Setting up an ad hoc wireless connection on Win 8

Starting Windows 8 the option to set up an ad hoc network has been conveniently hidden. Regardless, it can be done without the need of third-party software.

Start a command prompt with administrative privileges. A shortcut to this is to type "cmd" at the Start screen and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

Verify that your wireless adapter supports running a hosted network: netsh wlan show drivers. Look for the line Hosted network supported : Yes.

Enable the hosted network and set the SSID and password: netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=MyPrivateNetwork key=mypassword123

Verify the settings are correct: netsh wlan show hostednetwork. You can also change the authentication mode, but the default WPA2-Personal is good enough.

Finally, start the network: netsh wlan start hostednetwork. You should see: The hosted network started.

In order to share your internet connection over the network, you need to share the connection manually. For example, if your connection comes from your LAN adapter, go to "View Network Connections", right click on the LAN adapter and select Properties, navigate to the Sharing tab, and tick "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection". Select the hosted network on the "Home networking connection" drop down list.

When you're done with the connection, you can stop the interface with netsh wlan stop hostednetwork.