Wireless internet connectivity is one of the necessities in the 21st century. Every device is connected to Wi-Fi in this because of the immense popularity and ease of access. If you are one of the few unlucky people still makes use of a wired connection, then worry no more.
Today we aim at repurposing your laptop to work as a full-fledged router. This is particularly useful for people who don’t have a router already at home but want to access the internet wirelessly on their mobile devices. A modern-day laptop is fully capable of working out as a router on its own without any external device.
Can you use a laptop as a router?
Many people are still wondering if it is feasible to turn your laptop device to a router for wireless connectivity. Well, the answer is a simple yes. All laptop devices these days come equipped with the Wi-Fi card along with an ethernet port. If you have access to a wired internet connection, then all you need to do is stay connected online with the help of your ethernet cable. The Wi-Fi card can be repurposed to act as a router and start a wireless connection from your laptop device. This works exactly like the principle of creating a mobile hotspot on your smartphone for sharing mobile data wirelessly with other devices. Windows 10 has even officially integrated the mobile hotspot feature in its operating system.
Turning Laptop to a Router
It is effortless to turn your Windows 10 devices into a router. The story is a bit difficult for devices with older versions of the Windows operating system. In this guide, we are going to be looking at both windows 10 as well as the older version.
Turn Windows 10 laptop to a Router
Follow the given below guide to easily configure your Windows 10 laptop into a fully-fledged wireless network sharing router.
- Connect your laptop device to a wired internet connection using an ethernet cable.
- Click on the Wi-Fi icon at the bottom right corner of your Windows taskbar.
- Here you will find the option for mobile hotspot connection. Click on this option to start your mobile hotspot quickly.
- The settings for your mobile hotspot can be configured by right-clicking on the icon following by clicking on the “go-to settings” option.
- Hey, you can change the SSID as well as the password of your desired wireless network.
Turn Windows 7,8 and 8.1 Laptops to a Router
Only Windows 10 has pre-configured wireless network sharing options. For devices, without Windows 10, we are going to be making use of third party software to share internet wirelessly. This software goes by the name of connectify me and is available for free with limited features. The only drawback to the free version is that you can’t change the SSID of your wireless network.
- Open up the browser on your laptop.
- Head over to the following link to download connectify me – https://www.connectify.me.
- Install the application and reboot your device after accepting the network changes.
- Run the application and set the desired password for your wireless network.
- Start connecting me hotspot to enjoy internet wirelessly on all of your devices.