Unfinished Windows 7 Hotspot Feature Exploited

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Engadget: "It wasn't all that long ago that Microsoft was talking up the Virtual WiFi feature developed by Microsoft Research and set for inclusion in Windows 7, but something got lost along the road to release day, and the functionality never officially made it into the OS. As you might expect with anything as big and complicated as an operating system though, some of that code did make it into the final release, and there was apparently enough of it for the folks at Nomadio to exploit into a full fledged feature. That's now become Connectify, a free application from the company that effectively turns any Windows 7 computer into a virtual WiFi hotspot — letting you, for instance, wirelessly tether a number of devices to your laptop at location where only an Ethernet jack is available, or even tether a number of laptops together at a coffee shop that charges for WiFi."

Comments

Re:Wow

[RichardDeVries]

Exactly. I can do this with Ubuntu, too.

Re:just like.. internet sharing

[Anonymous Coward]

No. OSX does not allow you to use a single wireless card for both 1) connecting to a wireless network, and 2) broadcasting itself as a hotspot.

Windows has had Internet Sharing since the 90's (oh dear, did Apple not invent that feature?!). The new feature here is virtualizing the wireless card so it behaves as though it's two wireless cards. Try that on any version of OSX and let me know how it goes.

Re:just like.. internet sharing

[gabebear]

Is that similar to the Internet Connection Sharing that Windows has had since (at least) Windows 95?

Yes and no, Windows ICS is only DHCP/NAT software. OSX Internet Sharing also allows you to configure your Wifi card into access point mode. Connectify is promising to allow you to run Windows wifi cards in access-point mode WHILE using it in regular structured mode... which seems like a dubious claim. The makers of Connectify haven't yet listed which cards they are going to support.

In short

• Windows ICS is just a simple DHCP and NAT server
• OSX IS is a simple DHCP and NAT server, plus access-point mode supporting WEP
• Connectify claims to be a DHCP and NAT server, plus access-point mode supporting WPA, plus structured mode

Re:Wow

[maxume]

It's better than ICS, the host laptop shows up as an access point that the other laptops can connect to (in my experience, connecting to an access point is quite a lot easier than setting up an ad hoc network).

Re:Wow

[lwsimon]

No, ICS sets up an ad-hoc network. This sets the card into master mode *while simultaneously allowing you to send and recieve on another network*.

It really is pretty cool

Re:Wow

[CrashNBrn]

From TFA (reformatting/emphasis mine):

The resulting Connectify differs from ICS that Windows already supports via an "ad hoc" network connection, which lets several Windows computers share a single connection.
1) It shows up as a real wireless access point.
2) ICS returns to default settings every time you shut down a connection.
3) You can join another wireless network and still run the Connectify Hotspot on the same Wi-Fi card.

Re:Wow

[jo_ham]

It does indeed show up as an access point.

On OS X itself (that is set up this way) the Airport icon changes into a base station icon with an arrow to show you the card is running in AP mode instead of ad-hoc wireless network (which is a different icon again) or normal wireless client mode.

Direct Link to Download

[ticklemeozmo]

They were vigilant about blocking mailinator domains, so if you just want the direct link to download: http://www.connectify.me/a103dk/ConnectifyInstaller.exe Or visit: http://www.connectify.me/thanks.html

Re:Direct Link to Download

[daveime]

Offtopic I know, but your sig, really ...

There is a bottle of Coca Cola on my computer desk. There is a 7-month old puppy sitting by my side.

The fact that the bottle of Coca Cola is on my desk *is* informative. Who's the source, the fucking dog ?

Re:Internet sharing?

[jfim]

What is the difference between this and creating an ad-hoc network and enabling internet connection sharing for the physical port in Vista (and XP, and OS X, and Linux)?

It's an actual access point, not an ad hoc network. My Android Dev Phone 1(which does not support connecting to ad hoc networks) can connect to it.

Re:Wow

[rvw]

Yeah but when you do you cannot connect to another hotspot anymore. And that's what this is about. And this is currently not possible in OSX, and probably not in OS9 (I cannot check that).

Re:Wow

[blackraven14250]

This isn't even remotely ad-hoc networking. This is turning a regular computer into an access point. You can also connect to one wireless network, then set yourself up as an access point to that network, which normally would require two separate network cards.

Mods, please RTFS. People saying "Ad-hoc has been around for years" and similar keep getting all the mod points, even though they're completely missing the point. Apple has something like this since Leopard, not anytime before like everyone here keeps mentioning.

Re:Wow

[morgan_greywolf]

Yes. You can do this with wicd

Been around since 2005

[modemboy]

So this feature was created by Microsoft Research back in 2005, and has been available for download ever since: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/994abd5f-53d1-4dba-a9d8-8ba1dcccead7/

I fail to see how this is news, they included it by default in Win 7 and someone accessed it, yay. This has been doable for 4 years...

Re:Standard functionality...

[crow]

Yes, you can do virtual access points with the Mad WiFi drivers, but I'm not aware of any other drivers that support that. I use this to have my Linux home server provide both a public open network and a private encrypted network with a single physical wireless card.

But it's certainly not standard functionality, or I could have used any supported WiFi card and not be tied to a specific driver.