How to Set Up a WiFi Mobile Hotspot with Windows 10 and Your Laptop

Use Your Laptop as a Mobile Hotspot in Windows 10

Connectify Hotspot is the most popular free hotspot software you can use to turn your Windows 10 laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot. If you need to share your Internet connection with smartphones, game consoles and other devices, or, with MAX, extend your Wi-Fi range without another router, it does the job from one screen.

Whether traveling or at home, Connectify Hotspot keeps all your devices connected. Download Connectify Hotspot free and follow the four steps below.

4 Steps to Turn Your Windows 10 Laptop Into a Wireless Hotspot in 2 Minutes or Less

Connectify Hotspot is a true virtual router app for Windows 10 computers. It lets you share your Internet connection with a smartphone, tablet, media player, game console, e-reader, other laptops or computers.

Here’s how to turn your Windows 10 laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot:

  1. Download and install the latest version of Connectify Hotspot on your 64-bit Windows 10 (version 1703 or later) laptop or PC.
  2. Open it, choose Wi-Fi hotspot, pick the connection to share under Internet to share, and set a password. With PRO you can also give the hotspot your own name, emojis included.
  3. Click Start hotspot, and turn on Block ads to save bandwidth and battery on your devices.
  4. Connect your devices by scanning the QR code on the Hotspot screen, or with the network name and password. Any Wi-Fi enabled device can connect.


Setup · about two minutes

Get Connectify Hotspot running on your Windows PC

Three steps, no command prompt, no netsh commands to remember.

  1. Install and open Connectify Hotspot

    Run the installer and let the install finish. Connectify Hotspot opens on its own.

  2. Pick what you are sharing

    Choose the connection your Windows PC is already using, then set a hotspot name and password.

  3. Start Hotspot

    Your phone, tablet or console now sees the network name you just typed. Connect to that network like any other Wi-Fi.

Download Connectify Hotspot

Available for Windows 10 and 11

Laptop Hotspot on Windows 10: What Else Connectify Offers

Sharing a connection can bring its own issues: strict NAT types for consoles, Chromecast apps that won’t find your Chromecast, an Apple TV that won’t show up for your Mac to stream to. Connectify Hotspot offers you more:

  • See every device on your hotspot with its traffic and data used, switch internet access off for any one of them, and set a gaming mode for consoles. Free in every edition.
  • Block ads for every device with the built-in universal ad blocker, including ads inside apps.
  • Get your devices online while traveling: sign in once to hotel or in-flight Wi-Fi on the laptop and the rest of your devices ride along.
  • Share any type of Internet connection: existing Wi-Fi networks, LAN, DSL, tethered smartphones and VPNs, plus 4G and 5G modems with PRO.
  • Extend your Wi-Fi range with Wi-Fi repeater mode in your dorm room or office, and put consoles and smart TVs on your home network with Bridged mode (both MAX).

Download Connectify Hotspot free and use your laptop as a wireless hotspot with Windows 10.

Free, PRO or MAX

Which version of Connectify Hotspot you need

FREE Hotspot Lite. Share Wi-Fi, Ethernet, a VPN or a USB-tethered phone, with gaming mode and ad blocking. Runs in timed sessions. Download → PRO No time limit. Share 4G and 5G USB modems, share through your PC's Ethernet port, and give your network any name. Buy PRO → MAX Everything in PRO, plus Wi-Fi repeater mode and Bridged mode. Recommended Buy MAX →

Hotspot Lite, the free edition of Connectify Hotspot, covers the setup in this guide. It runs in timed sessions: when one ends, start it again with one click.

Recommended: MAX adds Wi-Fi repeater mode and Bridged mode, for extending your Wi-Fi or putting consoles and casting devices on your home network.

Download Connectify Hotspot

For 64-bit Windows 10 and 11