Turn Your Windows 7 Laptop into a WiFi Hotspot with Connectify
In some computing situations, you might need to create a WiFi hotspot quickly so other wireless devices can use an Internet connection. Today we take a look at Connectify which easily turns your Windows 7 machine into an instant WiFi hotspot.
You might be at a location where there is only one Ethernet connection available (hotel room, office or meeting room etc.) and you need to share the Internet connection with other people or devices. Connectify is a free utility which is light on system resources and makes it easy for you to set up your Windows 7 machine as a secure WiFi hotspot.
Note: Connectify only works with Windows 7 Home and above, Starter is not supported.
Connectify
Installation is quick and easy, and once complete, you can access Connectify from the icon in the Taskbar.
Under settings, type in a name for the WiFi network, a password to access it, then decide the type of internet connection you want to share. It allows LAN, VirtualBox Host-Only, Wireless Network Connection, and no Internet sharing. When you’re ready, click on the Start Hotspot button.
Now you’ll see it running and can begin connecting your other wireless computers and/or devices.
Now that Connectify is running on the Windows 7 laptop, In this example we go over to an XP laptop and connect it. Open up Wireless Networks and you’ll see the new hotspot we just created that you can connect to.
You’ll be prompted to enter in the Network Key (password) you set in Connectify twice, then click on Connect.
Wait for a moment while a network address is acquired…
![sshot-2010-01-31-[21-54-44]](http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/sshot20100131215444.png "sshot-2010-01-31-[21-54-44]")
Here you can see the XP machine is connected to the Geek-fi network we created on the Windows 7 machine.
![sshot-2010-01-31-[00-21-21]](http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/sshot20100131002121.png "sshot-2010-01-31-[00-21-21]")
When you go back to the Windows 7 machine you can see the device(s) connected. It also keeps track of devices that were previously connected as well.
Right click on the Connectify icon in the tray to get different options for running it.
In our tests, the signal strength and connection speed was adequate, but may be a bit slower than your used to. Results will vary based on the type of hardware you have sending and receiving the signal. Overall though, if you need to create a Hotspot in a pinch, Connectify is more than capable. If you’re looking for an easy way to share your Windows 7 wireless connection with other devices, and want it to be secure, Connectify get’s the job done.
This did not work for me. I tried everything I could but when I entered the security machine on another machine it just did not work further. the other machine was not able to connect to the WiFi Hotspot created.
You’re timing for this topic couldn’t be better! This is exaclty what I need tomorrow for a presentation, now I’ve got a good reason to get that set up of Windows 7 done! =]
@Zahir
Did you manage exception in the Windows firewall ?
And, did you check that added network connection is ‘Private’ ?
Thank you Mysticgeek ,
But I’m searching for program that works on windows XP to make a hotspot station with limits per person (or PC) .
Thank you very much for all the tips and app that you share
How is this different than the ad hoc network you can set up using Windows 7? Just search Ad Hoc and it pulls up the control panel that walks you through the steps….
actually you dont really need a third party software to do this… You can try this very simple method:
1/ Create an ad-hoc connection from your computer to another computer/mobile phone
2/ Bridge the LAN connection and the Wireless connection
3/ Right click on the LAN connection and choose Share…
I was able to use wireless on my phone with this method
its not foolproof though.
Is there something just like this available for windows XP?????????
Connectify really shines when you’ve got a WiFi card that can do access point mode. They recently released v1.1 that supports a lot of older Intel cards including the one in my dell!
At college I can only have 2 registered devices on the schools wireless network. This app lets me run a WiFi hotspot in the dorms so I can also connect my iPhone and Xbox to the Internet.
This is massive for college students everywhere as well as anyone who has to spend a lot of time in airports or hotels. Pay for one connection then run Connectify and instantly anyone traveling with you has Internet access as well. Infinitely useful.
It looks like you forgot the best part of Connectify, you can connect to a wireless network and then share it back out as a wireless network using the same wireless card. That is part of what makes it Windows 7 only as it’s a Windows 7 feature that makes that possible.
For WinXP, create an Ad Hoc connection and use an AHK script to turn on ICS everytime you want to share internet connection. you might have to manually assign IP, default gateway and DNS on your device based on whats been assigned by your LAN card to the WLAN card and in some cases a proxy needs to be defined.
Very nice tip – Sometimes I get stucked when trying to share my internet connection from my laptop with my Nokia N85 cellphone – because it just does not work as expected.
Thanks!
what is the password for this programe???
This program appears to work very well, but my xbox 360 keeps telling me to enter a WEP key. The Virtual network uses WPA2 security, and is definitely broadcasting that way. I do have the WPA2 compatibility update on my xbox, but it keeps demanding a WEP key… any thoughts?? I even tried to connect via “specify unlisted” on X360 but to no avail.