With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update just a few months away, making your device a mobile hotspot is easier than ever. Here’s how to do it.
We’ve shown you how to use Virtual Router Manager for configuring a Windows 10 device as a mobile hotspot. For years, users have been asking Microsoft to make this easy to do. Interestingly, this feature has been available on Windows Phone for a while now, and it’s easy to set up.
Yes, it’s technically possible to use the command line to do this, but it’s modern times. I don’t think you should have to resort to coding for something like this. Starting with Windows 10 Anniversary Update and above, making your device a mobile hotspot is easier than ever.
First, ensure your device is connected to the Internet. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Mobile hotspot. Toggle on Share your Internet with other devices.
Then select Wi-Fi or Ethernet from the “Share my Internet connection from” menu.
Then click the Edit button and enter a name and password for the network you’re creating.
Just like its mobile sibling, the Mobile hotspot interface will display all currently connected devices.
Connecting to the hotspot is just as easy. Locate the wireless settings on your device, click or tap the network, and enter the password.
Once your device is connected, it will be displayed in the Mobile hotspot interface along with its assigned IP and MAC address.
If you happen to be sharing a mobile data connection from your Windows 10 device, I suggest you toggle off the “Turn on remotely” option. That will prevent devices like the iPhone, which remembers your wireless networks and automatically connect to them, from depleting your data in the background.
Also, if you have other Windows 10 devices connecting to your hotspot, check out our article for managing limited mobile data. The Mobile hotspot features are exclusive to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (and above), a free upgrade for devices running older versions of Windows 10. If you have no intentions of upgrading to Windows 10, check out our article about the free Virtual Router Manager.
If you bought or got a new Windows 10 PC recently, you might not know that you can share your internet connection with other devices. Windows 10 makes it easy to share your internet connection with other devices, whether they are running Windows 10 or not. If however, you need to share an internet connection to your PC from your iOS or Android device,
check out this guide. Here's what you need to do to share your internet connection with Windows 10.
To get started, you need to find the mobile hotspot settings on your Windows 10 PC. Go to the "Network & Internet" section under settings, or use the search box in Windows 10 to search for "mobile hotspot."
Once there, you can choose to share your internet connection via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Please note that sharing your internet connection via Bluetooth may not be the best option. Bluetooth is used to connect devices at short-range whereas Wi-Fi is ideal for high-speed internet access. Also, Wi-Fi provides you with the ability to share your connection with more devices.
For this example, I will show you how to share your Windows 10 PC as a mobile hotspot using your Wi-Fi connection. Toggle the "Share my connection with other devices" at the top of the page. Underneath, choose the option that you want to share your connection using Wi-Fi. The most important thing you need to do is to set a network name, network password, and network band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or any available) for your mobile hotspot.
Once you have configured the network name, password, and band, you need to complete the Wi-Fi connection on the other device. On the other device, go to the Wi-Fi settings, find and select your network name and network password to connect to the mobile hotspot.
You can use Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi is a better choice if you want to get the fastest internet connection speed possible. One bonus for using Bluetooth is that Bluetooth doesn't use as much power as Wi-Fi does, so Bluetooth is a better option if you're not plugged into an outlet; Bluetooth will not drain your PC's battery as fast as Wi-Fi.
It all depends on what your usage is when using your Windows 10 PC as a mobile hotspot. We have everything you need to know about Bluetooth on Windows 10 here. Do you share your Windows 10 PC's internet connection with other devices? Let us know in the comments.