USB Tethering to Windows?

When I would take my Desktop computer to a friends house, I would connect to his WiFi with my SGT7 through USB Tethering. I assumed I could do the same with my Nexus 7, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

There doesn't seem to be a native option for USB Tethering present in the settings, on Stock nor the few custom ROM's I've seen. The 3rd-party app I used to use on my SGT7, wired-tether 1.4, seems to start, but it mentions a lack of kernel support (using Trinity Alpha 50 currently).

I would like for USB Tethering to be either native or at least kernel supported, so I don't have to go through something like PDANet which if I recall correctly, restricts you from using certain sites, requires another program to be installed on Windows, and etc...

Bump. I plan on going to a friend's house tomorrow, and would like to have some free method to do this. I saw Easy Tether and PDANet in Play Store, but I can't spare the money for either at this exact moment, and I already went through my free Play credit :/

I want to share my Nexus 7's internet connection with my desktop, over USB. Easy Tether, PDANet, and Clockwork Tether all do this, but rely on their own programs and cost money.

A free, native option from the Android OS itself existed in Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich (probably Honeycomb too). I can't imagine the entire USB Tethering code just being stripped from Jelly Bean.

Edit: Some people on other devices report there is a USB Tethering option on Jelly Bean, so it seems to not be available on the Nexus 7 by default. The question is, how to enable it though...

No store nearby sells a wifi card/adapter, and I have none currently. I may look into buying one later, but this won't help me when I'm down my friend's house later today :/

I tried using Easy Tether Lite, but it blocks majority of what I even want to do. Clockwork Tether seems to work, but is quite slow for some reason :/

Jellybean has support for the native USB Tethering option. The setting doesn't exist though on Nexus 7 ROM's, but exists on other devices, and can be used for exactly the same purpose I'm trying to achieve (Wifi > Android Device > Computer).

krelvinaz said:

It most likely only exists on devices that have 3G/4G data capabilities which the Nexus 7 does not for the reason that it doesn't use WiFi to provide WiFi access... it uses 3g/4g data for access and creates a WiFi hotspot.

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Even if this is the case, devices using GB and ICS were still able to USB Tether natively, regardless if you had Wifi as the main connection, or 3G.

I doubt Google decided to only restrict tethering to cellular devices with Jellybean. My guess is is that the setting can still be toggled via Terminal or something, I just have no idea how :/

This is the app I used to use in the past on my SGT7
http://code.google.com/p/android-wired-tether/

In order for it to be used, the kernel must have:

Kernel sources for RNDIS for devices that don't have it is available as well on that site.

I don't have a machine setup yet with Linux, or else I'd just try compiling a kernel on my own, but perhaps another kernel developer may want to give this a try in the meantime

Mungulz said:

Don't you have a phone you can use? I've been usb tethering for wifi on my desktop for 2 months now, was too lazy to buy an adaptor then when I finally got one it didnt work on my PC lol.

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Na no phone either. My mom has a Galaxy Prevail, but I imagine she wouldn't want to be without her phone for a day or two.

Does anyone perhaps know of a free, unrestricted tethering app? Clockwork Tether seems to be a good choice (free for 14 days I think it said), but for whatever reason, the speeds are extremely slow. Easy Tether has no problem with speed, but restricts majority of what I can do unless I pay $9 (which, I'd rather not do, nor can I at this point in time).