Looking for a way to catechumen your laptop or desktop into a wireless router? You lot may find yourself in a situation where in that location isn't a wireless router effectually for anybody to connect to. If only one computer is connected to a cable or DSL modem, you tin can convert that estimator into a router or wireless router, if the estimator has a wireless card.

Before we talk almost the setup process, it'due south important to know the requirements. The main requirement is that the calculator has to take at to the lowest degree two network interfaces installed on the system. Y'all can either have two network cards or one network card and a wireless card. If you only have one network interface, you can't convert your computer into a router.

Also, on Windows computers, the procedure of setting up this router functionality is called Net Connection Sharing. However, in order to accept clients connect to the host figurer wirelessly, you too have to setup an advertizing-hoc wireless network that connects to the Internet using the other network interface installed on the motorcar.

For a meliorate understanding, hither are the tasks we need to complete in order to make your reckoner into a wireless router:

Stride 1: Enable Internet Connexion Sharing on the Local Area Connexion interface

Step 2: Create a new ad-hoc wireless network

Step 3: Connect to the new wireless network on the host computer

Footstep 4: Connect each client to the new advertising-hoc wireless network

Footstep 1 – Enable ICS

To enable ICS in Windows, open up the Control Panel and click on Network and Sharing Centre. Make sure you are in icon view and not category view. Click on Alter adapter settings in the left-hand menu.

change adapter settings

Now correct-click on Local Surface area Connection and choose Backdrop. Note that on some other sites land that you should right-click on Wireless Network Connection, but this would mean the wireless connexion would be shared and all clients would have to connect via Ethernet. It'southward a lot more complicated and I've never even been able to get information technology to work, then stick with Local Area Connection if you want to make your life easier.

lan adapter properties

Click on the Sharing tab and there is really but ane box you can bank check: Permit other network users to connect through this computer'due south Internet connectedness.

network adapter properties

When y'all bank check the box, the dropdown box under Home networking connection volition become enabled. Here you want to select the wireless network connection for your wireless card.

home networking connection

If y'all have more than one listed, it could exist that one of them is a virtual adapter. Make certain to not choose that one. You can tell if at that place is a virtual adapter when you lot expect at all the adapters after clicking Change adapter settings at the outset of this article.

virtual wifi adapter

Click OK and close out of the Properties window. Now the LAN connectedness will exist shared and we tin can motility on to footstep 2.

Pace ii – Create Ad-Hoc Wireless Network

To create the ad-hoc wireless network that the client's machines volition connect to, nosotros need to go back to Network and Sharing Center and click on Gear up a new connection or network.

setup new connection

Now roll downwardly and click on Setup a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network.

setup ad hoc connection

Click adjacent so give your network a name. This name will be the SSID for the network that other users will see on their computers. For Security type, choose None and leave the Security key box bare.

new ad hoc network

Also, make certain to check the Save this network box. Click Next and it will setup the new wireless network and tell you lot that information technology'due south ready to use. Click Shut and motility on to Stride three.

Step 3 – Connect to Advertising Hoc Network

At present that the new network has been prepare, nosotros need to make sure nosotros are continued to information technology on the host calculator. To do this, click on the network icon in the notification area of the taskbar.

wireless networks

As you can see, my network is called Shared and the status is Waiting for users. This means the host computer is already continued and is waiting for other users to connect. You tin click on the network name and click Connect if the arrangement didn't connect automatically. Once some other user connects, the status should change to Connected.

connected to ad hoc

Stride iv – Connect Clients

The last step is the easiest. Just go to a client machine and click on the network icon and click on the advertizing-hoc network name. You should connect automatically without any bug.

The but change you have to make on customer machines is in Net Explorer. Open IE and then click on the gear icon and choose Cyberspace Options.

internet options

Click on the Connections tab and then click on LAN Settings at the bottom.

connections ie tab

You want to go ahead and uncheck anything that is checked hither. Automatically notice settings will most likely be checked, so make sure to uncheck this box.

auto detect settings

Note that you should only follow this procedure on the customer computers, not the host computer. At this point, you should be able to connect to the Net from the client auto.

Troubleshooting

If y'all are connected to the ad-hoc network, just are not able to admission the Internet on the client machine, you can attempt a couple of troubleshooting tips.

Reset Winsock

Later on playing around with ICS on several computers, in that location were times when I could open a command prompt and ping a website like Google.com, but could not access it via the web browser. If y'all're having a similar issue, you can try resetting Winsock. To exercise this, open an administrative command prompt by clicking on Get-go, typing in cmd and then right-clicking on cmd and choose Run every bit Administrator.

run as admin

At present blazon in netsh winsock reset and press Enter. The command will consummate and information technology'll tell you to restart the estimator.

reset winsock

If you're withal having issues connecting clients to the Internet, post your situation here and I volition attempt to help. The process is a bit complicated, but if you tin get information technology to work, information technology's a corking piffling way to connect multiple clients without additional software or hardware. Enjoy!