Linux Wifi Hotspot

What's new

• The GUI now shows the full create_ap log in a scrollable box instead of just the last line (#527)
• 5GHz hotspots now work on Intel adapters - new guide and helper scripts to restore the removed iwlwifi lar_disable parameter (#527)
• The hotspot now follows the channel your WiFi client is on instead of failing with Failed to set beacon parameters (#527)
• Frequency band selection in the GUI no longer silently falls back to 2.4GHz (#527)
• --ieee80211ac can now actually reach 80MHz, with the new --vht-chwidth option (#527)
• Errors from create_ap are now shown in the GUI instead of failing silently (#525)
• WiFi and Internet interfaces are preselected, so hotspot creation works out of the box (#525)
• Virtual interfaces are no longer refused on PCIe/USB brcmfmac adapters (#525)
• Use aa-complain instead of complain to fix the permission issue for dnsmasq
• Fix some 5Ghz band not working issue
• Compatible with iw 6.7

Project Update

Hi everyone — I've been inactive on this project for a while due to other commitments. I'm now actively looking for contributors and maintainers to help keep the project alive and growing.

If you're interested in contributing — whether it's fixing bugs, improving documentation, or developing new features — please open an issue to introduce yourself.

I'm also open to adding trusted collaborators with commit access who demonstrate consistent contributions and interest.

Thanks for being part of the community and keeping Linux-WiFi-Hotspot going!

Features

• Share your wifi like in Windows - Use wifi and enable hotspot at the same time.
• Share a wifi access point from any network interface
• Create a hotspot with VPN - The hotspot has the traffic tunnelled through VPN. Useful for devices with no VPN app support like TV or gaming consoles.
• Share wifi via QR code
• MAC filter
• View connected devices
• Includes Both command line and GUI.
• Support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz (Need to be compatible with your wifi adapter). Ex: You have connected to the 5GHz network and share a connection with 2.4GHz.
• Customise wifi Channel, Change MAC address, etc.
• Hide SSID
• customize gateway IP address
• Enable IEEE 80211n, IEEE 80211ac and IEEE 80211ax modes

Command line help and documentation

Read Command line help and documentation here.

If you only need the command line without GUI run make install-cli-only as the root user.

Notes

• 5Ghz hotspot will not start: on Intel (iwlwifi) adapters this is almost always the adapter's firmware keeping every 5GHz channel flagged no IR, which forbids beaconing. See 5GHz hotspots on Intel adapters - it explains how to confirm it and includes scripts that fix it. As a quick workaround, unselect Auto and select 2.4Ghz in frequency selection.

• Failed to set beacon parameters: many adapters can only host an access point on the channel their WiFi client is already using, so the hotspot follows your current connection. Connect to a 2.4GHz network for a 2.4GHz hotspot, or a 5GHz one for 5GHz. See the same guide.

• If any problems with RealTeK Wifi Adapters see this

• Unable to allocate IP: firewalld issue: Please check for potential fixes: #209 #166

• Clients see the hotspot but cannot connect: if devices keep associating and disconnecting, your adapter's firmware may not support AP mode with encryption. create_ap now warns when it detects this. Broadcom adapters in T2 Macs are known to be affected, and no create_ap option works around it - a USB WiFi adapter is needed. See #525.

Installation

Debian/Ubuntu ( deprecated - build yourself )

Download the Debian package from the latest release

OR Good news! I was able to restore keys, new versions will be available via the PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lakinduakash/lwh
sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-wifi-hotspot

Arch based distributions ( deprecated - build yourself )

Linux Wifi Hotspot is available as an AUR package. You can install it manually or with your favorite AUR helper. For example, if you use yay you can do: yay -S linux-wifi-hotspot

Fedora based distributions

copr based repo is available for Fedora

sudo dnf copr enable zinix01/linux-wifi-hotspot
sudo dnf install linux-wifi-hotspot 

Dependencies

General

• bash
• util-linux (for getopt)
• procps or procps-ng
• hostapd
• iproute2
• iw
• iwconfig (you only need this if 'iw' can not recognize your adapter)
• haveged (optional)

Make sure you have those dependencies by typing them in terminal. If any of dependencies fail install it using your distro's package manager

For 'NATed' or 'None' Internet sharing method

• dnsmasq
• iptables

To build from source

• make
• gcc and g++
• build-essential
• pkg-config
• gtk
• libgtk-3-dev
• libqrencode-dev (for qr code generation)
• libpng-dev (for qr code generation)

On Ubuntu or Debian install dependencies by,

sudo apt install -y libgtk-3-dev build-essential gcc g++ pkg-config make hostapd libqrencode-dev libpng-dev

On Fedora/CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux/Rocky Linux/Oracle Linux

sudo dnf install -y gtk3-devel gcc gcc-c++ kernel-devel pkg-config make hostapd qrencode-devel libpng-devel

Installation

git clone https://github.com/lakinduakash/linux-wifi-hotspot
cd linux-wifi-hotspot

#build binaries
make

#install
sudo make install

Uninstallation

sudo make uninstall

Running

You can launch the GUI by searching for "Wifi Hotspot" in the Application Menu or using the terminal with:

wihotspot

Create VPN Hotspot

After connecting to VPN, Open wihotspot GUI. Select the virtual interface created by the VPN. In this case it is tun0

Run on Startup

The wihotspot GUI uses create_ap to create and manage access points. This service and core logic were originally created by @oblique, and are now maintained in this repository.

Start the hotspot service on startup (using your saved configuration) with:

systemctl enable create_ap

Contributing

If you found a bug or you have an idea about improving this make an issue. Even a small contribution makes the open source world more beautiful. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for more info.

Disclaimer

Stargazers over time

License

FreeBSD

Copyright (c) 2013, oblique

Copyright (c) 2024, lakinduakash