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How To Disable a Virtual WiFi Network Adapter in Windows 8.

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By Codrut Neagu on 06/24/2014
In a previous tutorial, we've shown how to turn any Windows 8.1 laptop or device
into a WiFi access point. The process involved creating a virtual wireless network
adapter that was used to broadcast the wireless network. When you are done using
your Windows 8.1 device as a WiFi access point, it is good to disable and remove the
virtual wireless network adapter that you have created. Heres how this is done:

A Bit of Background About Virtual WiFi Adapters in Windows 8.1


In order to Turn Your Windows 8.1 Device Into a WiFi Access Point you have to use several batch
commands that create a virtual WiFi adapter. The resulting device is named Microsoft Hosted
Network Virtual Adapter.

A very important detail is the fact that it is not possible to have more than one Microsoft Hosted
Network Virtual Adapter enabled.
To disable it, you have to run two batch commands which are the reverse of the ones we used to
create the virtual adapter in the first place.

How To Disable The Microsoft Hosted Virtual WiFi Network Adapter


To begin, you'll have to open the Command Prompt with administrator rights. Then, enter the
following command:

netsh wlan stop hostednetwork


You will receive a message confirming that the wireless hosted network stopped. However it is not
yet disabled.

In order to disable it, enter this command:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow


The result is a plain message telling you that "The hosted network mode has been set to disallow".

You'll also notice that the virtual adapter is no longer listed in the Network and Sharing Center.
Furthermore, if you want to double check the status of the hosted network, you can run the
following batch command:

netsh wlan show settings


Then, check the hosted network line, as shown below:

If it says No it means the virtual network and the virtual adapter are both disabled.

Conclusion
This is how you cleanup Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 after you have turned them into WiFi access
points and you no longer need to use this feature. I hope our explanations were good enough for
you to get this done from the first try. If you have any questions or comments, dont hesitate to use
the form below.
Source:
http://www.7tutorials.com/how-disable-virtual-wifi-network-adapter-windows-81

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