Sharing internet connection over Wi-Fi in windows…..

This is a complete guide to explain the procedure of sharing the internet connection over Wi-Fi (Wireless Network Connection). I have shown here the steps for sharing an Ethernet connection, but  the steps remain same for sharing other types of connections. Lets begin…..

1. First of all, we will have to assign a static IP address to the Wireless Network Adapter. To do so, open the “Network and Sharing Center” by clicking on the network icon in the notification area of the taskbar.

2. Then click on  “Change adapter settings”.

3. Now, right-click your Wireless Network Adapter and select “Properties”.

4. In the Properties window, double-click on “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” as shown in the figure.

5. Now, set the IP address manually. The “Subnet mask” will be automatically set once you set the IP address. Now, as this PC will be connected to the internet directly, we will leave the “Default gateway” empty.

6. Also, set the “DNS server address” just same as the DNS server address of your currently working Ethernet adapter.

You can find the DNS address using Command Prompt. Open the Command Prompt (type cmd in run and press enter), write the command : “nslookup localhost” and press enter.

This command will return the answer as shown in the figure below. Here the address listed after “address :” is the DNS server address of your Internet Connection.

7. After setting the IP address and DNS server address, close the window and again open “Network and Sharing Center” as shown in the first step. Now, click on “Manage wireless networks”. It will list the available wireless networks and will allow you to manage them or add new networks.

We will create a new wireless network. So click on the “Add” button.

8. It will start the wizard for adding new wireless networks. Click on “Create an ad hoc network”.

9. Now, give your new network a name. Also select the desired “Security type” or you can also select “none” if you want it to be an un-secured network.  After that, provide the “Security key” as per the security type. Save the network by clicking on the check-box below and press next.

10. The name of the newly created wireless network and its security key (if any) will be displayed now. Note the security key for your reference and save it at some safe place. In order to connect to this network, this security key must be provided. Now close the window.

11. Turn on your Wi-Fi adapter (if off!) and check whether your newly created network is listed in available wireless connections or not. If everything is configured properly, the network will be listed and your PC will be connected to it.

12. Now, this wireless network will be also listed on the other PC through which we want to access the shared internet connection.

In that PC, make the changes in IP adress by opening the properties of  Wireless Adapter as shown in the steps 1 – 4. Here also, we will provide a static IP address. Set the IP address in the range similar to that of the host PC (host PC is the one which is directly connected to internet i.e. which we configured earlier). The subnet mask will be set automatically as you know. Now set the IP address of the wireless adapter (we configured above) of the host PC as the default gateway of this PC. Also the DNS server address should be same as that of the DNS server address of the wireless adapter of the host PC. Now close the window.

13. Again come back to the previous PC (host PC). Disconnect it from all the present connections.

Now open the properties of its adapter through which it is connected directly to the internet (It will be “Local Area Connection” i.e. LAN adapter in most of the cases). It may also be the dialer if you have a dial-up connection. After opening the properties, go to the sharing tab.

Now, select the check-box to allow users to connect through internet connection. From the drop-down box select the Wireless Network Adapter which we configured previously. Click ok and that’s all.

Image shown below is for dialer.

14. Now connect this PC to internet and also connect it to the newly created wireless network. Also connect other PC to this PC’s Wi-Fi network. And that’s all. The internet connection is now shared among these two PC’s. If everything went correct, you will be able to browse internet also on that other PC.

These were the steps to share internet connection between Ethernet Adapter and Wireless Adapter. Similarly you can share between other types of adapters.