Score:0

System policy prohibits use of WiFi hotspot in Ubuntu 20.04

jp flag

I am unable to turn on WiFi hotspot and WiFi in Ubuntu 20.04 together.

Only one thing can turned on one at atime. When I am seeking to turn on hotspot then WiFi is going to turned off. I want both turned on together

enter image description here

Why is this happening? That hotspot option is unable to be activated.

user535733 avatar
cn flag
Are you sure that the hardware is capable of doing both simultaneously?
Score:3
cn flag

What I think I understand you to want (using the same wifi hardware for wifi network connection and hotspot at the same time) isn't possible. This is a limitation in either the wifi hardware or its driver, not a limitation in Ubuntu (or other Linux distributions).

Essentially, the wifi hardware can operate in either of two modes: standard mode (connected to a hotspot or router) or host mode (running as a hotspot). It can't do both at once -- think of it as like a two-way radio; most can't transmit and receive at the same time, because transmission would overload reception.

One solution for this is to obtain a secondary wifi device (one that plugs into a USB port, for instance) -- that would allow you to connect to the network with the built-in wifi device, then enable hotspot on the external one, allowing your computer to act as a (very expensive) wifi extender.

ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
It's possible (or it used to be) in Windows with 3rd-party tools like Connectify (if I'm remembering correctly).
Zeiss Ikon avatar
cn flag
"hardware *or its driver*" I said. The drivers for many wifi devices for Linux are reverse engineered and may lack some capabilities they'd have if the manufacturer supported Linux for their devices.
ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
I know exactly what you said and what you mean and that has been my experience as well. That said and again if I'm remembering it correctly (it was in the XP era so...) the additional software tool worked regardless of the hardware or drivers.
Zeiss Ikon avatar
cn flag
Not sure how much effort it's worth putting in, though -- a USB wifi dongle is cheapish, and then it's fairly straightforward to use one wifi device for your connection and share on the other. Not to mention, you can select a device with a fully supported wifi chipset rather than being stuck with what's built into your computer.
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