[SOLVED] Make Computer Wireless Hotspot With USB Adapter?

[cyberphonics]

Hi all! I asked on another forum and was told it could be done, but not really given instructions how. I know I can just buy a wireless router. Let's pretend they don't exist lol

I read you can make your computer a wireless hotspot if you have either a wifi adapter card or a usb adapter. I want to know if and how to do this with my usb adapter?

Info...

I have a desktop running Windows XP latest SPs. It has no wireless adapter card. My internet is from a cable modem that runs into my computer via usb and into something else via ethernet cable. I have a Belkin n150 USB Wifi Adapter.

Here's what I tried...

I know nothing about this but I gave it a shot. I stuck the Belkin into the computer. It was detected, drivers installed. I saw a network icon pop up in the tray saying wireless connections were available in my area.

I read that to do what I want, I had to create my own wireless connection. *shrug*. I right-clicked on the network icon and went into the Belkin's properties and clicked on the Wireless Networks tab at the top.

I clicked on add, made up an SSID, picked WPA2-PSK and AES security, gave it a passkey, and saved it. I refreshed the wireless connections list and saw the connection I just created in it. I used my Kindle Fire as a tester to see if it would detect the connection I made and it didn't show in its list.

I tried manually adding the connection on my Fire by putting in the SSID and passkey I gave it and it said, "Error connecting to access point". So I went back to the connection I made. I tried different combinations. WEP with a passkey. WPA with a passkey. No luck.

Then I tried ticking the "this is an ad hoc connection" thing at the bottom and tried again WEP and WPA with passkeys. Still, nothing being detected by my Fire. I don't know enough to even guess at what I'm missing and doing wrong so I need step by step help!

Notes...

The only difference I noticed while trying to play with the settings on the connection I was creating was that sometimes, next to its name it would say ON DEMAND. I don't know what that means.

Also, I noticed that no matter what I do, when I look at my Belkin in Network Connections under Control Panel, next to it, it says DISCONNECTED, so I don't know if that's the problem right there.

FYI, I know my computer can do this at least because I have a Nintendo USB wifi adapter that works just fine, only it has its own software so all I do is pop it in, its software pops up a menu saying it's looking for the device to allow.

I turn on my DS Lite and when it detects my DS, I tell it to allow it and boom. My DS Lite is connected to my computer wirelessly and I can play games online through it or even browse the web (cuz I had the web browser pack).

So I was hoping the Belkin USB would work the same way only for OTHER wifi-enabled devices. I just don't know how to get it to do it so any step by step help would be appreciated! THANK YOU!

[Stephen Bowles]

Perhaps following a guide would be helpful, such as : Step-by-step Guide : How to connect two computers directly using Wi-Fi and Windows XP (SP2 or SP3). which seems complete and a good one to follow.

What is the underlining reason for this? Is it to transfer stuff between your fire and desktop?

Do you have another wireless device that you can use to "test" connect to the ad-hoc network?

I've never used a Kindle Fire before, is there a setting on it that switches between ad-hoc and infrastructure mode (when searching for a network or something)?

[cyberphonics]

Hey Stephen! Sorry I wasn't clear. I'm trying to use my computer as a wireless hotspot using the usb wifi adapter so that I can connect to the internet with wireless devices. I don't want to transfer anything between them.

As far as I can tell, the Fire doesn't have network settings you can change. Thank you for the tutorial. I read a few but none matched my setup so they weren't helpful. The one you posted was more relevant, but I went to look at the specs for my Fire on Amazon's website again to see if it said anything about its connectivity that I missed and it says...

Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or enterprise networks with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.

So I guess it wasn't that I wasn't doing it right, it's that the Fire isn't built to detect the kind of network I tried to make. But now I'm even more confused because my buddy was on his laptop and he put in a usb wifi dongle and my Fire was able to connect to the internet through his laptop.

When he put it in his usb port, my Fire immediately detected the connection. Then he told me the password for it so I could enter it into my Fire when prompted and I was good to go.

Does that mean he was using something different? All I know about it is that mentioned having gotten it from Verizon. Is it that he put that in and connected to a wireless network already out there and then my Fire was able to connect to that through his dongle, not to his actual laptop?

[Wand3r3r]

to make a wireless hotspot you need two interfaces; one for the internet and one for the wifi hotspot access.

You can either engage ICS internet connection sharing or buy a product like connectify or mhotspot to turn your wifi dongle into a hot spot.


"buddy was on his laptop and he put in a usb wifi dongle and my Fire was able to connect to the internet through his laptop"

why didn't you ask him how he set it up????

[cyberphonics]

Hey Wanderer. He didn't set anything up. He said it just connects to the internet whenever he puts in the dongle after it prompts him for a password. He knows even less about this than I do.

He just knows that the "thing from Verizon" as he calls it let's him browse the internet wirelessly on his laptop and that anyone he gives the password to can do the same through his "thing". He doesn't know anything else about it.

Connectify and mhotspot were the first things I saw when I started looking for tips on this the other day, but everything I saw for it was for Windows 7 users, not XP. Everyone talking about XP said you had to do it manually the way I tried to do it.

The problem to me then if I was doing it right was (I had ICS enabled btw) that either the Fire isn't capable of doing what I want or the USB adapter I have isn't capable of doing what I want.

So I checked the Fire's specs and it says outright that it doesn't support ad hoc so my question now is if my Fire could connect to my buddy's dongle because that wasn't ad hoc? Maybe it was a 3G/4G Verizon card or something?

At least I know that I was on the right track with how I was trying to set it up. My Fire just isn't able to connect that way.

[Wand3r3r]

verizon has a app that does hotspot.

assuming you have a wired connection to the internet router connectify will turn your wifi card into a hotspot.

[cyberphonics]

Thank you! I checked out the Connectify site again and they said that even though they did add support for Windows XP, it's limited to ad hoc mode. Ah well lol At least I know. I'll see what else I can dig up, though.

Thank you!!!