Foxhound5366
Honorary Master
You know how sometimes you discover something that the rest of the world has known for two years, but you just learn and it seems awesome?
This is my latest moment: one can transmit a wifi network from a laptop, not just receive
To the haters, please understand this guide is for people like me who weren't aware, not you super-brainy folks.
Something that might help some people is the batch files I created to simply start, stop and set up a new hosted network, without the PITA of typing all the commands into the command line each time.
Q: Why would you want to do this?
A: Anytime you have your laptop connected via Ethernet and want to share your internet connection with other wifi-enabled devices
Q: When is this particularly useful?
A: When you are using a VPN and want to share that with other devices without having the VPN client on each device (e.g. dumb or restricted devices)
Q: What's the easiest way to do it?
A: If you have the latest Windows 10 update, you can simply click Windows+I to get to your control panel -> Network & Internet -> select 'Mobile Hotspot' from the left. The rest is intuitive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-b0d738e1d9fd/use-your-pc-as-a-mobile-hotspot
Q: What if 'Mobile hotspot' isn't in my settings menu?
A: Then you gotta do it old school with the command-line. Here's all the details if you want to do that yourself: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-turn-your-windows-10-pc-wireless-hotspot
Q: I hate the command line, isn't there an easier way?
A: Sure there is. I created these three simple batch files you can just download and run from your desktop: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-GOq0EJbH99MGZJRTBTNURyVHc
Q: So how do I use those batch files?
A: The first time you run it you can skip 1 (stopping the network) because nothing will be running yet, just jump to 2 to set one up (enter the name you want to call the wifi network, hit enter; then enter the password you want; hit enter again and close the window. Click on 3 to start the network and connect with your device. After you're done, click 1 to stop the network.
Q: So how do I get that wifi network to run through my VPN?
A: You'll just need to get your VPN's client app installed on the laptop you're hosting the wifi network from, and then go into your Network Sharing Centre to select the VPN's 'TAP' adapter and set it to share its internet connection with your newly-created wifi network. Here's how: https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001457565-Sharing-a-VPN-connection-from-your-PC
Q: I got it all working but although my device connects to the wifi network it says it can't get an IP?
A: This is something that's really killed me too, but I finally got the right order of steps to do it all in. Follow this (references to batch files above):
1: Click Stop Network
2: Disconnect VPN
3: Click Set Network (and set network + password)
4: Click Start Network
5: Connect VPN
6: Rescan on device (to pick up new wifi network) and connect
There ya go, that's it. Let me know if it helps
This is my latest moment: one can transmit a wifi network from a laptop, not just receive
To the haters, please understand this guide is for people like me who weren't aware, not you super-brainy folks.
Something that might help some people is the batch files I created to simply start, stop and set up a new hosted network, without the PITA of typing all the commands into the command line each time.
Q: Why would you want to do this?
A: Anytime you have your laptop connected via Ethernet and want to share your internet connection with other wifi-enabled devices
Q: When is this particularly useful?
A: When you are using a VPN and want to share that with other devices without having the VPN client on each device (e.g. dumb or restricted devices)
Q: What's the easiest way to do it?
A: If you have the latest Windows 10 update, you can simply click Windows+I to get to your control panel -> Network & Internet -> select 'Mobile Hotspot' from the left. The rest is intuitive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-b0d738e1d9fd/use-your-pc-as-a-mobile-hotspot
Q: What if 'Mobile hotspot' isn't in my settings menu?
A: Then you gotta do it old school with the command-line. Here's all the details if you want to do that yourself: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-turn-your-windows-10-pc-wireless-hotspot
Q: I hate the command line, isn't there an easier way?
A: Sure there is. I created these three simple batch files you can just download and run from your desktop: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-GOq0EJbH99MGZJRTBTNURyVHc
Q: So how do I use those batch files?
A: The first time you run it you can skip 1 (stopping the network) because nothing will be running yet, just jump to 2 to set one up (enter the name you want to call the wifi network, hit enter; then enter the password you want; hit enter again and close the window. Click on 3 to start the network and connect with your device. After you're done, click 1 to stop the network.
Q: So how do I get that wifi network to run through my VPN?
A: You'll just need to get your VPN's client app installed on the laptop you're hosting the wifi network from, and then go into your Network Sharing Centre to select the VPN's 'TAP' adapter and set it to share its internet connection with your newly-created wifi network. Here's how: https://support.nordvpn.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001457565-Sharing-a-VPN-connection-from-your-PC
Q: I got it all working but although my device connects to the wifi network it says it can't get an IP?
A: This is something that's really killed me too, but I finally got the right order of steps to do it all in. Follow this (references to batch files above):
1: Click Stop Network
2: Disconnect VPN
3: Click Set Network (and set network + password)
4: Click Start Network
5: Connect VPN
6: Rescan on device (to pick up new wifi network) and connect
There ya go, that's it. Let me know if it helps