Home(/) News by technology(/news) How to turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot

How to turn your Windows 7 laptop into

a wireless hotspot
GUIDE Share your internet connection with this clever Windows 7
feature

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By Mike Williams (/author?searchTerm=Mike Williams)10th Dec 2009 | 11:30
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Hit the command line and you can share your internet connection with other devices
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Sharing your Windows internet connection via software has
traditionally been a tricky business.
There are programs that can help you do it, but they're
often awkward to set up, and prone to complicated security
and reliability issues, so most people don't even try.
But that could all be about to change, thanks to a new
Windows 7 feature called Virtual Wi-Fi.
The idea is a simple one: the operating system can
virtualise any compatible wireless adapter, to make it appear
as though you've as many additional adapters as you need.
The effect is dramatic. Once it's set up, then any Wi-Fi
compatible device that can connect to you - another
desktop, laptop, or an iPod Touch, say - will immediately be
able to get online, by sharing your internet connection
through a duplicate of your wireless adapter.
Getting this working isn't too difficult, either, as long as you
can get over the first hurdle: finding a virtual Wi-Fi-
compatible driver for your wireless adapter.
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agr=Y&DwnldID=18211&ProdId=3062&lang=eng) and
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bit(http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?
agr=Y&DwnldID=18212&ProdId=3062&lang=eng) drivers now include
support, as do various others for Atheros, Broadcom, Realtek and other big
players, but these don't apply to every chipset. Check the support site for
your wireless adapter to see what's available.
If you're in luck and manage to find and install an up-to-date Windows 7
driver for your adapter, then the next step is to set it up, and for that you'll
need an elevated command prompt. Click Start, type CMD, right-click the
Cmd.exe link and select "Run as Administrator".
Now type the following command:
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=MyNet
key=MyPassword
and press [Enter]. Replace "MyNet" with the name you'd like to use for your
custom network, and "MyPassword" with a password that's a little harder to
guess.
Still at the command line, type
netsh wlan start hostednetwork
and press [Enter] to fire up the virtual adapter.
Now click Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing
Centre > Change Adapter Settings, right-click your internet connection and
select Properties. Click the Sharing tab, check "Allow other network users to
connect...", choose your virtual Wi-Fi adaptor - and that's it.
Any nearby Wi-Fi enabled device should see a new network appear with the
SSID you defined above. They'll be able to connect to it using your
password, and can then immediately share your internet connection.
While it's worth knowing how to do this manually, if it's something you do
often then you'll probably prefer a simpler solution.
You could speed things up a little by creating a batch file to run the netsh
commands, perhaps, but for a really easy life we'd recommend you install
Virtual Router(http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com%29). It's compact,
free, and will automate the whole process for you with the minimum of
hassle.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Liked this? Then check out our 62 Windows 7 tips, tricks and
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and-secrets-643861/)
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