How to Turn Your Windows 7 Pc Into Wifi Hotspot
Tips On How To Turn your Windows 7 PC into a Wi-Fi hotspot
One of the not-so-well-known features of Windows 7 is the ability to turn your laptop (or desktop with a wireless card) into a wireless access point, aka Wi-Fi hotspot. If you are using a USB 3G broadband such as those from Maxis, Celcom and DiGi, or the Wiggy from P1, this would let you finally be able to share your Internet connection with others wirelessly, like the Wi-Fi modems which Streamyx and P1 give.
Again, a gentle reminder, you need to be using Windows 7 in order to do this. First, to check to see if you already have the necessary driver/software for this. To check, click on Start, type "view network connections", and press Enter. You should see all the network cards which your PC has. Look for one which says "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter". If you have this, it means you're just a few commands away from using your PC as a hotspot! | Look for any icon which says "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" - the name of the icon doesn't have to be "Wireless Network Connection 2" like in my case. |
If - you didn't manage to find the virtual adapter in Network Connections, you either need to update the driver for your wireless card, or your card model is not supported. A list of WiFi cards and the minimum driver version needed is available on this page for your reference.
Assuming that you managed to find the virtual adapter in your Network Connections: 1. Click Start, type cmd, right click on cmd.exe and choose Run as administrator. This is called "opening an elevated command prompt". 2. The UAC prompt will appear, click Continue. 3. Pay attention: if the title of the command prompt window which appears does not have "Administrator:" in front of it, close the prompt and redo steps 1 and 2. The command prompt must be "elevated" (run as administrator) for this to work. 4. Type in the following command and press Enter: netsh wlan set hostednetwork
One of the not-so-well-known features of Windows 7 is the ability to turn your laptop (or desktop with a wireless card) into a wireless access point, aka Wi-Fi hotspot. If you are using a USB 3G broadband such as those from Maxis, Celcom and DiGi, or the Wiggy from P1, this would let you finally be able to share your Internet connection with others wirelessly, like the Wi-Fi modems which Streamyx and P1 give.
Again, a gentle reminder, you need to be using Windows 7 in order to do this. First, to check to see if you already have the necessary driver/software for this. To check, click on Start, type "view network connections", and press Enter. You should see all the network cards which your PC has. Look for one which says "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter". If you have this, it means you're just a few commands away from using your PC as a hotspot! | Look for any icon which says "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" - the name of the icon doesn't have to be "Wireless Network Connection 2" like in my case. |
If - you didn't manage to find the virtual adapter in Network Connections, you either need to update the driver for your wireless card, or your card model is not supported. A list of WiFi cards and the minimum driver version needed is available on this page for your reference.
Assuming that you managed to find the virtual adapter in your Network Connections: 1. Click Start, type cmd, right click on cmd.exe and choose Run as administrator. This is called "opening an elevated command prompt". 2. The UAC prompt will appear, click Continue. 3. Pay attention: if the title of the command prompt window which appears does not have "Administrator:" in front of it, close the prompt and redo steps 1 and 2. The command prompt must be "elevated" (run as administrator) for this to work. 4. Type in the following command and press Enter: netsh wlan set hostednetwork