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Anyone able to create hotspot on Surface Pro 3?

strollin

Member
I am trying to create a hotspot on my SP3 in order to share the tethered connection to my cell phone. I've tried manually typing in the netsh commands, tried VirtualRouter and Connectify but the problem is that I always receive this message "The wireless local area network interface is powered down and doesn't support the requested operation." whenever I attempt to activate the hotspot. The Marvell adapter is powered on (wifi is active) so why do I get this message?

Anybody got this working on their SP3? Appreciate any suggestions.
 
Not sure I fully understand. So your phone is plugged into your tablet via a USB connection? And your tablet is getting its connection from an access point other than your phone?
 

foghat

Member
+1. Not clear what you are actually trying to do. You want your phone to share the surface's connection or you want the surface to share the phone's connection?

If the former:

Set up a mobile hotspot with your Microsoft Surface | Set up a mobile hotspot

Mind you, I don't have the 'share this connection' slider referenced above, so not sure what is up with that.

If the latter, once you personal hotspot on on your phone, you should see it as a wifi connection on the surface.
 
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OP
strollin

strollin

Member
I have my phone (LG G2) tethered via USB to my SP3 and have a good internet connection. I CANNOT use the Hotspot feature on my phone as I do not have that feature enabled since I have an unlimited data plan.

I want to share that connection by using the SP3 to create a hotspot. There are various methods to do it such as manually entering commands via netsh, or by using software such as VirtualRouter or Connectify. I have enabled sharing of the USB connection. Regardless as to what method I use, when attempting to activate the hotspot, I get the error message "The wireless local area network interface is powered down and doesn't support the requested operation." which could indicate that the wifi adapter is powered down but it is powered up and active. I am concerned by the second part of that message regarding supporting the requested operation which is why I'm asking if anyone has this working on their SP3. It could simply be that the Marvell wifi adapter somehow doesn't support doing this.

I have used this method on various other laptops and netbooks I own so I would be surprised if it doesn't work on the SP3. There may be something I'm missing.
 
I have my phone (LG G2) tethered via USB to my SP3 and have a good internet connection. I CANNOT use the Hotspot feature on my phone as I do not have that feature enabled since I have an unlimited data plan.

I want to share that connection by using the SP3 to create a hotspot. There are various methods to do it such as manually entering commands via netsh, or by using software such as VirtualRouter or Connectify. I have enabled sharing of the USB connection. Regardless as to what method I use, when attempting to activate the hotspot, I get the error message "The wireless local area network interface is powered down and doesn't support the requested operation." which could indicate that the wifi adapter is powered down but it is powered up and active. I am concerned by the second part of that message regarding supporting the requested operation which is why I'm asking if anyone has this working on their SP3. It could simply be that the Marvell wifi adapter somehow doesn't support doing this.

I have used this method on various other laptops and netbooks I own so I would be surprised if it doesn't work on the SP3. There may be something I'm missing.

Are you using an app so that the tablet can use your cell phone connection?
 
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foghat

Member
I'm really not sure. But given what you are experiencing and the fact that there does not seem to be (at least I don't have it) the 'share this connection' slider that is referenced in the link I posted above, maybe sharing isn't supported?
 
I'm thinking since he probably has a grandfathered data plan, he needs to use an app to disguise the connection from the carrier. Maybe the app doesn't have the updated drivers yet to support the connection type on the tablet since its only a week old?
 
OP
strollin

strollin

Member
Thanks for your replies guys but as I said, I have used this method on other laptops and netbooks so I know it works. I use an app called PDANet to do the tethering with my phone. I don't need to disguise the connection from my carrier and I have the USB data connection shared.

It may be that either the Marvell adapter or it's driver has a problem.
 
Thanks for your replies guys but as I said, I have used this method on other laptops and netbooks so I know it works. I use an app called PDANet to do the tethering with my phone. I don't need to disguise the connection from my carrier and I have the USB data connection shared.

It may be that either the Marvell adapter or it's driver has a problem.

That's exactly what you are doing, hiding the connection from your carrier so that they don't charge you tethering / hotspot fees. I've used this connection in the past. Might need an update to the app or to the SP3.
 
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OP
strollin

strollin

Member
No, the connection is not being hidden from the carrier. PDANet has the option to do that but I never use it and have never had issues.
 
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