I want to share the Internet connection from my Windows 7 PC using Bluetooth so my other devices can connect to the Internet through my computer. Do you know if this is possible?
23 Answers
If you are talking about connecting things like cell phones to a Windows 7 system (e.g. older Windows Mobile phones), most of these can only use the Bluetooth "Dial Up Networking" (DUN) profile. IIRC this is basically PPP over a Bluetooth virtual serial port. This is not "PAN" or "Personal Area Networking."
I had luck sharing Internet access between a desktop and laptop using the WIDCOMM software. This was through PAN and not DUN, though. From what I remember it had options to create a network adapter that accepted incoming Bluetooth DUN connections. I don't believe it is possible through the built-in Microsoft Bluetooth support.
This article should help, but you might have to guess a little on the devices that are connecting to it because it's written for Windows Mobile (though the Windows portion of it should be pretty similar in Windows 7)
Another article (and another one) deal with connection sharing in general. The idea is:
- on the "host" computer (the one connected to the Internet), activate connection sharing on the network connection connected to the Internet
- pair to your other "client" computer via bluetooth
- on the "client" computer, activate the Bluetooth network connection
On that last step (when I use my phone as the "host" computer), you might have to right-click the "host" computer icon on your "client" computer's "Printer and devices", then select "Connect using > Direct connection"*
*: free translation from my OS language
