How to fix ‘No internet connection’ on Windows 10 mobile hotspot

One of my favorite Windows 10 features is the mobile hotspot. Older versions of Windows allowed you to share your internet from your desktop but enabling it was tedious since you had to run commands in the Command Prompt. On Windows 10, you literally only have to click a toggle to turn it on and you can connect up to 8 devices to your desktop. The devices can connect over WiFi or over Bluetooth and you can choose how the connection is established. If you’re trying to connect a device to the Windows 10 mobile hotspot but you get the ‘No internet connection’ message on the device, or the devices are unable to obtain an IP address, there’s a simple way to fix it.

‘No internet connection’ mobile hotspot

You might need admin rights for some parts of this fix.

Enable devices & update drivers

Before you proceed, you need to do two things. The first is to make sure you do not have any pending driver updates for your network card. The second is to make sure no network device is disabled.

You can do both by going to the Device Manager (use Windows search to find it). Expand the Network adapter group of devices and make sure nothing is disabled. If a device is disabled, right-click it and select the Enable option from the context menu. To update drivers, right-click each device and select the Update Driver option from the context menu.

how to fix no internet connection on windows 10 mobile hotspot How to fix ‘No internet connection’ on Windows 10 mobile hotspot

Enable connection sharing

It’s now time to move on to the fix. First, make sure the mobile hotspot is turned off. Open Control Panel and go to Network and internet>Network and sharing center. On the left, select ‘Change adapter settings’.

Take note of all the local area connections you see, particularly the one that is using the Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter. Take a screenshot of this screen if you think you’ll have trouble remembering which connection is present later and then close the Control Panel.

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Turn on the mobile hotspot and wait 3-5 minutes. Open Control Panel and go to Network and internet>Network and sharing center. Again, click ‘Change adapter settings’ on the left. This time, you’re going to see a new local area connection that may/may not have replaced an older one. Use the screenshot you took before to compare it. The new connection will be using the Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter. In the screenshot below, it’s ‘Local Area Connection* 11’. Note down this name.

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In the Control Panel, return to Network & sharing center. You will see the WiFi network you’re connected to and an Ethernet connection. It may, or may not have a name. Regardless, click it.

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In the window that opens, click the Properties button. A new window will open. Go to the Sharing tab on this window. Enable the ‘Allow other network users to connect through the computer’s network connection’. Open the dropdown under it, and from the options, select the same local area connection that appeared in Control Panel after you turned the mobile hotspot on.

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Click Ok, and devices will now be able to connect to the mobile hotspot on Windows 10.

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