Share LAN connection over Wireless Network in Windows Vista

Few months ago I was in New Zealand for working holiday, my friends and I were staying in a room with only one LAN point but 3 of us have a notebook and need to access to the Internet.

Each time anyone of us wants to online, we need to disconnect the LAN point from one notebook and connect to another again. It was so troublesome. Then suddently something came across my mind: My notebook can act as a router and other notebooks can connect to my notebook to access to the Internet.

Setup the whole network involves two main settings:

Share the LAN connection

• Open “Control Panel”->”Network Connections”;
• Right click on the LAN (Local Area Network) that connects to the Internet, select “Properties”;
• Select “Sharing” tab;
• Tick the check box “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection;
• Click “Ok” button to save the setting;

Note: The sharing also works on other network connections type such as mobile wireless and dial up. I have tested on both network and it works perfectly.

Setup an ad-hoc network

• Open “Control Panel”->”Manage Wireless Networks”;
• Click the “Add” button and a wizard window will pop-up;
• Click “Create an ad hoc network”;
• Click “Next” button;
• Type in an network name (SSID);
• Select a security type (always select the WEP or WPA2-Personal);
• Type in your security key;
• Check “Save this network” if you want to save the network;
• Click “Next” button and it’s done;

On other notebooks, enable the wireless connection and try to connect to the SSID you have typed just now. Key in the password when prompt.