Using Wireless USB TL-WN823N V2 Adapter as an Access Point in Windows 10

It's quite complicated to create an Access Point in Windows 10 with TL-WN823N Adapter, because its drivers are not supporting Hosted network mode. But this problem can be solved if using old drivers for Windows 7 or 8 instead. This instruction explains how to do that.

Installing the old Driver

  1. First, download and unpack drivers for TL-WN823N V2 adapter: tp-link.com (see there TL-WN823N_V2_ driver.zip file with MD5=63b092812ef4674fc125364ee668cf18) or use a direct link.
  2. Unpack "Driver Files" directory to any suitable location on the hard drive.
  3. Right Click on "Start" button, select "Device Manager" (or press WIN+R keys and type devmgmt.msc in the "Run" dialog box).
  4. Find "TP-LINK Wireless USB Adapter" in "Network Adapters" section, double click on the adapter to open its property:

    TP-LINK Wireless USB Adapter in device manager

    Then click on tab "Driver", next click on "Update driver" button.

    General tab of the Wireless adapter property

    Driver tab in adapter property

  5. Now click on "Browse my computer for driver software", click on "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer", click "Have Disk...". Click on "Browse" and select an *.inf file in the "Driver Files" directory:

    Select a directory dialog

    If your Windows 10 is 64-bit, use a driver from 64-bit directory (Windows 7 64bit, Windows 8 64bit or Windows 8.1 64bit).

    Windows 7 driver file netrtwlanu_COINST.inf in file selection dialog

    Click on "Open", then click on "OK".
    On the last panel click on the "Next"

    Driver selection dialog for Wireless USB Adapter

    Now driver is installed.
  6. Turn on the Wireless Adapter (if it's off) - in the system tray click on "Network" icon. You'll see a big button with WI-FI sign, press on it to turn on the Wireless Adapter. The button will turns into blue color.

    Wireless USB Adapter activation

    If you don't see it, read the Troubleshooting section, part 2.

Setting up and starting the access point

  1. Open "Command Prompt" (WIN+R, then type there cmd.exe), type in the "Command Prompt" this command:

    netsh wlan show drivers

    See the output for the string "Hosted network supported". If it says "Yes", it means the adapter would work as an access point.
  2. Next, setup the name and password for the access point - type this command in the "Command Prompt", but in this case open the command prompt as Administrator (WIN+X, then press button "A" or click on "Command Prompt (Admin)"):

    netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=NNN key=1234ABCD keyUsage=persistent

    where NNN - the name of the access point, 1234ABCD - its password. Replace it with something more complicated.

    By the way, there is another way to open the command prompt as Administrator - press "WIN+R", then type there cmd.exe and press "Ctrl+Shift+Enter".

    In all other cases you don't need administrative privileges for command prompt.
  3. Now start the access point - type this command (it also takes Administrative Privileges):

    netsh wlan start hostednetwork

    if it runs, you'll see this message:

    The hosted network started.

    If it fails, you'll probably see this message:

    The hosted network couldn't be started.

    The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.

    It happens when Windows reinstalls a new driver for the TL-WN823N V2 adapter. Windows do it periodically, without any reason, so you have to install the old driver back and try to start the access point again.
  4. Next, type this to see the status and settings of the access point:

    netsh wlan show hostednetwork

  5. Ant if you want to stop the access point, type this command:

    netsh wlan stop hostednetwork

If the access point is started, it can be seen on other WI-FI devices, but they can't be connected to the computer, because it takes to configure "Internet Connection Sharing" on the computer. Let's see how to configure it:

Sharing the Internet

  1. Open "Network Connections" panel - press "WIN+R", then type "ncpa.cpl" in the "Run" box (or open "File Explorer", then open there "Control Panel" and navigate to "Control Panel --> Network and Internet --> Network Connections").
  2. If the access point is running, you'll see "Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter" with the name "Local Area Connection". It may have a different index, just like "Local Area Connection* 68" and so on.

    Local Area Connection Virtual Adapter

  3. Now open "Sharing" tab of your main internet connection - click with right mouse button on it, then click on "Property". In the "Internet Connection Sharing" check the "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection" checkbox and select the "Local Area Connection" mentioned earlier, and click "OK". Now it should work.

    Internet Connection Sharing tab of the network adapter

How to connect an Android device to the access point.

  1. Open property of the "Local Area Connection" mentioned above (use Right Mouse Click, then select "Properties" in the popup menu). By the way, you can uncheck all the protocols there except "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" - we need only this one.

    Double click in the Networking tab on "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)"

    Networking tab of the Local Area Connection

    You'll see IP Address (192.168.137.1 - it will be used as a gate address on the Android device) and Subnet Mask (255.255.255.0) as it shown in this panel. If not, fill it with these values. Also fill your DNS servers or use Google DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) as it shown below:

    TCP/IPv4 properties of the Local Area Connection

    Close the panel.
  2. Now open your Android device. Go to "Settings", then "Wi-Fi", find your access point (in this example it is named as "NNN"), tap on it, and enter these values:

    password: 1234ABCD (the access point password)
    IP Settings: Static
    gateway: 192.168.137.1 (this is the IP address of "Local Area Connection" mentioned earlier)
    IP address: 192.168.137.10 (or similar, last decimal numbers may vary)
    Network Prefix Length: 24
    DNS1: 8.8.8.8 (or use your ISP DNS)
    DNS2: 8.8.4.4 (or use your ISP DNS)
  3. It should be look like this:

    Wi-Fi settings tab of the Android device

    Now save the changes, and you probably could connect your Android device to the access point.

Troubleshooting

  1. Sometimes Windows 10 suddenly reinstalls a new driver for the TL-WN823N V2 Adapter. It happens periodically, so you have to install the old driver back, as it described in this part.
  2. Sometimes after driver updating there is no Wi-Fi device in "Networks" ("Network" icon in the System tray), it looks like the Wireless Adapter is disconnected. To fix it, just disable the adapter and then enable it in the "Device Manager", try to repeat it several times:

    Disabling TL-WN823N V2 Wireless USB Adapter in the Device manager

  3. If you connected your Android device to the Internet, but sites are not available, try to unshare the Internet connection, and then share it again.
  4. If you can't connect the Android device to the Access Point and see the message "Authentication problem", you have to turn off Wi-Fi on the Android device, wait for a while, then connect it again. If it fails, then turn off the Access Point on the computer, then turn it back, try again to connect the Android device to the Access Point.
  5. If you are online, but didn't use your Android device for a while (several hours), it may be unable to connect to any site. Just turn Wi-Fi on the Android off, then turn it on, it should fix the problem.

Video manual on this article: How to use Wireless USB TL-WN823N V2 Adapter as an Access Point in Windows 10

See also How to use Adapter TL-WN823N as a Hotspot in Windows 10 with a virtual machine.

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