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Is there a way to do Ad Hoc networking under Windows 8.1?

As far as I can see the network needs to be true Ad Hoc as I'm attempting to create an ad hoc network between a variable number of IoT devices. At any point any permutation of the set of devices may be together in network range, so my feeling is the hosted network solution using netsh will not be adequate.

The environment is:

  • Windows 8.1 Embedded Industry Evaluation.
  • Minnow Board Max hardware.
  • An assortment of USB wireless adapters (we're still deciding on what adapter to use)

Edit

End goal: I want devices to be able communicate using a wireless network as they come into and out of range.

Googles Suggested Solution is inadequate: 

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=myadhocnetwork key=supersecurepassword 
netsh wlan start hostednetwork

This creates a wireless access point style network in infrasturcture mode. you can see this by going to another computer and typing:

netsh wlan show networks

This will list the networks and show the network type (infrastructure/ad hoc)

There are hacks for connecting to networks but not creating them in the way that we need to.

Previous Windows: Under Windows 7 and Vista there was a UI to be able to set these up. It was removed in either Windows 8 or 8.1.

Klee
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    A quick Google search for `windows 8 ad hoc network` turned up a lot of relevant results, including countless instructions on how to do it. So... uh, what's with the question? Didn't Google before asking? Didn't work for some reason? Something else? – HopelessN00b Jan 06 '15 at 03:26
  • If you see the answer below by Katherine Villyard that is the suggested response on those pages. This is the netsh hosted network solution that will not solve my problem but will provide one machine set up as an infrastructure access point. – Klee Jan 06 '15 at 03:38
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    I see. It might be helpful if you expand on that a little in your question, or share your end goals or some details what you're trying to accomplish here. I'm nos really clear on what you're trying to do here, which makes providing a useful answer next to impossible. I don't *think* it's just me being particularly dense, so I have to think other potential answerers are also lacking detail or clarity that might be needed to help you out. – HopelessN00b Jan 06 '15 at 03:45
  • I've updated the question to be more specific as to our problems, what we've tried and what our end goal is. If you're confused certainly other people will be as well. – Klee Jan 06 '15 at 03:59

1 Answers1

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Yes, if your network card supports hosted networks, you can do it by issuing a command like

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=myadhocnetwork key=supersecurepassword

and then

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

Then you need to allow Internet Connection Sharing.

(I'm paraphrasing from this article.)

Katherine Villyard
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  • Thanks Katherine, this is the netsh hosted network solution that is not adequate for solving my problem. Rather than creating an ad hoc network it creates an infrastructure network. Thank you for your answer though. – Klee Jan 06 '15 at 03:37
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    Unfortunately, my googling says that this is the best you're going to get, short of trying some kind of third party tool. Typical result: http://tipsandtricksforum.com/thread-210.html – Katherine Villyard Jan 06 '15 at 04:02