Monday, March 14, 2022 – Convert a wired Ethernet connection to WiFi with a PC – Make full-screen YouTube videos always fill the entire screen

Have you ever needed to connect a phone, a tablet or some other mobile device to a WiFi network but the only available Internet connection was a wired Ethernet connection?

These situations don’t arise that often, but they do still arise on occasion.

For example, if I’m staying in a hotel room that has a wired Ethernet connection as an option I’ll choose that for my laptop every time since it’s more secure, and probably a lot faster to boot.

And I strongly recommend that you do the same.

But what about your mobile devices?

Well, if your laptop has either Windows 10 or Windows 11 on it you can create a mobile hotspot that essentially serves as your own private, extremely secure WiFi network.

In a nutshell, the hotspot will allow your smartphone, tablet and/or other mobile devices to wirelessly connect to the Internet via the laptop’s fast and secure wired Ethernet connection.

Since you have complete control over your hotspot’s security you’ll be able to use all of your devices without having to connect to a potentially dangerous public WiFi network.

Sound good? If so, here’s how to set up your own secure WiFi hotspot with your Window laptop (or wireless-capable desktop, for that matter):

Note: The steps below are for Windows 11. Although the steps vary slightly, the procedure works for Windows 10 PCs as well. The differences between Windows 11 and 10 are so slight you’ll easily figure it out.

1 – Connect your PC to a wired Ethernet connection.

2 – Right-click on the Start button, then click Settings.

3 – In the left-hand pane, click Network & internet.

4 – Click Mobile hotspot.

5 – Change the “Share my Internet connection from” setting to Ethernet.

6 – Click on the word Properties to expand that section, then click the Edit button.

7 – If desired, give your network a new Network name. Otherwise simply leave that field alone.

8 – Assign your hotspot a strong password.

9 – Either select the network band you’d like to use or leave it set to “Any available”. Your choice.

10 – Click Save.

11 – Toggle the “Mobile hotspot” setting to On.

That’s all there is to it. Your new WiFi hotspot should now be up and running. Just connect your devices to it using the network name and password you assigned to the hotspot in steps 7 and 8 above.

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