In situations where Internet access is needed for many devices, but there is no router, you can use a computer or laptop that has a WiFi adapter. Each computer equipped with such a device can act as a resource for distributing wireless Internet. Set up your PC or laptop and it will become an access point for all devices within its service area. To do this, the network adapter must support Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter - the ability to create a virtual adapter.
Starting from OS version 7, the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter driver is built into the kernel. In Windows 10 it is called "Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter". All laptops since 2008 include a Wi-Fi module that is capable of performing virtual functionality and automatically acting as a wireless network source. However, sometimes there are situations when something goes wrong and this whole scheme does not work.
How to check the operation of the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter?
You can read about launching wireless distribution from a laptop here. If all actions are completed successfully, the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter for version 7 will appear in the task manager. 
In Windows 10, to see virtual hardware, you must do the following:
- Right-click (RMB) on the Start button and select options.
- Go to the “Network and Internet” section.
- Click Adapter Settings.
- And then right-click on your new network, which you distribute from a PC or laptop.
- In the window that opens, you will see the name of the adapter and all its characteristics.
- Pay attention to the number of components. The devices for them can be seen in the device manager.
Here you can remove the adapter by clicking on the “Delete” button.
Where to download and how to install
If the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter is missing and the distribution does not work, you can download the driver. There are many resources online that offer this software, but it can be dangerous. We remind you that the driver is present in the kernel and is not supplied separately by the official developer. Therefore, if you downloaded it somewhere, then this is a “non-native” Microsoft development and it is unknown what consequences its installation will lead to.
The best option for Windows is to download updates. In this case, all outdated and deleted drivers should be updated automatically.
If this doesn't help, manually update your network adapter driver. To do this, launch Device Manager. Right-click on the desired hardware in the Network Adapters section. Choose automatic update. 
You can also download a new driver from the manufacturer's website. For example, for a Lenovo laptop, go to https://support.lenovo.com/ru/ru/ and enter your model number. 
Go to the Drivers and Software tab. 
And look for the devices you need. Available drivers that can be downloaded will be displayed here. After this, all you have to do is run the downloaded file and follow the instructions.
How to remove Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter?
In some cases, wars arise between the virtual WiFi adapter and real network equipment. Then neither one nor the other works normally and access to wireless communication is difficult. Neither rebooting nor disabling virtual distribution will help here.
To remove an adapter using the command line, open it and type netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow. This will make the virtual network inactive and the adapter will be removed.
In the network management section, you can see that the network has disappeared, and with it the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter has disappeared.
But the instructions provided did not address the main problems that users may encounter when creating a virtual access point. One of the most common errors occurs when starting a Wireless Hosted Network through the command line. This procedure is performed using the command netsh wlan start hostednetwork. If the operation completes successfully, the message “The hosted network has started” should appear, but in some cases the error “The hosted network could not be started” appears instead. The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the required operation."
That is, simply put, the laptop (or computer) adapter is not ready to work as a Wi-Fi access point and distribute the Internet to other devices wirelessly. How to solve this problem? Let's figure it out.
Checking whether drivers are installed correctly
It makes no sense to seriously consider options when a laptop does not have a Wi-Fi module or cannot operate in access point mode, since almost all modern laptop computers are equipped with the equipment necessary for distributing the Internet. Therefore, let’s immediately move on to the most common cause of problems with a hosted network – “crookedly” installed, missing or not entirely suitable software.
There are several ways to make sure that the network adapter is normally detected by Windows 7/10 and does not conflict with other devices. The easiest way is through the “Device Manager”. We go into it and open the “Network adapters” branch. Finding the wireless communication module we need is not difficult - its name must contain the words Wireless or Wi-Fi. Or it will simply be called “Network Adapter”.
The main thing is to make sure that there is no yellow exclamation mark next to the module, which usually indicates problems or the absence of necessary drivers. Go to adapter properties ( Right mouse button – Properties) and on the General tab, check the device status.
If it says “The device is working normally,” then in principle there should be no problems with launching the hosted network, but in reality everything turns out to be not quite so. It often happens that the Wi-Fi adapter drivers are installed correctly (you can check for availability and, if necessary, reinstall them on the “Driver” tab of the “Properties” window), and the device itself works flawlessly in the usual mode of receiving data, but the error “Could not start the hosted network" still appears. If this is your case, then move on to the next point.
Rollback to a previous driver version
When you update device drivers, Windows saves older versions of the software so you can roll back to them at any time if problems arise. This is exactly what we will do, because the driver version of the wireless adapter often determines whether it will support a hosted network or not (this is especially true for Windows 10). You can find out which driver is currently in use through the same Device Manager, but we will use the command line. Let's launch it and execute the command netsh wlan show drivers.
The above screenshot shows the result of the query. It can be seen that a fresh working driver is installed, but the “Hosted Network Support” line is set to “No”, i.e. An attempt to start the network will definitely trigger the error “The hosted network could not be started.” Let's try to roll back to an older version of the driver and see the result.
In the “Device Manager”, right-click on the adapter and select “Update drivers...”.
A list of all drivers available on your computer will appear. We select the earliest one among them (in our case, 2015) and click “Next”.
A window will appear indicating that the driver has been installed successfully.
Let's check if hosted network support is now available. Run the command again on the command line netsh wlan show drivers and we see that now it is possible to create an access point.
In order to finally make sure of this, here we enter netsh wlan start hostednetwork. The message “Hosted Network Started” will indicate that everything was successful.
Now we can set the parameters of a virtual access point to which any devices can connect.
This is how we solved the problem with the inability to launch a hosted network. If all of the above steps did not help you, try uninstalling and reinstalling the adapter drivers, playing around with different driver versions, and restarting Windows. At worst, if all else fails, buy a separate USB module for your laptop and set up Internet distribution through it.
Over the course of their existence, wireless networks (Wireless Local Area Network-WLAN) have gone through many changes that affected security, range and speed, but the basic principles of operation have remained unchanged.
Wireless networks can operate in two modes: when two or more devices are connected directly to each other - point-to-point, or when they are connected through an access point (Access Point-AP). In the first case, they talk about a simple network (ad-hoc mode). The use of this operating mode is quite rare and is used mainly for data exchange when it is not possible to use an access point. The second mode, using an access point, is called infrastructure mode and in most cases is used in conjunction with a wireless router that is connected to the Internet. But using two operating modes simultaneously on one physical wireless adapter is not provided for by the Wi-Fi concept itself.
In search of new ways to use wireless networks, the concept of virtualization has been proposed, which removes certain restrictions on the use of such networks and thereby expands their capabilities. This approach to using wireless adapters has been implemented by several companies with corresponding technology names. At Intel, it's Intel My WiFi, and at Microsoft, it's Virtual WiFi.
Virtual Wi-Fi is a software layer that abstracts the wireless network card and creates multiple virtual adapters. Each virtual adapter can be separately configured to connect to different wireless networks, but they will all use the resources of only one physical wireless adapter.
What can this technology be useful for? For example, creating a personal network (Wireless Personal Area Network - WPAN) in which you can quickly connect a PDA, phone, printer, camera, laptop and other device with a wireless adapter for simple information exchange; use a laptop as a hotspot to provide Internet access to wireless devices using an Internet connection on the laptop, be it Ethernet, Wi-Fi, 3G or WiMax. Another example would be when the radio signal is not stable enough or does not cover the required distance between the access point and wireless devices. In this case, a computer or laptop with Virtual Wi-Fi technology can act as a repeater, thereby improving the radio coverage of the wireless network.
In Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2, Virtual WiFi technology was included in the system and implemented at the kernel level, in addition, work was done on a simple implementation of a Software Access Point (SoftAP), while from wireless device manufacturers, Now you only need to implement SoftAP support in your drivers. In this regard, in the current implementation of Virtual WiFi in Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2, it is possible to create only one virtual adapter that will only work in access point mode, while providing WPA2-PSK-AES encryption.
By the way, support for Virtual WiFi in drivers is a mandatory requirement for certification of wireless adapters for compatibility with Windows 7.
Virtual WiFi is designated as Wireless Hosted Network, in Russian designation as Hosted Network. In connection with the introduction of Virtual WiFi into new operating systems from Microsoft, new commands have been included in the network shell for managing a distributed network. Here are some of them:
- netsh wlan set hostednetwork allowed|disallowed - Allow or deny use of the network.
- netsh wlan set hostednetwork<идентификатор_SSID> <парольная_фраза>persistent|temporary - Configure network parameters, where SSID – network SSID; Key - User security key used by the network; keyUsage indicates the security key is permanent or temporary
- netsh wlan show settings – Shows the network property and its status.
- netsh wlan show hostednetwork settings=security – Displays the security settings of the hosted network. (Shows, including the password specified in key when setting up netsh wlan set hostednetwork)
- netsh wlan start hostednetwork - Start hosted network.
- netsh wlan stop hostednetwork - Stop network hosting.
What does setting up Virtual Wi-Fi look like in practice: we need a laptop or regular personal computer with wireless devices, Windows 7 and a driver that supports Virtual WiFi.
If the above described criteria are met, then call the command line with administrator rights and run the following command in it:
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid="MS Virtual Wi-Fi" key="Pass for virtual wifi" keyUsage=persistent
In this example, “MS Virtual Wi-Fi” is the name of the wireless network, “Pass for virtual wifi” is the password to access this network. You can set these values at your discretion.
After executing this command, the system will find new equipment and a new network adapter will appear in the device manager, or rather a virtual one - Microsoft Virtual WiFi miniport adapter. But again, this virtual adapter will only appear if our wireless adapter driver supports Virtual WiFi.
By going to Control Panel - Network and Sharing Center - changing adapter settings, we will see a new connection, Wireless Network Connection 2, which will show the status - no connection. Therefore, the next step will be to launch the network. To do this, in a command prompt run with administrator rights, run the following command:
netsh wlan start hostednetwork.
After this, the network will start and the software access point (SoftAP) will work. You can verify this by going to Control Panel - Network and Sharing Center. Since we use a Wi-Fi Internet connection, we found that Windows 7 was connected to several wireless networks at the same time. Now other wireless devices can connect to our access point.
If we want to provide access to the Internet to other wireless devices that are connected to our software access point, that is, to organize a Hotspot, then we need to go to the Control Panel tab - Network and Sharing Center - changing adapter parameters and connection properties , which is connected to the Internet (in our case, this is a Wi-Fi connection, but it can be anything: ethernet, 3G, WiMax, etc.). On the access tab, check the Allow other network users to use the Internet connection of this computer, and in Connecting a home network, specify which network adapter to provide (share) the Internet to, in our case, it will be Wireless Network Connection 2, which refers to the virtual wireless adapter.
On the client side, you can see several wireless networks, and when connecting to our organized access point, the client will automatically receive an IP address from the internal DHCP server and will be separated from the external network by NAT (Network address translation).
The convenience of using Virtual Wi-Fi is obvious, but using the command line to configure and start the network (and you need to start the hosted network every time after rebooting the computer with administrator rights) is not entirely convenient. And, unfortunately, there is no built-in graphical shell for setting up Virtual WiFi. Therefore, it is not surprising that third-party utilities appear that perform the function of this very shell. Now there are several such utilities - Connectify and Virtual Router Manager. Their configuration is kept to a minimum - you need to specify the SSID and password for access. They are loaded along with the system and immediately enable the distributed network and are able to display all connections to our distributed network.
Connectify
Sometimes a virtual wireless network is added in Device Manager for some users after automatic installation of drivers. This is how exactly to remove the Microsoft Virtual Wi-Fi Miniport Adapter that has appeared will be discussed below.
Virtual network
Before considering removal methods, it is worth explaining why the adapter is needed and why it is removed. Let's look at this with a specific hypothetical example.
It is to solve such situations that a virtual adapter is created. Simply put, the aforementioned tunnel module simply allows the laptop to become a Wi-Fi access point.
In most cases, a virtual network does not create any problems for the system and does not interfere with the performance of the operating system. But it also happens a little differently: a conflict is created between software and hardware wireless adapters, which does not allow any of the existing devices to work fully.
Removal methods
There are a great many of them, but here we will consider two of the simplest and most effective at the same time:
- Via the command line.
- Manipulating settings.
By and large, this is one method, but it is the implementation methods that significantly distinguish these approaches from each other. In the first case, it is necessary to set commands that the system itself will execute. In the second, you will have to do everything manually.
To implement this method, you will first need to call it. To do this, you need to press the +[R] key combination on your keyboard. The first is a button with the Windows logo. After clicking, a small window will appear on the screen, which will allow you to run the program with administrator rights.
In the only available column, enter “CMD” and press .
After which the command line itself will be displayed on the screen, which is a window with a black background and the ability to set commands to be executed.
Here you should type or copy (using the right button only) the following phrase: “netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow”. All parts should be typed only in small letters, and spaces should only be between blocks. They are not needed before or after the “=” sign.
After entering the information, all you have to do is press , wait for the notification of successful completion and reboot the device. After rebooting, the system will no longer show the Microsoft Virtual Wi-Fi Miniport Adapter in Device Manager.
Through settings
Some consistency is required here. Since if you do everything in any order, success is not guaranteed. First, we remove the emulated network, and after it, the adapter itself.
First of all, you need to find the network connection icon in the tray (notification area in the lower right corner, between the date and current language display panel). Right-click on it and launch “Network and Sharing Center.”
On the left side of the window that opens, find and click on the words “Change adapter settings.”
Here we find the virtual network and use the right button to delete it.
Now the network has been removed and you can begin removing the device.
Right-click on the “My Computer” icon and click on the “Properties” button.
Call “Device Manager”, the shortcut for which is located on the left side of the window.
Quite often I see on the Internet (including on our website) questions about how, after all, to distribute from a computer with a wi-fi adapter, or from a laptop, the Internet, or how to organize a wlan network, etc. . There are a huge number of methods and options, but one of the simplest and most convenient, in my opinion, is still not the most popular.
We'll talk about technology Virtual WiFi, which was included by Microsoft in Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2, and now in the relatively fresh Windows 8, and in the latest version of the operating system, Windows 10. It is this technology that is used in programs such as Connectify And Virtual Router Manager, however, within the framework of this article I will not draw your attention to them; we will do everything without unnecessary software exclusively using a clean operating system. Firstly, these programs do not work correctly for everyone, secondly, no one has canceled copyright yet, and thirdly, I belong to the category of people who do not like to keep extra software.
What is Virtual WiFi and what does it come with?
The essence of how Virtual WiFi works is easier to understand for those who have ever dealt with virtual machines, or more precisely, with setting up a network in them. An operating system that supports this technology has the ability to split a real-life wireless adapter into several virtual ones, each of which will be able to work with its own network. Of course, the capabilities of such virtual receivers/transmitters will be limited by the resources of one single real adapter, on the basis of which the others were created.
And a fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey: in Windows 7 it is possible to create only one virtual adapter that will work as an access point, and encryption will take place exclusively in WPA2-PSK/AES mode. However, in most cases, this is quite enough to satisfy the everyday needs of the average PC user.
What do we need for this?
- of course, a computer with the Windows 7/8 operating system on board;
- a wifi adapter connected to a PC whose drivers support Virtual WiFi technology. By the way, to obtain hardware compatibility with OS Windows 7, the adapter driver must have this support, so if your wifi receiver is compatible with Windows 7, then Virtual WiFi also supports 5+.
Everything, in principle, except that if you want to distribute the Internet from your computer, then you need to have an Internet connection on it, and its nature is absolutely not important, this could be an Ethernet connection, WiFi or 3G network.
From words to deeds. Virtual WiFi network management
Creating a network implemented using Virtual WiFi and managing it in Windows is done via the command line.
So let's get started.
Creating a virtual WiFi network
To create a virtual WiFi network you need to open a command prompt with administrator rights (this can be done in several ways, for example, go to the menu Start, Further - All programs, Standard, right button on the program Command line and select the item Run as administrator) and run the following command in it:
Netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=wlan-set key=12345678
where is the parameter mode allows network parameter ssid gives the network a name, and key assigns a password.
Naturally, the values wlan-set And 12345678
you can change it to your own (I advise you to do this, especially in the part regarding the password).
That's it, the virtual network has been created. You can verify this by going to the device manager and seeing the corresponding line in the network adapters section.
And also in the control panel along the way - a new network will appear. However, it is not yet connected, as evidenced by the eloquent inscription next to it No connection.
Launching a virtual WiFi network
Now we need launch our network . To do this, on the command line as an administrator, run
Netsh wlan start hostednetwork
After executing this command, its name will appear in the list of network connections under our network.
Now you can connect to our network. But, perhaps, at one moment we will need to stop the network and prohibit connection to it.
Disabling a virtual WiFi network
So to disable network you need to run the command on the command line as an administrator
Netsh wlan stop hostednetwork
After this, our network will become inactive again.
Removing a virtual WiFi network
And the last thing that I think deserves attention. . What could we do without it?
To delete the virtual network we created, run the command
Netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow ssid=wlan-set key=12345678
Information about virtual WiFi network
There are a couple more commands for managing Virtual WiFi, or rather, for monitoring it:
Netsh wlan show settings
displays network properties and its status
Netsh wlan show hostednetwork setting=security
returns security parameters, including the current password for connecting to the grid
(in this screenshot the key is 13041991, for example)
Internet distribution in a local WiFi network
Actually, the most common application of Virtual WiFi is Internet distribution.
To do this, you need to do the following:
Opening Control Panel, go to the section Net and the Internet, then - Network and Sharing Center - Change adapter settings.
We right-click on the connection through which Internet access is provided on this computer (i.e. the connection that we are going to share, in this example it is a connection via a 3G modem from a mobile operator), select the item Properties, open the tab in the window that appears Access and check the first item (see screenshot), and below select the virtual network we created (in this example - Wireless network connection 5). If the Internet is currently active, it will need to be reconnected.
We can stop here, but I propose to gain a little in convenience, so let's move on to the next step.
Static IP address in a virtual WiFi network
What I mean: now there are many programs that allow you to manage the file system of Android smartphones from a computer via WiFi, most of them are based on creating a network between devices and connecting by IP address within the network. In the same network that we have configured, IP addresses will be assigned to connected devices randomly, i.e., speaking in literate language, IP addresses in our network are dynamic (changing). In the case of a global network, this is convenient and correct, but in a local area network (local network), I prefer static (not changing) IP addresses, this is much more convenient for gaining access to specific machines/devices or even folders and files. What are we doing? Here, in the section Change adapter settings, right-click on our wireless connection, select the line Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), then press the button Properties and enter the IP address and subnet mask (in this case I use the IP address not 192.168.0.1, but 192.168.137.1, since this is preferable for sharing the Internet from the provider used for the example).
Save the changes made.
You also need to configure a static IP address on the device you are connecting. To do this, go to the advanced settings of a specific wifi network and make the following changes
Now we can easily add an address, including an IP address, to access the device, for example, to browser bookmarks, so as not to constantly enter it manually.
Laziness - the engine of progress or automation of WiFi network management
Well, how could it be otherwise? In general, I try not to forget about people who are not eager to make unnecessary movements in some situations, especially since I myself relate to such people... and I treat them with pleasure.
Managing a virtual WiFi network from a batch file
Needless to say, not all Windows users like to tinker with the command line, and sometimes it is downright inconvenient and takes a lot of extra time. So, to save you from this, I suggest packing all the commands into separate batch files and, instead of writing the command into the terminal, simply run the required batch file.
If you are interested in the topic of creating such files that automate various processes on a computer, I suggest you read the relevant article:
Below I attach an archive with the following batch files:
wi-fi_add.bat- creates a network (requires changing parameter values ssid= And key=)
wi-fi_start.bat- launches the created network
wi-fi_stop.bat- stops the network
wi-fi_del.bat- deletes the virtual network (you need to change the parameter values ssid= And key=)
To perform the desired action, simply run the required executive file.
The archive is here:
Automatic launch of a virtual WiFi network when you turn on the computer
For example, it’s easier for me if the Internet starts to flow immediately after turning on the computer. And if there is no point in writing here regarding the auto-connection of the Internet on the host machine itself (this is not the context of the article), then a few words about the auto-start of our virtual network.
Actually, just a few words. In order for our network to start when you turn on the PC, you need to go to the startup folder (it is located along the path C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, or Start- ) add a shortcut to the body file wi-fi_start.bat. In fact, you can put the bat file itself there, but in the case of a shortcut, we can specify it in the properties so that it starts minimized into an icon.
You can read about other options for adding programs to Windows startup in the corresponding article:
At this point, all manipulations to automate the work of our virtual network can be considered complete.
Epilogue. Software and hardware sides of the issue
And what, an epilogue, and so everything is clear to everyone....
When writing this article we used:
- a computer with Windows 7 on board;
- VirtualBox virtual machine with Windows 8 installed;
- a simple WiFi adapter ZyXEL NWD 2105;
- 3G Flyer modem with a SIM card from a mobile network operator;
- HTC Incredible S communicator with Android 4.0.4
....as well as a couple of cups of coffee and several Kilowatts of electricity.
Wi-Fi hotspots and fast internet available to you....
