[Reader’s Question] How To Turn My Windows 8 Laptop In Wi-Fi Hotspot

With the increasing number of smartphone users, sharing one internet connection with all devices may come in a handy for many people. If you are using broadband internet in your Windows laptop and your gadget has Wifi transmitter (which most notebooks already have), then you can easily create your very own personal Wifi hotspot even without using any Third-party software at all. Micrsoft added ad-hoc network connection sharing feature from Windows 7 and later giving you the ability to share internet connection over Wifi. Using Windows netsh utility, you can try this method on Windows 7 and Windows 8.

To get started, first you will need to run Command dialog box with administrative privileges. Just search for cmd in start screen, right click on CMD and then click on Run as administrator.

 

Once the cmd window is open, type the following command on that window and hit enter.

netsh wlan show driver

If it shows Hosted network supported : Yes, then you are good to go. Otherwise, you will need to download and install proper Wifi driver from your hardware manufacturer website.

Now type the following commands to setup your ad hoc network. These commands will firstly allow the ad hoc network to share internet connection, then create a SSID of your hotspot (this will appear as Wifi network name on other devices) and finally the password (which you will need to use this hotspot.

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=<network_name_here> key=<network_password_here>

Once you have completed this step, type the following command to start netsh service.

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

Now just simply search for new wifi network on your device and you will find your newly created hotspot.

 

To check how many devices are using your Wifi hotspot, run the following command.

netsh wlan show hostednetwork

To stop hostednetwork service, type the following command.

netsh wlan stop hostednetwork

 

If, for any reason, you are unable to connect to internet using this Wifi hotspot, check if you have shared your currently active network with the newly created ad hoc network. To do this, first open Network and sharing center from control panel. Here you will find a list of all available networks.

Click on the Connections of you currently active network.

A new window will popup. Click on Properties. Then navigate to Sharing tab.

Here, enable Internet connection sharing and then select the network you want to share internet with from the Home networking connection (in our case, it was Local Area Connection* 12). Then click Ok.

You should now be able to use this hotspot successfully in any Wifi devices near. If you encounter any problem, make sure to leave a comment here.