How to Set up Connectify Hotspot

Connectify Hotspot is a virtual router app for Windows that shares your PC's internet connection with all your other devices. You set everything up on the Hotspot screen, which is the first thing you see when you open Connectify Hotspot.

Under Create a, choose what you want your PC to be:

• Wi-Fi hotspot: share your internet connection over Wi-Fi. Every edition, including Hotspot Lite (free), can do this.
• Wired router: share your internet connection over Ethernet, to a router, a switch or a device with no Wi-Fi. Needs Hotspot PRO or MAX.
• Wi-Fi repeater: extend the range of a Wi-Fi network. Needs Hotspot MAX.

Modes your edition doesn't include show a PRO or MAX badge. Clicking one shows you how to upgrade.

How to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot

See the dedicated article on turning your computer into a Wi-Fi hotspot and also the video tutorial on that.

Connectify Hotspot uses your Wi-Fi adapter's Wi-Fi Direct support (or Microsoft Hosted Network, on adapters without it) to create the hotspot, but what it creates is a regular Wi-Fi hotspot. Phones, tablets, laptops, game consoles and TVs join it like any other Wi-Fi network. They do not need to support Wi-Fi Direct.

Step 1. Under Create a, choose Wi-Fi hotspot.

Step 2. Choose the Internet to share. This is the connection your devices will use: a Wi-Fi network, an Ethernet connection, a tethered phone, a USB 3G/4G modem or a VPN. Connections that aren't online right now show a No internet tag. Automatic picks the best connection for you. On Hotspot Lite, Automatic and 3G/4G connections show a PRO badge.

Learn more about the types of connections you can share with Connectify Hotspot.

Step 3. Set a Hotspot name and a Password. The name is what your devices see when they look for Wi-Fi, and it can include emoji. The password needs at least 8 characters. The eye button shows it, and the wand button makes up a new one. On Hotspot Lite, the name starts with "Connectify-".

Learn more about setting a custom name in Connectify Hotspot.

Step 4. Under Network access, choose Routed or Bridged. Routed is the default: Connectify Hotspot acts just like a router and gives the devices on your hotspot their own private network behind your PC. Bridged (Hotspot MAX) puts them directly on the network you're sharing, as if they were connected to it themselves.

Learn more about the difference between routed and bridged network access.

Step 5. Check the Protection card, then click Start hotspot. With Block ads on, ads are blocked for every device on your hotspot, with nothing to install on them.

Learn more about the ad blocker in Connectify Hotspot.

How to set up a wired router

Wired router needs Hotspot PRO or MAX. See the dedicated video tutorial on using Connectify Hotspot as a wired router.

Step 1. Under Create a, choose Wired router.

Step 2. Choose the Internet to share: the connection your PC uses to get online. It can be Wi-Fi, a tethered phone, a USB 3G/4G modem, a VPN, or a second Ethernet port.

Step 3. Under Share over, choose the Ethernet port your router, switch or device is plugged into. This is the port Connectify Hotspot shares the internet to, so it can't be the same connection as Internet to share.

Step 4. Under Network access, choose Routed or Bridged, just as for a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Step 5. Check the Protection card, then click Start hotspot.

How to set up a Wi-Fi repeater

Wi-Fi repeater needs Hotspot MAX. See the dedicated article on turning your computer into a Wi-Fi repeater and also the video tutorial on that.

Connectify Hotspot can repeat WPA or WPA2 encrypted Wi-Fi networks that Windows has connected to. Under Create a, choose Wi-Fi repeater, choose the Wi-Fi network to repeat, and then click Start hotspot.