Virtualise my Reliance 3G dongle under Hyper-V

Question

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)?

Answer 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)

Answer 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.

Answer 3

You'll have to use internet connection sharing or similar to share the dongle's connection with your VM's virtual network card. There's no way to bridge a RAS (dial-up) connection.

An alternative is to share the USB dongle with the guest OS and initialize the connection from the guest. You'll have to use remote desktop to achieve this as Hyper-v does not natively support USB pass-through.

In general, Virtualbox is a better choice for this kind of applications.

Answer 4

I am using a Clear Wi-Max device by directly connecting the device to the guest OS and letting the guest OS setup the connection within it's purview.

This may not be what you are looking for what it's worth a shot. If you planning to share the connection between the guest and the host that's another problem. If you want to share bridge it with one of the virtual Ethernet cards.