Configuring a virtual WiFi access point with my netbook in Windows 7 turned out to be easier than I expected. I boot into LINUX and tether the netbook to the internet over a bluetooth connection to my Blackberry regularly, but I’ve not tried it under Windows 7. This hasn’t been required, until now.

Occasionally, when we travel abroad we rent USB cellular data cards to track the weather and keep in touch. I’ve yet to find a card or service that works predictably with my LINUX kernel of choice. Sadly, this drives me into Windows 7.

You can do this from the command-line. Open a command line with administrative privileges and type:

	netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=NAME key=PASSWORD

Replace ‘NAME’ and ‘PASSWORD’ with something that makes sense to you and your users will remember. Start the access point with this line:

	netsh wlan start hostednetwork

Stop the access point with this line:

	netsh wlan stop hostednetwork

You can share an existing connection to this interface by going to the ‘Properties’ of a connection, select the sharing tab and enable ICS by choosing the corresponding virtual WiFi adapter.

While this has a certain stark elegance, it is a bit involved and requires more steps than you might want to do on a daily basis. There is an Open Source option that simplifies this considerably.

Virtual Router is a free, open source software based router for PCs running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Users wirelessly share any internet connection (Wifi, LAN, Cable Modem, Dial-up, Cellular, etc.) with any Wifi device (laptop, smart phone, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, etc.) Devices connect just like any other access point using WPA2 encryption.

I’ve found this to be pretty handy. What do you use?

(See also: virtual router)