In a family or in a company meeting room, you can use a wireless router as an intermediary device for sharing Internet connections and files with multiple computers. However, if for some reason the wireless router is broken, you can quickly turn a Windows computer into a very convenient alternative. Here’s how.
Start Command Prompt with the highest administrative privileges (Run as Administrator) from the Start Menu or the search window.
Enter the command “netsh wlan show drivers” into Command Prompt and press the ENTER key to execute.
Wait a few seconds for the system to display the information from the command you entered. Look for the line “Hosted network supported“; if it says “Yes“, then your computer is capable of creating its own WiFi hotspot. If it says “No”, then your computer does not support it.
When you see the line “Hosted network supported” is “Yes”, you should enter the command “netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=[WiFi-name] key=[password]“. Here, [WiFi-name] and [password] are the network name and password you choose. Then press ENTER.
After the setup is done, Command Prompt will display some notifications for you.
Now, enter the command “netsh wlan start hostednetwork” and press the ENTER key to start the virtual router you just created.
Once the virtual router is activated, continue to access Network Connections by entering the keyword “ncpa.cpl” into the search bar.
A list of connections will appear. Find the name of the connection you just created, right-click on it, and select “Properties”.
The Properties window will appear; click on the “Sharing” tab at the top and check the option “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”.
Then, click on the drop-down menu for “Home network connection” and select the sharing task that corresponds to the virtual router you set up earlier. Finally, click “OK” to save.
Now, you just need to open the device you want to use and connect to the “Router”. If you want your router to support VPN, you need to install and use OpenVPN on your computer as well.
It’s really simple, right?