Adhoc Networks: Create a Network vs. Internet Sharing

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Level 1

8 points

Adhoc Networks: Create a Network vs. Internet Sharing

Wanted to see if anyone else is confused by what appears to be two AdHoc WiFi sharing features in Mac OS X Yosemite? There appears to be:

Remnants of an old, no longer functional network sharing feature under the network dropdown menu "Create a Network..."
A newer, fully functional network sharing feature, "Internet Sharing" that is hidden under System Preferences -> Sharing

Is this by design or is there an opportunity to clean up what features remain and how the new feature is accessed?

Create a Network	Internet Sharing
Activated By	Dropdown -> Create a Network	System Preferences -> Sharing
Supports Internet Sharing	No?	Yes
Can set WAP2 Password	No	Yes
Accessible from Dropdown	Usually but NOT while Internet Sharing	Only after activating Internet Sharing
Notes	Not clear what this is still used for	Unintuitive that this can't be activated from Dropdown or System Preferences -> Network

Will reply with some screenshots to make this more intuitive when time permits.

Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.1

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jan 27, 2015 8:16 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Camelot

Level 9

55,305 points

Jan 27, 2015 8:44 PM in response to NGMmac

These are not the same thing at all, and are both still valid options.

Wireless -> Create Network

This creates an ad-hoc wireless network that lets peers communicate between themselves. This network is self-contained (only devices on that join this network can see each other, and that's all they see). This works only on the wireless network, and essentially turns your Mac into a (dumb, insecure) wireless base station.

Internet Sharing

This option configures your Mac as a NAT-based router, and requires at least two interfaces on your host (typically wired and wireless, but does not have to be). In this mode, clients on the shared network (e.g. wireless clients) can access resources on the other network (e.g. wired ethernet). The other network could include access to the internet, thereby turning your host into an internet gateway/router.

So, maybe they could use some clarification, but don't think that they're the same thing, or obsolete.

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Answer 2

NGMmac Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 29, 2015 4:41 PM in response to NGMmac

Camelot, thanks for shedding more light on this. I guess the ask should be how to make the features more clear and less hidden.

A small change that would help is simply including "Share Internet..." in the dropdown under "Create Network...".

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Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

55,109 points

Jan 30, 2015 1:46 PM in response to NGMmac

<http://www.apple.com/feedback>

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Answer 4

NGMmac Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 30, 2015 8:22 PM in response to BobHarris

Send the suggestion through feedback but also wanted to leverage the community to weigh in and help refine the idea. When they make changes they need to appeal to the masses.

Apple take note!

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Answer 5

BobHarris

Level 9

55,109 points

Jan 31, 2015 6:56 AM in response to NGMmac

Apple take note!

Apple does NOT take note in these forums. The moderators mostly spend their time solving forum related problems, moving posts to the correct form, deleting spam postings, removing personal data that should not have been posted. They are forum professional, not software developers.

Hence the pointer to feedback

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Answer 6

diemo

Level 1

4 points

Sep 28, 2015 4:44 AM in response to NGMmac

Thanks for clarifying this unwelcome change in Yosemite (because the ad hoc network used to take at least a WEP password)!

Now, the problem is that the "Internet Sharing" network does not fully replace the ad hoc one, since it fails to start up when there is no internet connection to share. Peeking in the console reveals this message:

configd[50]: no interface for external service id

This means, there seems to be no longer a possibility to quickly but securely connect two devices without bringing an external router, unless someone knows a trick or pointers how to configure the Software Base Station.

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