{"id":57680,"date":"2013-12-22T17:31:45","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T15:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=57680"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:57:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:57:56","slug":"how-to-set-up-your-windows-pc-as-a-wireless-hotspot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-set-up-your-windows-pc-as-a-wireless-hotspot\/","title":{"rendered":"How to: set up your Windows PC as a wireless hotspot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>So you want to surf online from the comfort of your own\u00a0home using a smartphone or tablet, but you don&#8217;t\u00a0have a wireless router? With Windows, you can turn your PC into a Wi-Fi hotspot in a few easy steps. You can also use this trick at work or in college to get fast mobile internet access.\u00a0We&#8217;re going to show you how to do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here we explained how you can<a title=\"How to create a Wi-Fi hotspot on an Android phone\" href=\"http:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/how-to-create-a-wi-fi-hotspot-on-an-android-phone\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> make your Android Smartphone into a hotspot<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>1. Check if your network driver supports hosted networks<\/h3>\n<p>On individual computers, <a title=\"VirtualRouter Plus\" href=\"http:\/\/virtualrouter-plus.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Virtual Router Plus<\/a> can&#8217;t\u00a0access the local network. The driver for your network card must support hosted networks. You check if this is the case in\u00a0two simple steps.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Press the <strong>Windows <\/strong>key and R. Type <strong>CMD <\/strong>in the character\u00a0field Open\u00a0and click <strong>OK<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-57684\" title=\"Open the Run command\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/cmd.png\" alt=\"Open the Run command\" width=\"413\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/cmd.png 413w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/cmd-256x131.png 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A window appears with the Windows command line. Enter the command <strong>netsh wlan show drivers<\/strong> and press <strong>Enter <\/strong>or <strong>Return<\/strong>. Windows then lists details of your network drivers. If at <strong>Supported Hosted\u00a0Networks<\/strong> the entry is <strong>Yes<\/strong>, then you can set up a wifi hotspot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\n<h3>2. If your PC has no wireless adapter:\u00a0Buy a USB\u00a0wireless adapter and connect it:<\/h3>\n<p>You can buy a USB Wireless LAN adapter online for less than five dollars. Insert the adapter into an available\u00a0USB port and you&#8217;re ready to go. Drivers are unnecessary in most cases &#8211; Windows automatically detects the device.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-57683\" title=\"Buy an adapter online\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/wireless-lan-568x376.png\" alt=\"Buy an adapter online\" width=\"568\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/wireless-lan-568x376.png 568w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/wireless-lan-120x80.png 120w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/wireless-lan-256x169.png 256w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/12\/wireless-lan.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>3. Install Virtual Router Plus<\/h3>\n<p>Download <a title=\"Virtual Router Plus\" href=\"http:\/\/virtualrouter-plus.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Virtual Router Plus<\/a> and install the program.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Starting and adjusting Virtual Router Plus<\/h3>\n<p>The freeware requires only three simple pieces of information: Under <strong>Network Name (SSID)<\/strong>, enter a name. Then enter a secure <strong>password <\/strong>(as secure as possible) and choose your internet connection for\u00a0<strong>Shared Connection<\/strong>. Click on <strong>Start Virtual Router<\/strong> to activate your personal Wi-Fi hotspot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Virtual Router Plus\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-images.sftcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2013\/05\/04-virtual-router-plus-gui.png\" alt=\"Virtual Router Plus\" width=\"593\" height=\"501\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>5. Connect the mobile device<\/h3>\n<p>Your Windows Wi-Fi hotspot now shows as an available network on your mobile device. After entering the password, you can use the internet connection from your\u00a0PC on your\u00a0tablet, laptop, or smartphone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Wi-Fi connection through PC\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-images.sftcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2013\/05\/05-wifi-connect-on-mobile-device-placeit.png\" alt=\"Wi-Fi connection through PC\" width=\"552\" height=\"780\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><strong>Image: Private screenshot via <a title=\"Placeit\" href=\"https:\/\/placeit.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Placeit<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Troubleshooting: Hotspot cannot be found<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If your mobile device can&#8217;t\u00a0find the Wi-Fi hotspot, click on <strong>Stop Virtual Router<\/strong> in\u00a0Virtual Router Manager, and then on <strong>Start Virtual Router <\/strong>again. Use this method to solve any connection problems, but we&#8217;re fairly confident you won&#8217;t have any.<\/p>\n<h3>Have you tried this method of creating a Wi-Fi hotspot? Did it work?<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So you want to surf online from the comfort of your own\u00a0home using a smartphone or tablet, but you don&#8217;t\u00a0have a wireless router? With Windows, you can turn your PC into a Wi-Fi hotspot in a few easy steps. You can also use this trick at work or in college to get fast mobile internet &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-set-up-your-windows-pc-as-a-wireless-hotspot\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to: set up your Windows PC as a wireless hotspot&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2046,"featured_media":57682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[2441],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-57680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2046"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331604,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57680\/revisions\/331604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57680"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=57680"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=57680"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=57680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}