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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."
Exactly. I can do this with Ubuntu, too.
Error 001
Security Scan and Virus Detection do not work with your operating system.
Not surprising really. The secret formula for CokeCola is probably hidden in there too.
I wonder how many 'libraries of congress' could fit in the space occupied by unused but deployed windows code.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
or even tether a number of laptops together at a coffee shop that charges for WiFi
That coffee shop has to pay for its connection, and bandwidth is a limited resource. Is Engadget going to instruct us on how to distract the employees while you pour free coffee into your thermos too?
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.
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
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).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Why do you need EVDO Broadband to connect with a guy in the back of the bus?
because you missed it and had to catch the next one?
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
Learn about Photography Basics.
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.
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
When modding "Informative", please make sure it both has a source and IS actually informative.
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.
Jean-Francois Im's blog
Why a "virtual" hotspot? What's virtual about it? If this turns a Windows PC into a Wi-Fi access point, then surely that's a hotspot plain and simple?
you know, when I hear of a windows feature being "exploited" the utilization of a useful feature is not what comes to mind.
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).
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.
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...
It appears the UI isn't in Windows 7, but the feature is definitely there. If you have Windows 7 with a recent WiFi driver (virtual WLAN support is required for Win7 logo program), just type "netsh wlan start hostednetwork" and it'll create the virtual WLAN. Type "netsh wlan set hostednetwork" to see the options for SSID, passphrase, etc. The documentation for this is on MSDN.