How to Create a Wi-Fi Hotspot on PC

How to Create a Wi-Fi Hotspot on PC How to Create a Wi-Fi Hotspot on PC

Nowadays, more and more users have at least one device that uses Wi-Fi connectivity in order to access the Internet. It is more convenient to connect a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop to the Internet using wireless technology rather than using the standard cable connection or expensive 3G connection, even though in some cases the transfer speed might be a bit slower.
Most people use a router to set up and share Wi-Fi connection, but sometimes you do not have a router near by. Luckily, there are several ways to turn your PC into a Wi-Fi hotspot that will share the Intenet connection between other devices.
In the following guide I will demonstrate you two simple ways to turn your Windows PC into a Wireless hotspot: one using Windows Control Panel tools and another one using a third-party application.

Before you proceed, you might want to make sure that you have a wireless network card plugged into your computer that is not connected to any network.

Here are the simple steps that will help you turn your computer into a Wi-Fi hotspot

Step 1

Access the Network and Sharing Center (see image). You can do that either via the Control Panel or by simply right clicking on the network icon in the system tray.

Network and Sharing Center

Step 2

Once you have done that, a new window will appear. In this window you need to find and click on the "Set up a new connection or network" option in order to start creating your Wi-Fi hotspot.

Step 3

After the wizard-like interface appears, click on the "create a new ad hoc wireless network" and give your new network a name and a password (highly recommended since you don't want other users to freely access it). You might also want to set a WPA2 password instead of WEP, since it is more secure and harder to crack than the latter.

Create Ad Hoc Connection

After the connection is created, it should be visible in the wireless networks list. The new connection is ready to be used by any of your devices.

Wireless Network Created

You might want to make sure that you have enabled your connection sharing through your network card (the card used by your computer to access the Internet) so that your other devices will be able to access the web. In order to do that, you need to go back to the "Network and Sharing Center", click on "Change adapter settings" in the top-left side of the window, select your default network connection (the one that is provides you with access to the Internet) and enable "Internet Connection Sharing" as you can see in the image below.

Enable Sharing

Using a third party app

If you don't want to struggle with the "Network and Sharing Center", there are some third party applications such as Virtual Router Plus (image) or mHotspot that will help you share your Internet connection with your devices in a very simple manner. If you decide to use any of these programs, then you will need to provide a name for the network, a password and choose what connection to share (the network adapter connected to the Internet). It's that simple.

Virtual Router Plus

Conclusion

As you can see, it is very easy to set up a secure Wi-Fi hotspot on your personal computer and all you have to do is follow these simple steps.

Alternative downloads

PCMate Free WiFi Hotspot Creator free windows Free virtual WiFi hotspot creator for Windows which allows you to instantly turn your laptop into a wireless hotspot... Download
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wifi.com free windows The wifi.com network compiles open, secure... Download