Virtualise my Reliance 3G dongle under Hyper-V

I mostly connect to the Internet with a Reliance 3G dongle with these specifications:

This is how it looks in network adapters when connected.

The problem:

I want to virtualise this in Hyper-V but when I open the virtual switch manager to add a new switch, I don't see it in the list of adapters.

Due to this, I can't use the Internet in my VMs. Is there a way to do this without going to my ethernet broadband connection (which is slow)?

Solution 1:

Hyper-V does not accept wireless adapters, and this "by design".

To force Hyper-V to accept a wireless network adapter, one must use the old trick of camouflaging it as a dummy but acceptable virtual adapter which is bridged to the dongle adapter.

Below is described how to bridge your dongle network adapter with a virtual network adapter on the host machine.

• Open Hyper-V manager
• Click on the Virtual Network Manager and create an Internal Virtual Network by selecting Internal and clicking Add.
• Give a meaningful Name
• Apply and OK
• Now a Virtual Network has been created which can be associated with 1 or more virtual machines.
• On the host machine, in the Network and Sharing Center click on Change Adapter Settings
• Select your dongle adapter and the Internal Virtual Network you created.
• Right click and select Bridge Network and the bridge is created.
• In the Hyper-V Manager, right click the virtual machine and select settings
• Add a Network Adapter and select the Internal Virtual Network you created initially from the drop-down list.
• Click Apply and OK.

For more information here are some articles that look useful :

Hyper-V: How to Run Hyper-V on a Laptop
Using Hyper-V with a Wireless Network Adapter
Using Wireless with Hyper-V (using RRAS)

Solution 2:

There is another way of doing this. Follow these steps:

1. Open Hyper-V manager
2. Click on the Virtual Network Manager and create an Internal Virtual Network by selecting Internal and clicking Add.
3. Give a meaningful Name
4. Apply and OK

Now go to your host machine and in the Network and Sharing Center click on Change Adapter Settings.

• Select your dongle adapter and click Set as default connection.

  

• Click properties and click on sharing tab.

• Check Allow networks to share internet and select the internal connection just created.

  

• Click Apply and click OK.

• Finally go to your Virtual machine settings and select the internal switch we created and click Apply and OK.