Hello, I was dumb enough to download the "Oh-my-god-its-so-awesome-and-better-than-8" 8.1 update. Now I realized that some have removed the ad-hoc connection from it, and my laptop can't connect to the Wi-fi tethered mobile network. What am I supposed to do while my laptop become stationary?

• Edited by Jessica_DeenMVP, Moderator Monday, January 20, 2014 7:17 PM Removed profanity.

Uacnix,

Connecting to your mobile broadband connection for the first time with Windows 8.1 is fairly easy.  From the Mobile broadband from start to finish page:

To set up your mobile broadband connection for the first time:

1. Activate your subscriber identity module (SIM) and the mobile broadband service for the SIM. Your mobile operator or device retailer will give you the info to      do this.
2. If you have an external mobile broadband device, make sure it's correctly inserted into the PC according to the manufacturer's directions, and make sure the wireless switch is turned on. The wireless switch is usually found on the front, side, or back edge of a laptop or tablet.
3. View a list of available networks by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Settings (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer up, and then clicking Settings), and then tapping or clicking the network icon.
4. Tap or click Network, and then tap or click the name of your mobile broadband network.
5. Change any connection settings that you want to change, and then tap or click Connect.
6. If you're prompted, choose or enter the access point name (APN) or access string, user name, password, and type of sign-in info. (You can find these in the info that came with your mobile broadband hardware or with your mobile broadband service.) You might also be able to buy a plan from the provider on this screen.
7. Tap or click Next.

To connect to the internet (after your connection is already set up):

1. View a list of available networks by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Settings (or if you're using a mouse, pointing to the upper-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer down, and then clicking Settings), and then tapping or clicking the network icon.
2. Tap or click the name of your mobile broadband network, and then tap or click Connect.

Something to keep in mind also is that Ad Hoc wireless networks are meant to be temporary networks  set up to share files and sometimes even internet connections between computers in a small area.

Mobile hotspots are similar to standard SSID based Wi-Fi networks in that they both provide a wireless connection to the internet, but the mobile hot spot provides that internet connection through a mobile device. Standard Wi-Fi networks are those where a computer connects directly to a wireless access point or router for internet access.   

If the above doesnt help to resolve your issue, please let us know. 

Mike

Windows Outreach Team IT Pro

• Marked as answer by kelvin_hsuMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Wednesday, January 29, 2014 1:51 AM

Hi,

You can also check following blog to know what changes in adhoc feature:

Where is the ad hoc wireless connection feature in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

http://winaero.com/blog/where-is-the-ad-hoc-wireless-connection-feature-in-windows-8-and-windows-8-1/

You can follow these steps to set ad hoc.

 

To setup a hosted network,

 

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=DESIRED_NETWORK_NAME key=YOUR_PASSWORD

 

To Start the Hosted network,

 

netsh.exe wlan start hostednetworkname

 

When you are finished with it, you can stop the connection using this command:

netsh.exe wlan stop hostednetworkname

 

You can get detailed information about the network you started with this command:

netsh wlan show hostednetworkname

Kate Li (Pactera Technologies Inc)

TechNet Windows Client team

This doesn't really help with ad hoc network discovery (where you don't quite know the exact SSID). We've got a lot of devices creating different ad hoc networks and attempting to manage them all via the command line is painful and frustrating. Shame on Microsoft for making it so cumbersome in Windows 8.1.