Sharing a Wireless connection in Windows

Sometimes you need to share a  Wireless connection e.g. for an old computer that doesn't have a wireless connection or an XBox. This is possible but you need to do a bit of fiddling to make it work... as usual!
The problem is the sometimes Windows decides the Wired connection is faster so it should try to use that as a primary connection... so instead of sending out requests via the wireless, it sends them out via the wired one.


NB: This is setting up a connection like this:
Your Wireless laptop > shares internet connection via wired port > Old computer is connected via wired connection uses shared LAN connection.
The reverse is also true but the metric settings would be visa versa.


The answer is to change the 'priority' (known as metric in Windows) of the two connections so that the wireless connection is chosen preferentially. The lower the metric, the more preferred the adapter.

1. Open Control Panel/Network Connections then select "change adapter settings" from the left hand menu.
2. Select the Wired connection, right click, Properties.
3. In Local Area Connection Properties, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP) and click Properties
4. In Advanced TCP/IP settings at the bottom de-select 'Automatic Metric" and enter 999
5. Repeat steps 1-3 for Wireless connection but enter 1 for the metric
6. Select the two adapters, right click and select '