Now, if you scan for available Wi-Fi networks on other devices, they will see your wireless hotspot and be able to connect to it with a password (for the convenience of users, you can use PowerShell to generate a QR code for your Wi-Fi network). Devices connected to such a network can share documents and hardware peripherals, but Internet access through such a WiFi hotspot is not yet possible.

How to Share Internet in Windows using Wi-Fi Hotspot?

Now you need to allow devices connected to your virtual Wi-Fi access point to use a wired network connection to access the Internet. Go to Network and Sharing Center click, click on the name of the network adapter through which you can access the Internet. In our example, this is a connection named Ethernet.

Click the Properties button on the network adapter status window.

Allow Internet sharing for this connection. Go to the Sharing tab in the Ethernet Properties window. Check the box “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection” and select the name of the virtual adapter created earlier in the dropdown list.

Save the changes. In the Network and Sharing Center, the type of Hotspot network will be changed to Internet. That means that this network (and all devices connected to it) now have an access to the Internet.

Now all the devices that are connected to your Windows hotspot will be able to access the Internet through the computer’s external network interface. Try to connect to your hotspot from your phone, tablet, or another laptop.

You can view current Wi-Fi access point settings with the command:

Netsh wlan show hostednetwork

The command displays the network name (SSID), supported authentication and encryption types, the maximum number of devices that can simultaneously use this hotspot (Max number of clients), and the current number of connected clients (Number of clients).

The following command displays the security settings of your Wi-Fi hotspot and saved connection password (User security key):

Netsh wlan show hostednetwork setting=security

In order to make the mobile hotspot start automatically at Windows startup:

1. Run the command Win+R -> shell:startup
2. Create a text file named start_mobile_hotspot.bat;
3. Copy the following PowerShell code into the file and save the file: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass "$connectionProfile = [Windows.Networking.Connectivity.NetworkInformation,Windows.Networking.Connectivity,ContentType=WindowsRuntime]::GetInternetConnectionProfile(); $tetheringManager = [Windows.Networking.NetworkOperators.NetworkOperatorTetheringManager,Windows.Networking.NetworkOperators,ContentType=WindowsRuntime]::CreateFromConnectionProfile($connectionProfile); $tetheringManager.StartTetheringAsync();"
4. Now your hotspot will automatically start when a user logs in to Windows (you can use the Windows autologon).
5. If you need to start the wireless hotspot on Windows boot, you can create a scheduler task using PowerShell (the task is run on behalf of SYSTEM):
   $Trigger= New-ScheduledTaskTrigger –AtStartup
$User= "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM"
$Action= New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "c:\scripts\start_mobile_hotspot.bat"
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "RunHostSpot" -Trigger $Trigger -User $User -Action $Action -RunLevel Highest –Force

Fixing Common Wi-Fi Access Point Issues on Windows

Answer. To restore the Wi-Fi hotspot, you need to start the hosted network with the command:
netsh wlan start hostednetwork

You don’t need to re-enter the network name and password.

The Wireless AutoConfig Service (wlansvc) is not running. The hosted network couldn’t be started.

Answer.

Run the WLAN AutoConfig service using services.msc console or with the command prompt:
net start WlanSvc
and restart the virtual hotspot.

The hosted network couldn’t be started. The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.

Answer.

Make sure that your Wi-Fi adapter is turned on. Then open the Device Manager, select Show hidden devices in the View menu. Find Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter in the Network adapters section and enable it.

If it didn’t help, run these commands one by one:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow

After that re-create the hotspot:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Hotspot key=ZiZiPass
netsh wlan start hostednetwork

If you have previously created a Wi-Fi hotspot on this device, try to clean the Hosted Virtual Adapter settings in the registry. Delete the HostedNetworkSettings DWORD registry parameter under the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WlanSvc\Parameters\HostedNetworkSettings reg key.

reg delete hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\wlansvc\parameters\hostednetworksettings /v hostednetworksettings

Answer
netsh wlan show hostednetwork

Answer. To stop your wireless access point, run the command:
netsh wlan stop hostednetwork

Now you can remove the hosted network in Windows, reset the SSID and network security key (password): netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow

Answer: Check DNS server settings on your device (try to specify the address of the public Google DNS server (8.8.8.8) manually in your client’s network settings. Also, try to restart the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service, or disable and re-enable the adapter through which your Windows device is connected to the Internet.

For security purposes, a domain administrator can disable the Mobile Hotspot feature on computers that are joined to an Active Directory domain using the Prohibit use of Internet Connection Sharing on your DNS domain network GPO option (under Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> Network Connections). Check that this policy is not configured using the local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) and with Group Policy resulting tools (gpresult.exe or rsop.msc).

A few other common issues that can cause Wi-Fi hotspot on Windows not to work:

• The built-in firewall in third-party anti-virus software may block Internet connection sharing. Try temporarily disabling the firewall and see if the problem occurs when the firewall is disabled;
• Make sure that you have enabled sharing in the properties of your Internet connection;
• Make sure the ICS Internet Sharing service is enabled on your Windows device that is sharing its Internet connection via Wi-Fi. The easiest way to do this is by opening the services.msc snap-in or with the Get-Service PowerShell cmdlet: Get-Service SharedAccess ;
• Run the Network Adapter Troubleshooter tool (Network Adapter Troubleshooter: Troubleshoot -> Network Adapter -> Run Troubleshooter). The Network Troubleshooter tool will check the current network adapter settings and attempt to try to fix problems automatically;
• Reset the Windows network settings (Settings -> Network -> Network Reset) and recreate your Wi-Fi hotspot.