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Can I create a wireless network from my Mac without being connected to the internet?

Is it possible?

Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Mar 19, 2014 1:49 PM

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11 replies

Mar 19, 2014 2:01 PM in response to Mac_Journal

The original answer is wrong. You can create a wifi network from your Mac and it doesn't matter whether or not you are connected to the Internet.


When you use Internet Sharing, the only requirements are that wifi needs to be on and you need to specify a port to share from (like Ethernet). But it doesn't matter if that port is actually connected to the Internet. This makes it possible for you to create a local wifi network to connect computers even in areas where there is no wireless Internet. Sure, you can't get to the Internet if it's not available, but you can still share files and resources over wifi.

Mar 19, 2014 7:00 PM in response to Mac_Journal

I haven't used Google Drive so I don't know what features it has, but if you can transfer the file on the iPhone to another app that supports LAN (Local Area Network) syncing like Dropbox claims to, you might get away with it that way.


For example, in Dropbox on Mac, open Preferences, click Network, select Enable LAN Sync. In theory that might let you share a file between Dropbox on an iPhone and Dropbox on a Mac wirelessly with no Internet access using a local network only, but I am not in a position to test that at the moment so I do not know for sure.


Since I have not used Google Drive, I don't know if it also has a LAN Sync option but if it did, you would sure want to try it.


I use an app called PhoneView that lets me view files stored on my iPhone by any of the apps when it is plugged in via USB, and I can copy those files off my iPhone to my Mac. It's not free so I don't expect you to download it, but I do like to keep it around for situations like this. No jailbreaking required.

Can I create a wireless network from my Mac without being connected to the internet?

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