Saturday, June 18, 2011

"Turn on Internet connection sharing" option missing


Latest update: 31.03.2013: got fed up with this issue and bought a wireless router: http://smallittips.blogspot.com/2013/03/getting-wireless-router.html
Update before that: 30.05.2012 (made it easier to read)

Generally, the first time you share your internet on an ad-hoc connection, everything goes fine. But after that, the "internet connection sharing" option disappears. Impossible to find it. Impossible to share your internet connection again... it is linked to the first ad hoc network you have created and won't be available unless you remove your first-in-your-life-created ad hoc network. The problem is quite tricky as this ad-hoc network is not shown anywhere and restarting your PC will not help.

Here is my solution:
1) Go to your network settings: "Control Panel" / "Network and Sharing Center" and click on "Change adapter settings" (should be called "Manage your internet connections" in my opinion)

2) You should see 2 important connections here:
- your local connection (the one that enables you to connect to the internet). It is probably in state "Network, Shared".
- your wireless connection (the one you will be using to give internet access to your other devices)
You may have other connections but they are not important here. You will NOT have ad hoc connections

3) Right click on your local connection and go to Properties. There should be a tab called "Sharing" which is activated. Disable it (uncheck the first option "Allow other...").

4) Disable your wireless connection.

5) Re-enable your wireless connection. As you have unchecked the sharing, when your wireless connection is re-enabled it should not use the internet-sharing-unique-slot

6) Re-create an ad-hoc connection. The option "Turn on Internet connection sharing" should now appear correctly.

If this is not the case, double check that:
- you have re-enabled your wireless connection and that your wireless connection is up (wifi button red, ...)
- you have followed the steps properly. Particularly the order of the steps is important

51 comments:

  1. at last...you save my day...thankkkksssss..:)

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  2. Thanks so much. It really helped wow!!!

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  3. I'll try this... if it works... +2

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  4. trough this tricky problem. got it!
    thanx man :)

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  5. Sometimes I stumble upon a blog post that perfectly answers a question that brought me to perform a search in the first place - your post is a good example of such a happy encounter. Thanks! :-)
    Internet Service Providers Alberta

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  6. thns man u saved my night....i was all sleepless cuz of this annoying glitch....tnsss man thnkuu so much...god bless u;-)))

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  7. Thanks all of you for the warm messages. It is nice to know I have not written this for nothing :)

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  8. u are fucking great!!!! thanks man. God bless you

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. Any reason why you deleted it?

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  10. I had figured this part out myself but as it turns out, the 'Sharing' tab has now disappeared so I can't uncheck the option to allow Internet Connection Sharing in order to later turn it on. How do you get the Sharing tab back under Properties for Local Area Connection?

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    1. Okay, wait, I think I just figured this out as well...
      If you face this problem, your Sharing tab has gone to the Wireless Network Connection properties and if you go there and uncheck the damned option, it will begin to reappear in your Local Area Connection properties. Hope this helps someone else out there...

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    2. Thank you so so so so so so much. I spent hours n hours finding the way to get that missing TURN ON INTERNET SHARING button but found nothing useful. Its all shitty opinions and suggestions and solutions everywhere. What you wrote is actually the correct way to get back to normal. I did it. The missing TURN ON INTERNET SHARING button is back :)

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    3. HOLY CRAP I too am with Krutarth! I also spent friggin forever trying to figure this out and this is the ONLY place I found the solution!

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  11. why my netbook cannot???please help me...please list it step by step...please....I'm gonna crazy!!

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    Replies
    1. This is a step by step guide! Please try to follow it.

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    2. please send me the video please...onto my email address...please.......

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  12. If disabling Internet Sharing under your "local connection" doesn't work, try disabling Internet Sharing under your "wireless connection", this was the problem for me atleast. Still, many thanks to this guide, would never have figured it out without the guide ;)

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    1. Interesting, you are the second one mentioning it. I followed my procedure several times and did not have any problems, ie I did not have to disable the Internet Sharing under the "wireless connection". I am wondering if it can be different versions of Windows (home/business) or network cards. Or maybe this is the new way Windows handles it. Thanks for your comment anyway, hope it will help people with the same problem as you.

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  13. I had do it almost 30 times but nothing change!!!

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  14. hey thank you very much...

    it really works :D

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  15. THANK !!!
    You Solution is GREAT!!

    2 Thumbs up!

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  16. Thank you!! I've been puzzling over this problem for days - I had made the mistake of trying to set-up ICS with wireless disabled and then lost the ICS option - your method has worked perfectly! I share a mobile broadband connection so in my case at point no. 3 I disabled sharing on that rather than 'local connection'.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. I happen to share a mobile broadband connection too!

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  17. thanks!!!!small but very useful tip...

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  18. I've 3 conections (2 wireless (although I've just 1 wireless cart, the other is a windows virtual conection), 1 cable) under my "Change adapter settings". None of these has a "Sharing" option :'(

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    1. Could you check the comment by Nabeel K above? It seems that some people have the problems with the Sharing option missing (I don't have the problem myself so I can't help you with that, sorry).

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  19. Guys, i was trying so hard for almost one day experimenting on all the posts. and here i see one and laugh at myself that it was such an easy thing
    thank u gentlemen. may god bless u

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  20. guys in order to have a sharing option on ur main ethernet lan, u will need to have more than one network. create a temporary network and then u will get the sharing option

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  21. This page should be very up on Google search results. THNKS!

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  22. thanx a lot... worked like a charm :)

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  23. Replies
    1. Thanks, it had been a while since I last got a comment here!

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  24. Thanks man.....Solution worked....

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  25. yes ! It's good tip !
    i Search very very many result , but this's what i need .
    Thank you very much

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    1. Thanks for taking the time to comment! I also looked a lot on the web when I had the problem and couldn't find the solution so I decided to write this post myself. Glad it helps many people. Strange Google doesn't rank it higher with so many positive messages.

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  26. Thanks dude its awesome :)

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  27. I had only one network connection and also it is showing up only one connection and no sharing tab is showing under advanced tab .plz clarify my doubt. i m using xp sp3 version plz figure it out

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    1. You need 2 connections. One for the computer to be connected to the internet. It is the one used for example to browse this page and so on.
      And you need another one (a wifi one) which is the one trough which you are going to share your internet connection. If you only have 1 connection and able to surf on the internet, I suspect that you did not enable wifi on your PC. Enable it and re-create the ad-hoc connection. Good luck

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