XP - Trick into thinking still on network
I am running a piece of propitary software that uses an internal client / server setup to function. When the network cable is unplugged on the PC, the GUI that communicates with the server, cannot find the server. I am doing a demo where I need to run the server and client on multiple machines, all with no net access. I need windows to think it is connected to a network so it will not display the "Media not connected" message, instead showing the IP address I have set manually for each machine.
Does anyone know of a way to make XP not realize it there is not connected to a network and initialize the IP stack and net subsystem?
I have tried the registry hack of adding DisableDHCPMediaDetect to the TCPIP key, and it does show the IP instead of "Media Disconnected" but it's doesn't initialize the net subsystem allowing the software to communicate across the IP stack.
Any thoughts?