--- title: "How to Use Your Laptop as a Wi-Fi Hotspot" description: "Hi everyone in this article I’m explaining about Use Laptop as a Wi-Fi Hotspot." author: "Anonymous User" published: 2015-03-21 updated: 2018-03-27 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/articles/1680/how-to-use-your-laptop-as-a-wi-fi-hotspot category: "desktop/laptop" tags: ["testing"] reading_time: 3 minutes --- # How to Use Your Laptop as a Wi-Fi Hotspot Hi everyone in this article I’m explaining about Use Laptop as a Wi-Fi Hotspot.\ ## Introduction: Have you ever been in a situation where you have no W-Fi router, just one network cable and five people who need to use the Internet? Or maybe you have a 3G dongle that works with [your laptop](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/108500/what-to-do-if-your-laptop-is-running-hot), but leaves your Wi-Fi-only tablet offline. Sounds familiar? It would certainly be handy to share the [Internet connection](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/94706/my-google-chrome-lags-very-much-in-spite-of-a-good-internet-connection-how-do-i-troubleshoot-it) amongst all users and devices without a router, right? Or maybe this scenario will ring a bell. Many hotels offer wired [Internet access](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/114963/how-do-i-resolve-no-internet-access-when-wi-fi-shows-connected) for free, but charge you for Wi-Fi and/ or for using the Internet on more than one device. So should you just pay the crazy amount they ask for? Not necessarily. You can [share your](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/88502/why-you-should-share-your-views-on-mindstick-s-yourviews-section) laptop or desktop Internet connection via Wi-Fi to other devices, and for the most part, it's quite simple. Mac users face no trouble at all, as setting up Internet sharing in OS X is just a couple of click away, but for Windows users the process can be a little bit more labored. The built-in [options don](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/95119/what-should-i-do-in-windows-10-if-the-pdf-file-name-is-too-long-and-the-windows-options-don-t-give-me-the-possibility-to-rename-it)'t always cut it due to the complicated setup and reliability problems. ## Internet sharing on Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1: Thankfully, there are quite a few apps that let you use your machine as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Before you use any of these apps, you may want to check the steps on Microsoft's site to see Windows' built-in Internet sharing and see if you have better luck than we did. We do recommend that you skip that and use a third-party app instead, since the experience is usually much better. We tested some popular apps that let you do this - Connective and Virtual Router Plus. The latter didn't work very well for us. Our anti-virus flagged it as a threat and during installation it tried to make us install unwanted software. We didn't have the same issues with Connective. It is a reliable app for turning [your computer](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/13023/choosing-the-best-power-cord-for-your-computer-a-layman-s-guide) into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Before you proceed, know that you will need a Windows PC with a Wi-Fi adapter (or built-in Wi-Fi) to make this work. If your computer does not have Wi-Fi, then you can buy one that connects via USB, such as this one. **Here are the steps to [setup your](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/23172/login-mywifiext-net-and-setup-your-extender-by-the-advice-of-an-expert) Windows machine as a Wi-Fi hotspot:** **1.** Download Connective and install it. The installation is pretty straightforward and when installation is complete, [restart your](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/50639/how-to-force-restart-your-iphone-8-plus) computer. **2.** After restarting the computer, [check whether](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/457/what-is-the-best-way-to-check-whether-a-trigger-exists-in-sql-server) it is connected to the Internet. If it is, run the Connective Hotspot app. **3.** You'll see two tabs in the app - Settings and Clients. In the Settings tab, under "Create a..." click Wi-Fi Hotspot. **4.** Under Internet to Share, you'll see a drop-down menu. Expand it and select the connection you want to share. We tested this app with a wired and a [wireless connection](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/108710/what-to-do-if-your-printer-is-not-responding-to-wireless-connection) and found that it worked perfectly with both. **5.** Under that, you'll see some more options. Add a Wi-Fi password. Click Start Hotspot. That's all you need to do. Now other devices will detect a Wi-Fi network labelled Connective-me. Key in the password and you're good to go. --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/articles/1680/how-to-use-your-laptop-as-a-wi-fi-hotspot Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.