With the release of Debian’s latest operating system, Debian Buster 10, creating a hotspot is easier than ever before. With a wifi hotspot, you can let other wireless devices such as smartphones and televisions etc. make use of your computer’s internet connection.
This tutorial describes the simple steps of turning your Debian into a Wireless Access Point. We are running this tutorial on a device with a network chip that supports connecting to two wireless devices at the same time. If your wireless chip does not support this functionality, you will have to use your wired internet connection as a hotspot for your Debian system.
Please follow these steps to turn your Debian system into a wifi hotspot:
Open the Settings utility through the Application Launcher Search as follows:
OR
Click the downward arrow located at the top-right corner of your Debian desktop and then click the settings icon located at the left corner as follows:
The Settings dialog will open; click the Wifi option from the left panel. In the right pane, you will be able to see the available wifi networks, including the one you are connected to:
From the list of Visible Networks, click the one you want to use for Wi-Fi hotspot and then click the options button as displayed in the following image:
Select the Turn On Wi-Fi Hotspot option. The following dialog will open, asking you to reconfirm turning on the hotspot:
Select the Turn On Option if you want to proceed.
You will now be able to view the newly set-up Wi-Fi Hotspot under the list of visible networks as follows:
Your wireless device will now show “Debian” in the available list of wifi networks. You can connect to this network by using the password displayed in the above Wi-Fi panel.
Disconnecting the Wi-Fi Hotspot
If you wish to discontinue using your system as a wi-fi hotspot, please follow these steps:
Open the Settings utility and in the WiFi panel, turn the Wi-Fi Hotspot button off as follows:
Please re-confirm if you want to stop the hotspot by clicking the Stop Hotspot button; this will also disconnect all the users currently connected to the Linux network
OR
Click the downward arrow located at the top-right corner of your Debian screen and then click the Turn Off option under the active hotspot entry as follows:
Your active hotspot will be disconnected.
As you have seen, Debian has now made it extremely simple to turn your system into a Wi-Fi hotspot so the people around you can use your internet connection to connect their smart devices to the internet.