linux machine. This does not work for all Windows programs, but other people have reported success with this method.
5. Change your security to WEP
This method ignores the USB connector and focuses on the wireless network. The most inconvenient thing about the DS is that it is only compatible with WEP encryption while most wireless security systems use a WPA2 key. If you are the administrator of your own wireless network, you can change your security settings to WEP fairly easily. Find your IP address and type it into your browser's address bar. You will be asked for the administrator password which is likely DIFFERENT from your WPA2 key. If you've done port forwarding before, you will have some experience with this. Click here and enter your router information to find your default password. After this is done, there should be someplace to change your security settings, but this differs from router to router. I have a fairly new Netgear router and I was able to use this method. Be careful though, you should record your WEP key because you will not be able to connect to the network anymore with a WPA2 key until you change it back. I learned this the hard way and I almost had to reinstall the router until I realized I could connect to it with an ethernet cable.
6. Keep a machine installed with Windows XP
This is obviously not the most ideal solution, but it is useful to have a machine to run programs that do not have drivers for 64 bit machines. Also, I keep mine around to play Chip's Challenge so I find it worthwhile.
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I hope this guide was helpful for somebody, and if you have questions, please don't PM me because I pretend to be way more of an expert than I am.
1. Compatibility Mode
This is an extremely useful guide on how to run compatibility mode on Windows 7. Make sure that you grant yourself administrator access when you run the program. This method did not work for me, but I feel that it is worthwhile to list because it is the simplest method here.
2. Windows XP Mode
This is a more reliable alternative to running the .exe in compatibility mode. However, you must have Windows Professional or Windows Enterprise to download the program. I have not tried running this program on my Windows Home Premium but I have a feeling that it would not work.
3. VirtualBox
VirtualBox is a very useful tool to have so you may want to download it anyways. VirtualBox is a virtual computer that supports almost any operating system, including Windows, Mac, and plenty of Linux distributions. Of course, you're going to want to run Windows XP, but the catch is that you need a boot disk to use VirtualBox.
4. Wine
Another alternative is to abandon Windows and switch to a Linux distro. Then you can install Wine which runs Windows programs on your Linux machine. This does not work for all Windows programs, but other people have reported success with this method.
5. Change your security to WEP
This method ignores the USB connector and focuses on the wireless network. The most inconvenient thing about the DS is that it is only compatible with WEP encryption while most wireless security systems use a WPA2 key. If you are the administrator of your own wireless network, you can change your security settings to WEP fairly easily. Find your IP address and type it into your browser's address bar. You will be asked for the administrator password which is likely DIFFERENT from your WPA2 key. If you've done port forwarding before, you will have some experience with this. Click here and enter your router information to find your default password. After this is done, there should be someplace to change your security settings, but this differs from router to router. I have a fairly new Netgear router and I was able to use this method. Be careful though, you should record your WEP key because you will not be able to connect to the network anymore with a WPA2 key until you change it back. I learned this the hard way and I almost had to reinstall the router until I realized I could connect to it with an ethernet cable.
6. Keep a machine installed with Windows XP
This is obviously not the most ideal solution, but it is useful to have a machine to run programs that do not have drivers for 64 bit machines. Also, I keep mine around to play Chip's Challenge so I find it worthwhile.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this guide was helpful for somebody, and if you have questions, please don't PM me because I pretend to be way more of an expert than I am.
