Tethering on Windows 7?

Question

Is there an option in Windows 7 (or 3rd party) to offer Tethering (that is, act as a WiFi hotspot while being connected to a WiFi network?)

Solution 1

Take a look at Connectify: http://connectify.me

Solution 2

A detailed step-by-step to setup wifi tethering/hotspot in Windows 7, Windows 8 WITHOUT any 3rd party software:

1. From admin Command Prompt type:

   netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=mywifinetwork key=mysecretkey
   

2. Enable new virtual Wi-Fi adapter (it might be disabled upon creation)

3. From admin command prompt type:

   netsh wlan start hostednetwork
   

4. From current internet conection adapter share (ICS) internet to the new virtual adapter

5. Connect from wireless client to virtual SSID. Wi-Fi client gets an auto IP and you're good to go.

After host computer restart you only need to repeat steps 3 & 5 to be up and running.

Solution 3

You could use the ad-supported Connectify app, as someone else mentioned, or use http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com/, or do it my hand with the netsh command and ICS with a little bit of effort:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=YOURFRIENDLYSSID key=SOMEPASSWORD     
netsh wlan start hostednetwork

... then share the real connection through the virtual WiFi NIC.

Solution 4

Create an ad-hoc network. Here is the guide for Windows 7 from the Microsoft site. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Set-up-a-computer-to-computer-ad-hoc-network

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Comments

[m1ke3d]

FWIW, I equate "ad-supported" with adware, whereas, unless it's changed since last I used it (unfortunately it causes my laptop to bluescreen when putting it to sleep - Broadcom, surprise surprise), it's "ad-supported" in the same sense that Adobe Reader and Java are, in that the installer asks you if you want to install the unwanted e.g. Google Toolbar with it.

[Zoltán]

there's really no need for this since it's supported natively by win7 as shown in the answer by paktas.

[tumchaaditya]

How do I stop it? does netsh wlan stop hostednetwork work?

[Florian Brucker]

I got an error telling me that I need administrator privileges (which I had). Turns out that creating ad-hoc networks is disabled in our company (the error message is a bit misleading). You can check that via netsh wlan show filters.

[pihentagy]

" then share the real connection through the virtual WiFi NIC." - how should one do that?

[Phito]

@pihentagy I'm not going to repeat everything here but you can find this online quite easily e. g. windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/…

[Bram]

virtualrouter.codeplex.com is a great alternative to the command prompt solution. I think it's just a GUI for the CMD option. Oh it's open source too! So that's always cool :)