“Connectify” your Windows 7 PC for free
Update: Check out Virtual Router at Codeplex for a free and simple solution.
So, I like where these guys are going, and the fact that they seem to have made the process dead simple, but being the true tinkerer/lifehacker that I am, I decided to investigate a little and found out how to do it myself. If you don’t want to go through all this trouble, just pay them whatever they will charge and buy their stuff.
What am I talking about, you say? Why, Connectify of course. It is an application that allows Windows 7 PCs to behave like wireless hot-spots [via Engadget]. The app leverages the built-in Virtual WiFi technology in Windows 7 that enables a single hardware wireless card to behave like two virtual wireless cards. However, the front-end for enabling this technology is command-line and tinkering based, and requires the driver for your wireless card to allow it. That means any PC sold with Windows 7 and most “upgrade-option” PCs. So, here is how you can do it yourself. I’ll have a small script/program available soon, unless someone decides to code it themselves. Please share if you do.
1. Open Network & Sharing Center in the Control Panel.
2. Click Change Adapter Settings. See if you have a “Wireless Connection 2” listed. If not, then don’t bother reading further until you get the latest driver.
3. Right-click “Wireless Connection” and click Properties. Click the Sharing tab and check the “Allow others to share Internet connection” option. Click OK.
4. Type “cmd” in the Start menu, right click and click “Run as administrator”
5. Type “netsh wlan start hostednetwork”
6. You should now see a new network pop up in Connect To and other places.
7. However, this may be named randomly, so you can use “netsh wlan set
” with various parameters to encrypt that network, change the SSID, set a passphrase etc.”
8. Type “netsh wlan stop hostednetwork” to turn it off again. The config info is persistent.
You can see how this can easily be done as a Powershell or VB script etc. Best part is, the netsh subshell allows you to export configuration data as XML files, so even a web interface is a possibility.
Enjoy.
