If you are using Windows 7, you can use a hidden feature called HostedNetwork which essentially does the required thing, Creating a virtual wifi router. This functionality is in Windows 7 half baked, there is no UI for this but it works very nicely. To enable it:
1. Go to an Administrative command line window and run the following command:
Code:
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=<AnyName> key=<Any 8 character Password>
2. Configure Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
- Press Win Key+R, type ncpa.cpl in the Run dialog and hit enter.
- Select the interface that currently has Internet connection (like your Ethernet or normal wifi). Go to its properties, go to Sharing tab and then enable the sharing. Choose the special “hosted” interface (sometimes called a Virtual Wifi Miniport) in the drop down. Close the dialog by hitting OK.
3. Start the hosted interface by typing in this command on command line:
netsh wlan start hostednetwork
4. Connect to the internet using the dialer if you have one of those USB internet dongles.
Thats it, search for the Wifi network you created from your phone and connect to it. You're done!
Sometime, if you get an error while starting up the HostedInterface try doing this :
First, try rebuilding your tcp ip stack by doing the following:
1. Start an elevated/administrative command prompt window.
4: Type the command :
in the Command Prompt shell, and then press the Enter key.
5: Restart the computer.
If this doesn't help, then disable internet sharing. After that disable the HostedNetwork by using command:
Code:
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow
After that restart your computer and set up the connections again.
By default when you share a internet connection it will automatically make the wifi mini port a DHCP server, however some phones may have an issue with this so you could also try setting a static IP address on the phone that is in the same class and subnet as your Virtual Miniport connection.
As a sub note when you set this up make sure you only have one wifi device available (i mean one physical device) if you have two wifi cards on your computer unplug one of them or disable it when you first setup the wifi mini port (the steps in my original post).
Hope this post be helpful to you. Good luck!
