Imagine a situation where you have a laptop and you decide to use it as a Wi-Fi router, with the ability to connect various mobile devices to it. To do this, you can use the virtual router plus application.

The program is small and easily customizable. Let's look at its purpose, capabilities and necessary settings.

Why is this necessary?

Let's say you have several mobile devices with Wi-Fi that urgently need to be connected to the Internet. And as sometimes happens, this “cherished” Internet comes to you via cable and only to your laptop, but you don’t have a Wi-Fi router at hand. This is where it comes in handy this application. With its help, you can force your laptop to receive Internet via a cable connection or USB modem and distribute it via Wi-Fi. In this case, the laptop will act as an access point.

Internet distribution option

There are other ways to organize distribution: using the command line or the Connectify Hotspot program. But the virtual router plus program is simple and easy to use, and it is also free to use.

What will you need for this?

Everything here is pretty banal:

1. A laptop, maybe a netbook or a PC with a Wi-Fi adapter.
2. Availability of the Internet, connected via cable or USB modem.
3. Virtual router plus application.
4. Devices for connection.

Distribution setup

Please note that your laptop must be connected to the Internet using cable connection, and not via Wi-Fi, otherwise nothing will work.

Internet connection

Your laptop should have a connection status like the picture below.

Connection status

If everything is so, then move on to setting up the program.

Setting up virtual router plus

Download the archive with the program, unpack it and run it using the executable file.

Executive file

You see a window with three fields:

• Network Name – enter the future name of the network.
• Password – create a password that will be needed to access your network.
• Shared Connection – select the type of connection from which the Internet will be available. If it is connected using a cable, then leave “Connect via local network».

Program menu

After filling out all the fields, click Start Virtual Router Plus.

Program operation

After this, all fields will become inactive, only the Stop Virtual Router Plus button can be activated; by clicking it, you can stop the operation of the virtual router. For convenience, you can minimize the program and it will go to the notification panel.

Connecting mobile devices

Now we take any mobile device, launch Wi-Fi and search for a network with the name we previously specified. Click on this network, log in using the password we set and click on connect.

You can try to access the Internet from your mobile device. It also happens that there is a connection, but there is no Internet. To do this, you need to make some more settings.

Turn on the Internet

Go to your laptop and stop the program. Then go to your connection status and go to Network Sharing Center and shared access.

Select the menu item – Change adapter parameters. Right-click on your adapter - Local Area Connection, select - Properties and go to the tab - Access.

Set the checkboxes as seen in the image below. In the column – Connection home network select an adapter. It may be referred to as – Wireless network connection 2 or 3. You can choose the second, then the third, don’t be afraid to experiment.

Distribution setup

Let's run the program again. Now our mobile device should automatic mode connect to laptop. The internet should now work.

For convenience, you can add the virtual router plus application to the startup menu and you will not have to start it manually every time you reboot the system.

In general, if possible, it is better to buy a full-fledged router. Any, even the most inexpensive router model will do an excellent job of distributing the Internet to several mobile devices. But there are times when the router is not always at hand, for example at the dacha, but the network needs to be “expanded”, and this is where this little program comes to the rescue.

Firewall problems

If you start distributing the Internet through a laptop, a problem with the firewall may arise. It often happens that when you “deploy” a wireless network, the built-in firewall begins to interfere with this. The network can be created, but there is no access to it.

The problem can be resolved by disabling the firewall or changing its settings.

To change the settings you need to do a number of actions:

1. In the Control Panel, go to the System and Security menu, then Windows Firewall.
2. Here we go to Advanced settings, Overview section, go to Windows Firewall Properties.
3. We look for the General Profile and Domain Profile tabs, in the Status section, click on the Configure button.
4. We look for our connection and uncheck it (you need to do this in both profiles).

After completing these steps, the Internet should begin to be distributed. If it didn't happen. Then pay attention to your antivirus software, because it also has a built-in firewall. Try setting it up or disabling it (disabling it is not very advisable, since the computer will be susceptible to attacks by various virus programs).

virtual router for windows

Hello dear visitors of the blog site. Today I would like to tell you about one cool feature, namely how to distribute WiFi through a laptop.

Just recently I was visiting friends. They have a laptop that is constantly on the table, in its rightful place, and connected to the network via a cable! I asked in surprise, why? Why don't you buy a router? To which I received a short answer: “We don’t want to spend money on this miracle device.”

I needed to check my email through my smartphone, and I was completely lazy to get up and sit down at the computer. At this moment, I remembered how I recently set up a virtual WiFi router on a laptop for one of my clients. Immediately lifting his butt off the sofa, sat down at the computer and said: “Guys, now there will be a miracle, your laptop will distribute WiFi!”

By the way, if you don’t know how to limit the Internet speed through a router, read.

Step-by-step setup of a virtual WiFi router on Windows 7

Most network adapters in modern laptops support this function virtual wifi router. It is also easy to enable on a regular desktop PC with a wireless network adapter installed.

To distribute WiFi from a laptop, you need to follow several steps:

Step 1:

First, you need to open the computer command line. Open: Start - All Programs - Accessories - . Right-click on it and select " Run as administrator».

A window will open as in the picture:

Step 2:

Enter the following command and press Enter:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=”MS Virtual WiFi” key=”justit” keyUsage=persistent

"MS Virtual WiFi" is the name of our WiFi router, and “justit” is the password. These parameters can be changed as you wish. “keyUsage=persistent” - gives us the opportunity to save the password so as not to constantly enter it manually.

After entering this command, new equipment should be activated in the system - “ Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" or " Microsoft Virtual WiFi miniport adapter" (in English.).

If this equipment is not displayed, then your network adapter does not support this function virtual WiFi. In this case, you need to either change it, or not bother at all and buy a good router.

To be on the safe side, go to Control Panel- - . The new connection should be displayed there " Wireless network connection 2" with the status "No connection".

Step 3:

Now we need to run our virtual WiFi router. To do this, enter the following command again in CMD (command line) and press Enter:

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

The “MS Virtual WiFi” access point will appear, to check, go to Control Panel — Network and Sharing Center.

Step 4:

On at this stage We can already connect to our created network, but alas, we won’t get on the Internet! Ask why? But because you need to open access to global network on the adapter through which our laptop is connected to the Internet. Let's open Control Panel — Network Control Center... — Change adapter settings, in its properties, open the “Access” tab and check the “ Allow other network users to use the Internet connection of this computer ", click Ok.

Now all connected devices will have access to the global network!

Making shortcuts to turn on/off a virtual WiFi router on Windows 7

To turn on the wireless network, you will need to constantly enter the appropriate activation command virtual WiFi. In my opinion, this is not at all convenient. For convenience, you need to create two bat shortcut files with which we can easily turn WiFi on and off.

Hello, friends! I recently wrote an article in which I talked about . But as it turned out, the method I wrote about in that article is not suitable for connecting mobile devices such as phones, smartphones, tablets, etc.

And if we take into account the fact that a lot of people want to set up a laptop for Wi-Fi distribution and connect a mobile device to it, then I decided to correct the situation. This article can be considered a continuation of the previous article.

In order to make the laptop turn into a router and connect a mobile device to it, we will use Virtual program Router Plus. It's small simple program, which is very easy to set up, which is what we will do now.

If you don’t understand what we’re going to do now and haven’t read the article linked above, then I’ll quickly explain.

Let's say you have a laptop and some other mobile devices that have Wi-Fi. And your Internet is connected, say, via cable and only to your laptop. Wi-Fi router No. Do you want to connect your phone or tablet to the Internet? So, we will make the laptop take the Internet via cable (or in another way, for example via a USB modem. Just not via Wi-Fi) and distribute it via Wi-Fi. The laptop will be the access point.

There are several ways to set up distribution. You can use special programs, such as VirtualRouter Plus, Connectify Hotspot, or via the command line. I really liked the free VirtualRouter Plus program, so I’ll show you how to set it up. With her help, everything worked out the first time.

What do we need?

We will need a laptop (netbook, desktop computer with adapter) which has Wi-Fi. Internet that connects using network cable, or USB modem. VirtualRouter Plus program (I'll give you a link later) and the device that we will connect to the Internet (phone, tablet, etc.).

Everything is? Then let's start :).

Setting up Wi-Fi distribution from a laptop

Let me remind you once again that the laptop must be connected to the Internet using a cable, and not via a wireless network. Something like this:

And the connection status should be like this:

If everything is connected, we can continue.

Setting up the VirtualRouter Plus program

First download VirtualRouter Plus you can download version 2.1.0 (on which I configured) via the link, or . Links have been verified.

Download the archive and extract it to a folder. Run the file in the folder VirtualRouterPlus.exe.

A window will open in which we need to fill in only three fields.

Network Name (SSID)– in this field, write a name for your wireless network.

Password- password. The password that will be used to connect to your network. Specify a minimum of 8 characters, in English.

Well, on the contrary Shared Connection select the connection from which the Internet will be distributed. My Internet connection is via cable, so I left “Local Area Connection” as is.

That's it, press the button. Start Virtual Router Plus.

All windows will become inactive and the Stop Virtual Router Plus button will appear (you can use it to turn off virtual Wi-Fi). You can minimize programs and it will hide in the notification panel (bottom, right).

Connecting the device to Wi-Fi

Now take your phone, tablet, or whatever you want to connect (I have, for example, an HTC Android phone), turn on Wi-Fi on it and look for an available network in the list with the name that we set in the Virtual Router Plus program.

I have this network:

Click on this network, enter the password (which we specified when setting up the program) and press Connect. It should look something like this:

You can already try to access sites from your phone (or other device), which receives the Internet via Wi-Fi from a laptop. But the connection is there, but the Internet may not work. This is true:). Just some more tweaking to do.

The device connects to Wi-Fi, but the Internet does not work

Return to your laptop, open the program in which we configured the distribution and press the button Stop Virtual Router Plus. Then right click on the connection status and select Network and Sharing Center.

On the left select Change adapter settings. Right click on the adapter LAN connection and select Properties. Go to the tab Access.

Check the boxes like I have in the screenshot below. In field Connecting your home network you need to select an adapter. Everything works fine for me when installed Wireless network connection 3 (You may also have a Wireless network connection 2, or another). Experiment.

Then in the Virtual Router Plus program we launch our network again. The phone should now connect automatically. The Internet should already be working. Everything worked for me, the sites opened!

Converting a laptop into a router was successful :).

Advice! You can add the Virtual Router Plus program to startup so as not to constantly launch it manually. I wrote about how to do this in the article.

Afterword

Of course, if possible, I would advise buying a router. Even some simple, inexpensive model, for example, will do an excellent job of distributing Wi-Fi to several devices. And you won’t have to torture your laptop :). In addition, the laptop itself will be able to connect via a wireless network, and not distribute it.

But this method is also good. You can quickly set up a wireless network, even without a router.

If you have any problems, leave questions in the comments, or even better on our forum. We'll figure out. Best wishes!

Also on the site:

How to set up a laptop for Wi-Fi distribution and connect a mobile device to it? Setting up VirtualRouter Plus updated: February 7, 2018 by: admin

Starting with Windows 7, it became possible to run a virtual access point. You can call this function “Virtual Router”, since it allows you to distribute the Internet via Wi-Fi without a router (separate device). That is, Windows uses the Wi-Fi adapter not only to connect to wireless networks, but also for distributing Wi-Fi to other devices. You can start the access point special teams, via the command line. In Windows 8 and Windows 10, this function also works, but there is also a “Mobile hotspot” (only in the top ten). Where you don't need to enter commands etc., you just need to enter the network name, password and you're done.

Despite the fact that Wi-Fi distribution can be configured using standard using Windows, for some reason many people use third party programs. Which, as a rule, are just a shell. Virtual Router Plus is one such program. Very simple and free program, which can be easily downloaded on the Internet. As I understand it, the developers (Runxia Electronics) abandoned Virtual Router Plus and are not updating it. For some reason the program website is not working. And you can find a lot on the Internet different versions this program. There is Virtual Router Plus in Russian. But the translation is not very good. In principle, it is not needed. There are only two fields, one drop-down menu and one button. There is another free and very similar program called Virtual Router Manager (Virtual Router) from another developer (Chris Pietschmann). You can download Virtual Router Manager and use it. But it doesn't seem to be updated either.

In this article I will show you how to download Virtual Router Plus (I will give a link to the version that I will use myself), install it, launch a virtual access point and manage Wi-Fi distribution. But before that, I recommend that you try setting up an access point in Windows standard means. Here are the detailed instructions:

You can find more articles on this topic in this section:

When you can't start Wi-Fi distribution using command line, or through the Mobile Hotspot, then the Virtual Router program is unlikely to work. Since there are problems with the adapter itself, drivers, settings, etc. And the program uses standard function, which is built into Windows.

I still advise you not to use third-party programs, but try to set everything up according to the instructions, the links to which I left above.

Download Virtual Router Plus and install it on your computer

be careful, since you can download a virus or some kind of malware along with the program. You do everything at your own peril and risk.

You can download Virtual Router Plus on one of the websites on the Internet. I used (download link) version. I checked with antivirus, everything seems to be clean. During the installation and configuration process I did not notice any problems, the antivirus did not complain.

Download the archive, open it and run the file virtualrouterplussetup.exe. We carry out the installation (everything is simple there) and launch the program with a shortcut on the desktop. If you do not uncheck the last window of the installation wizard, it will start automatically.

The installation process is very simple. Let's move on to the settings.

Setting up Virtual Router Plus for Wi-Fi distribution

The program is very simple. We only need to specify the name of the Wi-Fi network that our laptop or PC will distribute, set a password, and from the list select an Internet connection to which public Internet access will be open.

• Network name (SSID) – here write any name in English letters. You can use numbers. You can leave the default name.
• Password – this password will need to be entered on devices to connect to the Wi-Fi network that you will distribute through Virtual Router Plus. Minimum 8 characters. I recommend using only English letters and numbers.
• General connection – in the drop-down menu you need to select the connection through which your computer is connected to the Internet. It doesn't have to be an Ethernet connection.

To start Internet distribution, click on the “Launch virtual router plus” button.

At this stage of setup, the popular error “Cannot start Virtual Router Plus” may appear. ABOUT possible reasons and the solution I wrote in the article: .

If everything is OK, then the “Virtual Router” program will hide in the tray and a notification will appear that the distribution has been successfully launched (with incredibly bad translation).

After that, open it on your device (for which we distribute the Internet) list of available Wi-Fi networks, find there the network with the name that you specified in the program and connect.

You can connect any device to this virtual router: tablets and smartphones on Android or iOS, laptops and computers on Windows, TVs, gaming consoles etc.

To stop distribution, you need to open the Virtual Router Plus program (by clicking on the tray icon) and click on the "Stop Virtual Router Plus" button.

If you go to " Network connections" (Win + R - ncpa.cpl command), when the distribution is started, we will see there “Local Area Connection* 53” (your number may be different) and open sharing in Internet connection properties. Everything we do manually when we launch a virtual Wi-Fi network in Windows via the command line.

In my case, Virtual Router Plus works perfectly in Windows 10. But I often see comments that in Windows 10 the virtual Wi-Fi network function via the command line does not work. This may be due to the introduction of the Mobile Hotspot feature. But it does not work with a high-speed Internet connection (PPPoE).

Another point: if you have Internet via a modem mobile operator and you can’t distribute the Internet, then most likely your operator is blocking the distribution (or you need to connect this feature as a separate service, for an additional fee). In order not to torture yourself and your computer, call support and clarify this information according to your tariff.

conclusions

Virtual Router Plus is working. Yes, it makes powerful configuration a little easier than using the command line. Many people do not understand how to correctly set the sharing settings, do something wrong, and as a result, the devices do not connect to the Wi-Fi network distributed by the laptop, or they connect, but there is no access to the Internet.

But this program is not updated, the developer’s website does not work, and by downloading it on other sites, you can infect your computer with a virus or malware. This should not be forgotten.

If you have Windows 10, try setting up Mobile Hotspot. In the same Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7, you can distribute Wi-Fi using commands. All the necessary instructions are at the beginning of the article. You won’t be able to configure it via the command line, or this process will seem too complicated and time-consuming to you - download Virtual Router Plus and do everything according to the instructions.

This is not the only program to perform these tasks. There is also Switch Virtual Router, for example. Which I already talked about: . You might like this program better.

Today, no one can do without a computer with Internet access and all kinds of devices. modern man. It’s easy to connect to the network via cable or wire, choosing the most convenient provider for yourself. After some manipulations on the part of the company employees and the subscription fee For the service, your computer has the ability to access the Internet. But what to do when this is not enough?

If you need Internet access on several devices, you need to organize a Wi-Fi network for this. You can create a network using a modem, router or network adapter with signal distribution function. But there is also Alternative option, such as installing a Wi-Fi hotspot on a computer or laptop programmatically. You can set up signal distribution to any connected devices using the command command Windows strings or software. Lighter of available ways- this, of course, is installing the application. A virtual router allows you to distribute a Wi-Fi signal without installing additional equipment.
There are many utilities that simulate a router on a computer, one of which is Virtual Router Plus. Thanks to this program, you can easily start distributing Wi-Fi in a matter of minutes. Virtual Router Plus performs the functions of a router, providing network access to absolutely any device capable of receiving a signal.

A prerequisite for creating a Wi-Fi source on your computer or laptop is the presence network card and Internet connections. Whether the adapter is built-in or external does not matter, the main thing is its presence, because using a network device, Virtual Router Plus simulates a router.

Virtual Router Plus works well with laptops and PCs, occupying a minimum of disk space. To start using the application, you do not need special knowledge and setup skills, as is the case with a standard router.

Benefits of Virtual Router Plus

The application has a number of undoubted advantages that will help you create Wi-Fi networks as soon as possible:

• the program is free,
• simple and convenient interface,
• easy setup,
• light weight,
• Russian language support,
• ability to work from tray,
• compatibility with any devices,
• Secure devices with WPA encryption

With all its minimalism, Virtual Router Plus efficiently copes with the task of providing all devices with the Internet within the signal range. A simple interface and the ability to download in Russian allow you to configure the application for a user with any, even the most minimal level of training.

Setting up the program

The utility does not require installation, and setting it up takes a minimum of time. Consider setting the version to English language, because everything is clear in Russian without instructions. First, make sure that the Internet is connected to your computer, then follow these steps:

1. Download the required version of the Virtual Router Plus application from the official website (never download software from suspicious resources to avoid unpleasant surprises).
2. Extract the contents of the archive into a folder, run the program file with the .exe extension.
3. You will see a window with fields to fill in:

• come up with a name for your network and enter it in the Network Name (SSID) field;
• enter the connection password in the next line;
• the third item Shared Connection involves selecting a connection.

The program provides the ability to function in minimized mode, then you will find it at the bottom right of the taskbar. To stop the virtual router, click on Stop Virtual Router Plus (this button will appear after startup instead of the start button).

If devices still do not connect to the Wi-Fi network, check the network card settings. Go to Network and Sharing Center. Here you need to select Change adapter settings and open Local Area Connection Properties. Check the Allow other network users to use the Internet connection and Allow connection sharing management options.

Restart the virtual router.

If the application does not work, there is also a possibility that your antivirus or system firewall will block it. To get rid of this problem, you need to configure your antivirus to ignore Virtual Router Plus, add the program to the exclusion list and blocking its launch will stop.