Setup Windows 8 or 7 PC As An Internet WiFi Hotspot

I am using Dell Inspiron 17R N7110 that came preinstalled with Windows 7. The laptop came with a software that allows me to share my internet connection as a wifi hotspot. neat little app, allows me to connect to the internet on phone even when the place only has a wired connection.

Unfortunately, when i upgraded to Windows 8, the software was no longer there. I called Dell Tech Support as it still was covered with its 1 year warranty. The first tech support obviously from India, told me to call Microsoft as I opted for a Windows update. So, i called Microsoft, then, after an hour on hold, transfer between agents, on hold again, my line got disconnected. I never bothered calling again and go to the same tedious process. I decided to call Dell again and this time i did not mention that I upgraded my laptop.

I was lucky i got a better Indian tech support agent and fixed one of my problem with the keyboard, but told me that the warranty I had was only for hardware, software was not covered and i have to pay $120+. I said to myself, WTF(hardware only?) this is a new laptop. i said to him, I know this is just easy, can you just point me where the software is and ill download it myself. Then, he hanged up, bummer, I started thinking maybe Dell’s warranty is a rip off.

Well, i was thinking, i can do the same with netsh, although the Dell software is a lot better as i can see the people who have connected. I have no choice but to setup netsh  manually.

To make it easier, I added a command prompt to your Start Apps by clicking the Search at right side menu panel then right clicking on Command Prompt then add to Start. I do this because is use the command prompt most of the time when troubleshooting some servers that i work. So, its handy that its located at the Start screen.

You can also go ahead and click the run as administrator icon without adding it to the Start screen, works the same way as long as the command prompt was launched with an elevated security account. See the image below after the right-click to the command prompt.

To create your own virtual wifi, copy and paste the following to your admin command prompt.

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=N7110 key=password

Then, the following commands right after:

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

Of course you will have to change your SSID so it won’t be the same as mine and the key too.

You may check if the virtual network was successfully created by issuing the command:

netsh wlan show hostednetwork

See the image below for the actual commands onscreen

At this point you should see an new connection at Networks and Sharing Center under the Control Panel.

And here is the screenshot from my iphone:

netsh is intended for use by advanced users. although help is available by issuing the command:

netsh wlan /?

I have listed some of the other wlan combinations below:

The post Setup Windows 8 or 7 PC As An Internet WiFi Hotspot appeared first on Tildemark Blogs.