Sharing Internet Connection over WiFi through PC (without using third party software)
There are numerous software which can help in sharing an internet connection over Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) using your laptop or personal computer. The software like Connectify Hotspot, MyPublicWifi etc. turn a laptop or a desktop computer (with Wireless Adapter) into a hotspot that throws out WiFi signals. But, why to bother downloading such software when we can easily turn our computer into a WiFi hotspot without using those softaware? Yes, you heard it right! You can turn your computer into a device that throws WiFi signals without the use of any third party software. All you need to use is just a couple of commands in Command Prompt of your computer with Windows Operating System.
Now, let’s move towards learning this trick.
Requirements: A computer with Windows OS and WiFi adapter, Command Prompt (with administrator rights)
1. Run Command Prompt with ‘Administrator Rights’: The first step is ‘running Command Prompt’ on your computer. However, running it without administrator privileges won’t be sufficient. You will have to run it with administrator rights. So, for this you will have to go to Start Menu and find Command Prompt there. Then right click on it to get some options among which you will find an option called ‘Run as administrator’. Click on ‘Run as administrator’. Then you’ll get a window similar to the one given below:
Now, it’s time to feed some commands to Command Prompt.
2. netsh wlan show drivers: Type netsh wlan show drivers. This is a command fed to Command Prompt in order to check the compatibility of your WiFi device to work as a WiFi hotspot. If your device is compatible, you will see ‘Hosted network supported: Yes’.
3. netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=mywifi key=12345678: This is the command through which you will set your SSID (Service Set Identifier, a case sensitive, 32 alphanumeric character unique identifier attached to the header of packets sent over a WLAN) and its key. You can keep your desired ‘SSID’ and key. But please keep in mind that the key must contain minimum 8 characters in it.
4. netsh wlan start hosted network: This is the final command that you’ll be typing in Command Prompt. This is the command that will start sending WiFi signals through your WiFi adapter.
Now, you can search for the ‘SSID’ through your WiFi enabled devices, enter the key, and use the internet.
Bingo! You’re ready to go!
Things to be kept in mind:
- Don’t forget to keep your WiFi adapter enabled.
- Running Command Prompt with administrator rights is a must.
- To turn off the hotspot, just restart your WiFi adapter.