Wireless Internet Connection Sharing - The Easy Way

This article will assume that you do not have WiFi access point, but that you have 2 PCs that have WiFi. The purpose of this tutorial is to link these two PCs to a wireless network, then to have Internet access on both PCs via Internet Connection Sharing.

1. Sharing the Internet connection

On the PC, which has access to the Internet, start by going to your Control Panel, and then open the icon "Network Connections":

Find your Internet connection. In this example it is "Local Area Connection" because the PC is connected to the Internet via a cable network router.

Check that you have no other transfers or downloads running, because the connection will be ended soon. Right-click your Internet connection and click "disable".

Right click again and choose "Properties" to get the next window.

In the Advanced tab and in the "Internet Connection Sharing" tab, check "allow other network users to connect through the Internet connection of this computer". Finally, in the drop-down list, choose the local area connection that is authorized to use the Internet. This is the "wireless network connection" in our example because we will add a second PC onto WiFi.

Click "OK" to confirm and reactivate your Internet connection again by right clicking it, and then selecting "activate".

On the icon for your Internet connection, you should now see a little hand, meaning that sharing the connection is enabled:

Now that the Internet connection is ready to be used by another PC we now just have to connect them.

2. Server PC Wireless Configuration

We first set up and configure the WiFi network on the PC that already has an Internet connection. I will refer to this as the 'server' from now on.

To do this we will use the ad hoc WiFi, ie the mode in which we can connect to each other without any access point.

On the WiFi connection, right-click and then select "Properties"

Select "Internet Protocol (TCP / IP)". Then click "Properties"

In the window that opens, fill out the IP address and subnet mask as follows:

IP address: 192.168.1.1

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

(assuming are not already using 192.168.1.x for another network)

Then press "OK" to confirm. Open the tab "Wireless Networks" now and make sure the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network" is checked, because we will use the Windows configuration in this tutorial (no third party software). Finally, click on the Add button at the bottom to add a wireless network.

Now use these settings:

1 / Enter the network name (SSID) that you want

2 / In the "Network authentication" switch "Open" if you are not already on it

3 / In the "data encryption," switch to "WEP" if you are not already on it. WEP is not as secure WPA encryption for example, but it seems to me that this is the only one available in the Ad Hoc WiFi.

4 / Uncheck the box "Provide key automatically"

5 / Check "This is an ad hoc network, wireless access points will not be used".

6 / enter a WEP key in the first field and confirm it in the second. Enter eg 26 hexadecimal characters (numbers and letters "A" to "F" included). Make sure to write this down! As you'll need to configure it on the second PC.

Finally click "OK" to confirm:

You will then see your new network in "Preferred Networks" list. "Automatic" means that it will connect automatically when the network is within range. Now press the button "OK".

3. Client PC Wirless Configuration

On the PC that does not yet have Internet access, I will call it "client PC ". Go to Control Panel. Click on the wireless network connection, then click "Properties".

Click the drop-down list and select "Internet Protocol (TCP / IP)," then click "Properties".

The parameters will be different from the server PC. Enter the following settings:

IP address: 192.168.1.2 (we could put any address beginning with "192.168.1" here)

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1 (the IP address of the wireless PC server, which will serve as a gateway)

For both DNS servers, enter those of your ISP. For example, 113.45.72.120 and 156.62.52.90 (these are just examples, enter your correct DNS servers, or use OpenDNS at www.opendns.com)

Confirm by clicking on "OK" and then go to the "Wireless Networks" and add a wireless network connection. Use exactly the same settings as you previously used for the server PC.

Confirm all windows, and your Wi-Fi should be established as it is configured to connect automatically. And you should have Internet access on both computers.