I searched the internet alot for a solution to connect my PC’s internet to my android phone by creating a hotspot. In windows you have softwares like connectify to make your life easy, But in linux things are not so easy, and I was never a windows guy. I hated to logon to windows just to share the internet over wifi to my android phone. I spend many sleepless nights trying to configure hostapd in Ubuntu and make it connect to my Android. And finally after days of searching and experimenting that wonderful day of bliss occurred to me. I have combined information I received from various sites in this post.
Initially when I shared my problem in certain groups I got the advice to set up an ad-hoc wifi network in ubuntu, but Android 2.3 and lower versions do not detect ad-hoc network so that means you either have to root your phone and ad the necessary features or you have to go for an alternative way.
I was definite that there will be an alternative because in windows there are softwares like connectify that do the job, and in linux we have hostapd.
So let me get directly to the point.
Open a terminal and type
#lspci
It will show the network adapter available to you.
#lsmod
Shows that it uses the ath9k drivers (this information may help you to google for setup information specific to your machine.)
Also
#iwconfig
will give you the name of your wireless adapter like wlan0. Please notedown this name as you will be needing it later on.
Now its time to install the packages.
Either fire up the ubuntu software center and install hostapd and dhcp3-server, or fire up the terminal and type
#sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server #sudo apt-get install hostapd
After this is done we have some serious editing to do so create a backup of all the files that are being edited.
In a terminal:
#sudo gedit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
When the file is opened make the contents of the file as below.
interface=wlan0 driver=nl80211 ssid=geekpeek channel=1 hw_mode=g auth_algs=1 wpa=3 wpa_passphrase=12345678 wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP rsn_pairwise=CCMP
In this file we have declared that our wifi hotspot will be called geekpeek, it is using the adapter wlan0, and it should have a password which the connecting device has to enter. Save the file.
Next
#sudo gedit /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server
Edit the line that says
INTERFACES=”"
To
INTERFACES=”wlan0′′
Then edit
#sudo gedit /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
Make sure the follow lines are Commented out ( put a hash “#” sign at the beginning of the line ) the
following lines:
# option definitions common to all supported networks... #option domain-name “example.org”; #option domain-name-servers ns1.example.org, ns2.example.org; #default-lease-time 600; #max-lease-time 7200;
Add the following lines to the file (copy and paste)
subnet 10.10.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 10.10.0.2 10.10.0.16;
option domain-name-servers 8.8.4.4, 8.8.8.8;
option routers 10.10.0.1;
}
Here we have specified the IP of our PC as 10.10.10.1 and 15 other PCs with addresses ranging from 10.10.0.2 to 10.10.0.16 can be connected to your PC.
Next edit
#sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces
This is how my interfaces file looks:
To whatever is existing in the file add,
auto wlan0 iface wlan0 inet static address 10.10.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0
At this stage you can reboot. And hopefully any device / laptop should connect to your wifi hotspots network via the network manager applet. On these devices search for the network “geekpeek” and type in the password.
To Connect to the internet we have some more procedures to follow.
In a terminal type:
#ifconfig
It will display the adapter name being used for connecting to the internet. I was using the LAN so my adapter name was “eth0”, if you are using modems then it might be “ppp0”
First we have to allow ip forwarding:
#sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf
Make sure the following line is uncommented and reads
net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
Save and close gedit. (reboot)
After reboot: Connect to the Internet and In a terminal type:
#sudo gedit /etc/rc.local
add this line just before “exit 0′′
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.10.0.0/16 -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE
Then reboot the system.
The eth0 should be changed to whatever adapter you are using.
Once this is done you can make other laptops connect to to youe new wifi hotpsot by assingning them IP addreses in the range of 10.10.0.2 to 10.10.0.16
To make and Android detect your wifi hotspot.
Goto the wifi settings
press the options key ( the left most key)
Select Advanced>Use Static IP
Give the IP address as something between 10.10.0.2 to 10.10.0.16
Gateway the same IP as your PC, In this case it is 10.10.0.1
Netmask as 255.255.255.0
DNS1 as 8.8.4.4
DNS2 as 8.8.8.8
Once this much has been set your android phone should be able to connect to your wifi hotspot and you can access the internet connection on your PC through your phone.
Now when you turn on your PC go to terminal and type
#sudo hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Now I have made an application in Qt4 that provides a GUI to turn on and off the wifi Hotspot, You can get it from the download section
References
http://thenewbieblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/wifi-hotspot-setup-on-ubuntu/
http://nims11.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/hostapd-the-linux-way-to-create-virtual-wifi-access-point/
GEEK PEEK 
Great post 🙂
In the dhcpd.conf file, you missed an 8 in the google DNS.
Thank you Jerrin for finding out the mistake 🙂
hello
I have this error when typing in the terminal sudo hostapd / etc / hostapd / hostapd.conf
Configuration file: / etc / hostapd / hostapd.conf
nl80211: Failed to set interface wlan0 into AP mode
nl80211 driver initialization failed.
ELOOP: remaining socket: sock = 4 eloop_data = 0x9e41900 user_data = 0x9e41ea0 handler = 0x807c5e0
ELOOP: remaining socket: sock = 6 eloop_data = 0x9e43ca8 user_data = (nil) handler = 0x8086770
I followed the tutorial and I can connect from my android to my laptop with these 2 ip addresses off 10.10.0.1 (wlan0) and 192.168.0.100 (eth0) but can not get the internet to work on my android and not on my laptop
Thanks for any help you can give me
Dear friend, if my knowledge is correct, not all drivers support the Access Point (AP) Mode. so this might be one reason for the error
Hi,
I followed your tutorial, and everything has gone fine unless the last step.
When I hit enter after writing
sudo hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
it gives me the error…
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
nl80211: ‘nl80211’ generic netlink not found
nl80211 driver initialization failed.
And after that I checked my network manager applet and noticed that the wireless device is now showing not managed.
my “iwconfig” returns
lo no wireless extensions.
eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:””
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:24 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=5/5 Signal level=0 dBm Noise level=0 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
eth0 no wireless extensions.
and I changed wlan0 to eth1.
I am using Ubuntu 12.04. Can you tell me what I have missed and what to check and what should I check on those first two commands.
Dear Friend
Sorry for the delay
This is how you can solve this issue
Go to the termional and type
sudo gedit /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
Then change the line managed=false to managed=true
sudo service network-manager restart
http://askubuntu.com/questions/71159/network-manager-says-device-not-managed This link might give you better help
Thank you. Very good job.
After following the described steps I can’t yet connect with my Samsung Galaxy S to Internet using my laptop’s WIFI.
I’ve made only one change on the instructions:
put eth0 instead ppp0 in the line
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.10.0.0/16 -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE
————————————————————————————————
$iwconfig
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:off/any
Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.412 GHz Cell: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=16 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
————————————————————————————————
$lsmod
Module Size Used by
xt_state 12514 0
ipt_REJECT 12485 0
xt_tcpudp 12531 0
iptable_filter 12706 0
nf_nat_h323 12809 0
nf_conntrack_h323 51810 1 nf_nat_h323
nf_nat_pptp 12536 0
nf_conntrack_pptp 13553 1 nf_nat_pptp
nf_conntrack_proto_gre 13580 1 nf_conntrack_pptp
nf_nat_proto_gre 12671 1 nf_nat_pptp
nf_nat_tftp 12420 0
nf_conntrack_tftp 12817 1 nf_nat_tftp
nf_nat_sip 16945 0
nf_conntrack_sip 24467 1 nf_nat_sip
nf_nat_irc 12542 0
nf_conntrack_irc 13112 1 nf_nat_irc
nf_nat_ftp 12548 0
nf_conntrack_ftp 13106 1 nf_nat_ftp
ipt_MASQUERADE 12663 1
iptable_nat 12977 1
nf_nat 20316 9 nf_nat_h323,nf_nat_pptp,nf_nat_proto_gre,nf_nat_tftp,nf_nat_sip,nf_nat_irc,nf_nat_ftp,ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat
nf_conntrack_ipv4 14080 3 iptable_nat,nf_nat
nf_conntrack 66307 18 xt_state,nf_nat_h323,nf_conntrack_h323,nf_nat_pptp,nf_conntrack_pptp,nf_conntrack_proto_gre,nf_nat_tftp,nf_conntrack_tftp,nf_nat_sip,nf_conntrack_sip,nf_nat_irc,nf_conntrack_irc,nf_nat_ftp,nf_conntrack_ftp,ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_defrag_ipv4 12649 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
ip_tables 17791 2 iptable_filter,iptable_nat
x_tables 21898 7 xt_state,ipt_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,iptable_filter,ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat,ip_tables
bnep 17707 2
rfcomm 37276 0
bluetooth 183228 10 bnep,rfcomm
parport_pc 31968 0
ppdev 12817 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 31423 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 63493 1
sp5100_tco 13417 0
arc4 12473 2
joydev 17161 0
kvm_amd 54394 0
kvm 357806 1 kvm_amd
hid_generic 12445 0
acer_wmi 27586 0
sparse_keymap 13658 1 acer_wmi
mxl5005s 45855 1
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
snd_rawmidi 25382 1 snd_seq_midi
microcode 18209 0
zl10353 17563 1
ath9k 116557 0
dvb_usb_ce6230 13133 0
snd_hda_intel 32515 5
dvb_usb 23606 1 dvb_usb_ce6230
dvb_core 98654 1 dvb_usb
snd_hda_codec 111547 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13272 1 snd_hda_codec
rc_core 21266 1 dvb_usb
uvcvideo 71277 0
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 51255 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
videobuf2_core 32070 1 uvcvideo
mac80211 461161 1 ath9k
videodev 95841 2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
videobuf2_vmalloc 12756 1 uvcvideo
ath9k_common 13783 1 ath9k
snd_pcm 80163 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
psmouse 84843 0
videobuf2_memops 13184 1 videobuf2_vmalloc
usbhid 41702 0
serio_raw 13031 0
snd_seq_device 14137 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
ath9k_hw 376155 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath 19187 3 ath9k,ath9k_common,ath9k_hw
cfg80211 175375 3 ath9k,mac80211,ath
hid 82142 2 hid_generic,usbhid
snd_timer 24411 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
i2c_piix4 12983 0
k10temp 12958 0
shpchp 32189 0
snd 61991 20 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_seq,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer
radeon 820734 4
ttm 75534 1 radeon
drm_kms_helper 47303 1 radeon
drm 238768 6 radeon,ttm,drm_kms_helper
soundcore 14599 1 snd
i2c_algo_bit 13197 1 radeon
snd_page_alloc 14036 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
wmi 18590 1 acer_wmi
mac_hid 13037 0
video 18847 1 acer_wmi
lp 13299 0
parport 40753 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ums_realtek 17669 0
uas 17556 0
pata_atiixp 12999 0
atl1e 32271 0
usb_storage 39350 4 ums_realtek
——————————————————————————————————–
I would appreciate some help.
Thanks.
Please do give me some time to look into the issue as I am caught up with other work, I will look into it as soon as I can.
My Pc with Ubuntu share my home internet connection with Android, but not if the connection is through a company lan with firewall at predefined gateway. Can you give me help? Thanks.
It must have something to do with the firewall settings. If your company policies are Liberal enough ask your system admin 😉
I can surf the Internet on the PC through firewall using my credentials, but on the smartphone I don’t see the form to login.
You can get the login form on your smartphone at the address 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 maybe.
The smartphone ping the IP of PC’s wlan interface, but not the ethernet (lan with static IP). Thanks
Hi vineeth
I followed all your mentioned steps,my HTC explorer connects to the network made,but the Internet does not work,I can’t browse internet or anything which requires internet.
I did everything mentioned in your post.I am using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and my HTC explorer is on the stock ROM(not rooted).
I router is Nokia Siemens residential router 1600
I even have an inbuilt wireless adapter,but do not know which is it.
Well,if this does not workout,I actually want to use WiFi to use internet on my mobile,but my router reboots whenever I connect my phone to it,possible b’coz of IP address conflicts,as it used to connect to my ubuntu via wired and even by wireless,both.
Hoping for a quick reply.
Thanks,
Abhishek
Hi abhishek,
if your router has a wireless adapter than why do you want to share net via you PC why dont you connect your phone directly over wifi to your phone?
I have the Nokia Siemens wifi router,I have a wireless adapter in my CPU cabinet,and I have this wireless option in my ubuntu which use this wireless adapter to connect to wifi by the nokia wifi router.
The prob. is whenever I connect my phone to the the router to access internet,it reboots,possibly b’coz of IP conflicts,but wired and wireless connection simultaneously connected works on Ubuntu,there is no IP conflict problem on my PC,it is only on my HTC.
I tried your method to make use of wireless adapter or router to make it as a hotspot to which I can connect my HTC to use internet,is there any other way possible where I do not have to root my phone?
Thanks a ton
Not working for me. My phone gets stuck at the obtaining ip address.
This is what is in terminal
Using interface wlan0 with hwaddr 00:c0:ca:2f:a6:dd and ssid ‘geekpeek’
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c IEEE 802.11: authenticated
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c RADIUS: starting accounting session 5176F1B0-00000000
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Could not set station 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c flags for kernel driver (errno=11).
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c IEEE 802.11: authenticated
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c
wlan0: STA 28:98:7b:64:5e:5c RADIUS: starting accounting session 5176F1B0-000000
Ok got it to connect but no internet.
Hello ,
Really thank you very much for your tutorial , i was very happy to see the (GEEKPEEK) at my android device connected to my ubuntu. but unfortunately , there is no internet in my android device. could you please help me to share the internet.
when i run the command to start sharing the wirless this line appears:
Using interface wlan0 with hwaddr 00:c0:a8:ee:f4:48 and ssid ‘geekpeek’
and after configuring my phone – it has beem connected succefully and these lines appears:
wlan0: STA 30:85:a9:65:f0:bf IEEE 802.11: authenticated
wlan0: STA 30:85:a9:65:f0:bf IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
AP-STA-CONNECTED 30:85:a9:65:f0:bf
wlan0: STA 30:85:a9:65:f0:bf RADIUS: starting accounting session 51880568-00000000
wlan0: STA 30:85:a9:65:f0:bf WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
your help is really appreciated.
All Respect;
thanz a lot
grate work keep it up
Hello ,
Please i need your help , I followed all the steps but it does not work : (
Error message
On my ubuntu :
wlan0: STA a0:0b:ba:b3:f6:6f IEEE 802.11: authenticated
wlan0: STA a0:0b:ba:b3:f6:6f IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
wlan0: STA a0:0b:ba:b3:f6:6f IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to local deauth request
on my android :
authentication problem
what’s the problem ????
Thank you
Are u not even able to connect your android to ubuntu via wifi?
Yes ! authentification problem
ruined my system i am getting wireless unmanaged plz do not post anything without research just to ruin the time and system
I am sorry to hear this, But I have made a post that has worked for me and some of my friends. So this was not posted without trying it out. And as a solution to your problem please read through the comments of this post, I have mentioned on how to change the unmanaged status.
sorry for being rude extremly sorry as recently in a week twice i have formated my system and wasted a much time to have all the things customized like shell extension app mozilla and chrome extensions , and lots more ……problem solved but still not able to share my wired connection ….thnking to go for a wifi router the better way its been a month searching for the thing to work out sorry once again…u r doing great job by sharing ur knowldege and promoting open soyrce
Thats ok. I know how frustrating it is when something goes wrong with your system.
it doesn’t work for me (12.04 Ubuntu). It gets connected to the mobile but cannot access internet. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you.
But have you done everything as per the steps.
yes did everything…But, I dont see any option for netmask on my android phone…other than that did everything from top to bottom 4-5 times now…
Which phone are you using and which android version is it? I have done this with samsung Ace plus and Ubuntu 12.04,
Hello
I also do all my steps short android pc connects to internet but did !
it connects to the pc but there is no internet
help pleas 😦
It worked great but playstore is not working (I am using poxy it kept proxy in the setting )
please help me out
Can you explain what exactly the error is. Is problem existing only for play store alone? are you able to access internet from other apps or browser?
nice…it was connected…..
BUT THERE IS NO INTERNET ….
PLZ HELP!
my phone :sumsung y
ubuntu 12.4
i followed all of the steps…
i’m new user in linux…
does it have firewall that cause this problem(desable phon from access pc’s internet)???
I tried u’r instructions on my ubuntu 12.04. The result:
1.) It takes a almost 4-5 min to boot the system. It searches for network configuration (for about 1-2 minute), and fails and shows “booting in 60 more seconds” and then starts up.
2.) After booting I don’t see my network manager. I always have to run “sudo service network-manager start” to start my network manager.
3.) In Android after entering u’r recommended settings. I can see my laptop’s connection on the android device but it does not connect.
Please Help.
Thanks for the post…
I get connection to the wifi from phone (using laptop), but I open a browser and tried to browse, and shows error : Check Your DNS settings and not accessing network
I’m using phone: lg optimus l4 ii dual e445
In this phone there is no option for Netmask, and it asks for “network prefix length” I entered “24”
What should I do???
hello,
I am getting error below, not sure what problem is. I am trying this on unbuntu.
I have used the same usb wifi adapter and it works hostapd works fine on my pogoplug archlinux. Please help.
Could not set station flags for kernel driver (errno=11)
Hi,
I recently bought a Nexus 5, and it cannot detect the wifi hotspot that I created on ubuntu 12.04.
I followed your steps till the first reboot. But, then I couldnt connect to the internet at all! As in, the internet connection was totally gone.
I got scared, and redid all the changes, and now its working fine.
Please help me in setting up the adhoc.
Hi Vineeth,
Thank you very much for your instructions. This is the closest I have come to connecting my Android ICS device to the internet via shared connection over my Ubuntu 12.04LTS box.
Closest… but no there yet…
I can see the network, and connect to it, but I can’t share the internet connection. No internet on the phone…
Still, thanks a lot. 🙂
In case it would help, here is the relevant info:
**********
Samsung Galaxy Note II, stock rom, Android 4.1.2, Kernel 3.0.31-1071214
***********
output of the hostapd :
sudo hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Using interface wlan1 with hwaddr and ssid ‘BarisDesktopUbuntu’
wlan1: STA IEEE 802.11: authenticated
wlan1: STA IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
AP-STA-CONNECTED
wlan1: STA RADIUS: starting accounting session 52A1AC54-00000000
wlan1: STA WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
(I removed the MAC addresses)
*********************
Hm. I had written MAC ADDRESS in brackets where the mac addresses are, but apparently, the scripts on this site thought it was a piece of code and did not display that. So, here’s the output of the sudo hostapd again:
*********************
sudo hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Using interface wlan1 with hwaddr PC_MAC_ADD and ssid ‘BarisDesktopUbuntu’
wlan1: STA PHONE_MAC_ADD IEEE 802.11: authenticated
wlan1: STA PHONE_MAC_ADD IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
AP-STA-CONNECTED PHONE_MAC_ADD
wlan1: STA PHONE_MAC_ADD RADIUS: starting accounting session 52A1AC54-00000000
wlan1: STA PHONE_MAC_ADD WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Hi vineeth,
I am unable to see the network geek peek on my asus tab and nexus 5. How can i connect to the network.please help
found network and connected to it…… but cant acess ppo net…
Aw, this was an incredibly nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a top notch article… but what can I say… I put things off a lot and never seem
to get nearly anything done.
Terrific post however I was wanting to know if you could write a
litte more on this topic? I’d be very thankful if you could
elaborate a little bit more. Appreciate it!
Could you please make a script file for this….
Thank you….
hi Vineeth,
i followed your tutorial and did all steps as mentioned. i want to share my pc internet which i am using through wifi and i want to create a wifi network to access internet in my android phone.
my android phone is not able to directly connect to router because router is far away but my laptop is able to connect to router. so, currently, i am connected to internet in my laptop and now from laptop i want to connect to my phone. is it possible?
thanks
I believe this may not be possible because your laptop wifi adapter may not be able to act as access point while it is connected to another access point. Someone Please do correct me if I am wrong
Hi,
Thanks for the tutorial.
Since the port forwarding, I’m not able to use VNC or SSH throught the both interfaces. I need a screen for change something on the hotspot.
Do you know how I can have a remote access to the hotspot?
Thanks in advance.
ok I opened 5901 TCP port for VNC and 22 TCP port for SSH.
Work fine.
I am able to connect my mobile to hotspot but I cant use ant wireless connection on my laptop because it is shown unmanaged.
Exelent post! Work properly in my Ubuntu. Last day, I’m looking create hotspot which supported android device but in GUI version. Untill I found this article
http://www.linuxslaves.com/2015/08/share-internet-connection-from-ubuntu-to-android.html
That’s easiest way I thought. Hope help! Thanks