How to Use Your Laptop as a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Have you ever encountered a situation where five people need to access the Internet without a W-Fi router and only one network cable? Or you might have a 3G adapter that works with your laptop, but leaves your Wi-Fi-only tablet offline. Sound familiar? It would surely be convenient to share your internet connection among all your users and devices without a router, right?

Or maybe this scene will ring a bell. Many hotels offer wired Internet access for free but charge for Wi-Fi and/or Internet usage on multiple devices. So should you pay the crazy amount they ask for? not necessarily.

You can share your laptop or desktop’s Internet connection to other devices over Wi-Fi, and in most cases, it’s pretty simple. Mac users won’t have any trouble at all, as setting up Internet sharing in OS X takes just a few clicks, but for Windows users, the process can be a bit laborious. Due to complex setup and reliability issues, built-in options don’t always cut it.

Use a Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 laptop as a Wi-Fi hotspot

Thankfully, there are plenty of apps that let you use your computer as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Before using any of these applications, you may want to check the steps on Microsoft’s website for Windows’ built-in Internet sharing to see if you’re luckier than we were. We recommend that you skip this and use a third-party app, as the experience is usually better.

We tested some popular apps that let you do this – Connectify and Virtual Router Plus. The latter didn’t work so well for us. Our antivirus software marked it as a threat and during the installation process tried to make us install unwanted software.

We did not encounter the same problem using Connectify. It is a reliable application that turns your computer into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Before you continue, please note that you will need a Windows PC with a Wi-Fi adapter (or built-in Wi-Fi) to complete this operation. If your computer doesn’t have Wi-Fi, you can buy one that connects via USB, like this one .

Here are the steps to set up a Windows computer as a Wi-Fi hotspot:

1. Download Connectify and install it. Installation is very simple, once the installation is complete, restart your computer.
2. After restarting the computer, check whether the computer is connected to the Internet. If yes, run Connect to a hotspot app.
3. You will see two tabs in the app – set up and client. exist set up Click Wi-Fi Hotspot under “Create…” on the tab.
4. below Internet sharingyou will see a drop-down menu. Expand it and select the connection you want to share. We tested the app over both wired and wireless connections and found that it worked flawlessly on both.
5. Below it, you’ll see more options. Add Wi-Fi password. Click Start hotspot.

That’s all you need to do. Other devices will now detect the Wi-Fi network labeled Connectify-me. Enter your password to get started.

Connectify is a paid app, but it has a stripped-down free version. You can create a hotspot using the free version, but the main limitation is that it automatically disconnects every 30 minutes and displays a pop-up asking you to purchase the pro version. You must manually re-enable the hotspot to start using it again.

The Pro version, with more features, costs $25 (Rs. 1,550) for a year and a full license costs $40 (Rs. 2,450). In addition to unlimited hotspot uptime, you get features like custom hotspot naming, the ability to share the internet from 3G and 4G networks (for sharing USB internet dongles), and advanced firewall controls (choosing which devices can access the internet and personal files on the LAN).

Use an OS X MacBook as a Wi-Fi hotspot

It’s much easier for Mac users. Here’s how to share your Mac’s Internet connection.

1. Open System Preferences > share > Check internet sharing on the left.
2. On the right, expand the drop-down menu next to Share your connection: and select the connection you want to share. You can share your Internet connection via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or even iPhone USB.

   Typically, you need to choose Ethernetif you’re using a wired Internet connection for your iMac, Mac Pro, or MacBook Pro. If you’re using an external Ethernet adapter on your MacBook Air, you’ll need to select USB Ethernet or Thunderbolt Ethernetdepending on the type of dongle you use (usually USB).

3. Just underneath it, there’s a box next to it For computers using: You should check the box next to Wifi.
4. Click the Wi-Fi Options button below the box. choose one network name, security type and enter your password twice in the field named password and Verify. We strongly recommend that you choose a password rather than leaving the “Security” option to “None.” you can leave channel As the default unless you know what you are doing. Click OK.
5. If the connection is active, you’ll see a green icon and the text “Internet Sharing: On” under System Preferences.

that’s all. You can now use the Internet on other devices by connecting to the network you specified under Network Name.

That’s how to turn your PC or Mac into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Have you used any other methods to accomplish this task? Let us know in the comments. As always, you can read more tutorials in our How-To section.