Your Mac can function as a wireless hotspot, allowing you to connect your other devices to it and share its Internet connection. It’s just like tethering to your phone.
How to share your Mac's internet connection with your iPhone or iPad Before beginning, be aware that Internet Sharing works for any computer running OS X Lion (10.6) or later. Click on the icon in the top menu bar and select System Preferences. Then click the checkbox next to 'Internet Sharing' in the left-hand column to get started. This'll create a Wi-Fi hotspot emanating from your Mac that you can connect any other device to. To enable File Sharing on your Mac, open the Sharing pane of System Preferences and select the option for File Sharing. Windows computers and Macs can then see your computer on the local network. When you connect from a Mac using OS X Mavericks or OS X Yosemite to another computer using file sharing, your Mac automatically tries to use the. What's the best internet radio app for Mac? Update Cancel. Ad by Jira Software, Atlassian. What is the best internet radio app? What is the best free Internet radio site? They still work fairly well in the latest Mac OS. Although I recently stopped receiving new station list updates on Snowtape, it has a simple URL importation feature.
You want to share your internet from your Mac to lets say an iPhone, if you connect to a wireless network it will not be possible to share that wireless network again since it is in use by the connection to the airport Express, I also looked on my express and there is no option there either.
This is most useful if your Mac is connected to a wired network interface via Ethernet. You can connect your wireless devices to your Mac and share the wired Internet connection with them—almost as if your Mac were a wireless router.
Enable Internet Sharing and Configure Your Hotspot
The Wi-Fi hotspot option is part of the “Internet Sharing” feature in macOS. You’ll find it in the System Preferences window. Click the Apple menu, select System Preferences, and click the Sharing icon.
RELATED:How to Share a Wired Ethernet Internet Connection With All Your Devices
Select the “Internet Sharing” option in the list. You’ll now need to select the Internet connection you want to share with the devices.
The one big limitation is that you can’t both be connected to a Wi-Fi network and host a Wi-Fi network at the same time.
For example, let’s say your Mac is connected to the Internet through an Ethernet adapter. You’d select Ethernet in the list at the top of the window and share that wired connection over Wi-Fi. If you’re connected via Bluetooth or tethered to an iPhone via a USB cable, you could also select those.
In the “To computers using” box, enable the Wi-Fi option. This will create a Wi-Fi hotspot, and the Internet connection you selected at the top of the window will be shared with devices that connect to the Wi-Fi network.
Click the “Wi-Fi Options” button at the bottom of the window to configure your Wi-Fi hotspot. Select your preferred network name and the best Wi-Fi channel.
Be sure to click the “Security” box and select “WPA2-Personal” and provide a password. By default, the hotspot will be configured without a password and anyone will be able to connect.
When you’re done setting things up, click the checkbox to the left of Internet Sharing and click Start to activate your Wi-Fi hotspot.
If You Want to Share a Wi-Fi Connection
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Your Mac’s physical Wi-Fi interface can either be connected to a Wi-Fi network or host its own network—it can only do one of these things at a time. This means you can’t be both connected to a Wi-Fi network and sharing that Wi-Fi network’s connection over Wi-Fi. Yes, you may sometimes want to do this—for example, when you’re staying in a hotel or other location that only allows you to connect one device to its Wi-Fi network.
Sharing a Wi-Fi network connection by creating another Wi-Fi network will require a separate physical network interface, such as a USB Wi-Fi adapter.
You could also just create a Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network). Connect to the Wi-Fi and tell your Mac you want to share the Wi-Fi connection over a Bluetooth PAN. If your other devices have Bluetooth, you can pair them to the Mac and wirelessly share the Wi-Fi connection over Bluetooth.
A Bluetooth PAN can take a bit longer to connect to—thanks to the Bluetooth pairing process—and can’t reach the speeds of Wi-Fi. However, it is also a bit lighter on your Mac’s battery life, so it’s not all bad.
Internet Sharing App For Windows 10
Windows has a useful feature that allows you to create a virtual Wi-Fi adapter interface, making it possible to both connect to a Wi-Fi network and create a Wi-Fi hotspot using the same physical network interface at the same time. This feature is hidden, but you can access it using the Virtual Router software—this uses the same Windows features as Connectify, a commercial application.
Macs unfortunately don’t have the same sort of virtual network interface feature. To share a Wi-Fi connection over Wi-Fi, you’ll need a separate physical Wi-Fi interface.
Image Credit: Peter Werkman on Flickr
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The Mac is back, even while PC sales fall. This means many Mac users today find themselves in mixed platform offices, while Windows switchers may still need to grab some precious files off their old machines. Here's how it's done (no virtualization required).
[ABOVE: I still miss these ads. They were funny.]
Is there anybody in there
You'll need the following information about the Windows PC you want to share files from:
- The PC network name.
- The Windows workgroup it's on (if it is on one).
You'll find this information in the System Control panel on the PC.
Once you have this information, you can set your Mac up to access shared folders on your Windows machine. The PC will appear in Finder under the Shared category and you'll be able to browse those shared files as you would those held on any connected drive. You can also set your Mac up to share with Windows PCs.
Nod if you can hear me
- Open System Preferences>Internet & Wireless>Network. You may need to enter an administrator name and password.
- Click OK and select Ethernet (for a wired connection) or Wi-Fi (for wireless). Click the Advanced button.
- In Advanced select the WINS tab. Enter a name to identify your Mac in NetBIOS Name and your PC workgroup (above) into Workgroup. You may also be able to find that network using the dropdown menu. Leave the next box blank and Apply.
Is there anyone home?
Now you connect the Mac to the PC.
- Open the Go menu in Finder and select Connect to Server.
- Type 'smb://PC' (replace PC with the name of your Windows PC identified in step one.)
- Click connect and you'll be asked for a username and password.
If your PC has been set up for Guest access you can use Guest as your username; otherwise, choose Registered User and enter the username and password (if the username has no password, create one in User Accounts on your PC) for the account on the PC. Check the 'Remember this password' box and Connect.
Can you show me?
A list of available shared folders on the PC should appear. Select the one(s) you require access to, click OK and these folders should appear on your Mac desktop.
Sharing your Mac with a Windows machine is relatively easy, but does reduce your Mac system's overall security.
- Go to System Preferences>Users & Groups. Click + to create a new user.
- In the New Account menu, choose Sharing Only and create a username and password. Click OK.
- Open System Preferences>Sharing and make sure the File Sharing button is ticked.
- With File Sharing selected, tap the Option button to select 'Windows File Sharing' and check the account you've created for this purpose. Click OK to configure access and hit done.
The reason you set up a specific account to share with Windows machines is partially to secure your main account, as enabling this for your administrator account makes every file on your Mac accessible -- which you should not do.
A noteworthy alternative for iPad users that will enable some access to files on Windows and Macs: Parallels Access (14-day free trial, $4.99/month). This software lets you access a virtual Windows or Mac desktop, and lets you run apps on your remote machine. It's pretty cool.
I hope this brief guide helps Mac and Windows users work together.
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