Create a Wi-Fi Hotspot Using Command Prompt on Windows 10

Do you want to share internet with your friends without using any third-party programs?

You are in the right place because you are about to discover how to create a Wi-Fi hotspot using only the command prompt and share your internet with the network. This tutorial works on Windows 10 and also older versions of Windows including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Most people these days use a USB modem (some call it “dongle”) to connect to internet through the 3G, 4G or 5G (near future) wireless network. Yet sharing internet with your phone and tablets is always a good thing especially when you don’t have the budget for an extra metered connection.

If you have this kind of connection and a wireless (Wi-Fi) card or adapter that supports the Hotspot capability then this tutorial will show you how to share it through your own Wi-Fi hotspot.

For Mac users it’s easy to create a hotspot since iOS comes with a UI to create a Wi-Fi hotspot and share internet in the fly. But Windows users have to use command prompt to get this working. Or they can use third party software like Connectify.

1^st Step. Create a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Firstly you should have a wireless card or a Wi-Fi adapter installed on your PC, then, turn on the Wi-Fi.

To do this open the notification center (Windows+A) and click on the Wi-Fi button.

Open the Command Prompt as administrator from Start menu.

After the black window of command prompt is opened, type in the following command. Make sure you change the ssid to your desired name of network and key to a more secure password.

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=easytutorial.com key=123456789

In the above command “easytutorial.com” is your Wi-Fi hotspot name and “123456789” will be your password.

Press Enter to change the hosted network informations. A success message will be shown if the hosted network information changed successfully.

Now let’s start the Wi-Fi hotspot.

2^nd Step. Start the Wi-Fi Hotspot

Now you need to start the hosted network, to do this type the following command:

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

This will start the hosted network in your PC and a connection named as easytutorial.com (or whatever you named it) will appear in Network Connection list.

Next step is to share the existing internet connection with newly created Wi-Fi hotspot.

Open Control Panel, open Network and Sharing Center. Here you will see the Wi-Fi hotspot you created and whatever internet network you’re connected to.

Click on “Change adapter settings“.

Locate your USB modem connected to internet you want to share and right-click on it and choose “Properties“.

Open “Sharing” tab and check “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection“. Choose your Wi-Fi card from the list below, it’s the card you created the hotspot with.

That’s it!

Take out your phone, tablet and laptop and start using the Wi-Fi. You can stop Wi-Fi connection either by disabling Wi-Fi (Turning OFF Wi-Fi) or by typing “netsh wlan stop  hostednetwork” command in command prompt.

Whenever you want to start the Wi-Fi network, open the command prompt as Administrator and type in the netsh wlan start hostednetwork command.

If you have any questions or just want to say thank you feel free to leave a comment below.