This post will guide you in what to do if you are trying to share the internet connection from your Android smartphone to your Windows 10 computer but USB tethering is not working. Although you can always connect your Android phone to your computer using a USB cable, you still won’t be able to access the internet. However, if you’ve already enabled the USB tethering option in your smartphone, you should be able to access the internet but if you still can’t then you can fix this issue by reading this post.
There are several potential fixes you can check out to fix the USB tethering issue. You can try running both the Internet Connections and Network Adapter troubleshooters or try installing the USB RNDIS adapter or disable any unnecessary network adapters.
Option 1 – Try to run the Internet Connections and Network Adapter troubleshooter
There are various built-in troubleshooters in Windows 10 that can help fix system issues. Since you are dealing with an internet connection problem, you can try running both the Internet Connections and the Network Adapter troubleshooters. To run them, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings > Update & security > Troubleshoot.
- From there, you can select the Internet Connections troubleshooter.
- Click on the Run troubleshooter button to troubleshoot the problem.
- Wait until the troubleshooter is done identifying and fixing the problem automatically.
- Then follow the next on-screen instructions that may appear.
- Once it’s done, check if the USB tethering issue is now fixed.
Note: You can also try to run the Network Adapter troubleshooter. It is also located under the Troubleshoot section. Just scroll down until you see it and then run it.
Option 2 – Try installing or updating the USB RNDIS adapter
RNDIS or Remote Network Driver Interface Specification can also help you resolve the USB tethering problem. If the pre-installed driver does not help you in connecting to the internet, then you can try installing the USB RNDIS driver that is, if it’s not installed yet. If it is already installed, you can try to update it instead.
- Tap the Win + R keys to open Run and type “devmgmt.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Device Manager.
- Next, expand the Network adapters section and look for the Remote NDIS based Internet Sharing Device. But if you are using a Samsung smartphone, you might see “Samsung” instead of under Network adapters.
- Right-click on it and then select the “Update driver” option.
- Then select the “Browse my computer for driver software” option.
- After that, select the “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer” option.
- Now uncheck the checkbox for “Show compatible hardware”.
- From the given list on your left-hand side, look for Microsoft and then select the Remote NDIS based Internet Sharing Device on your right-hand side.
- Click on Next. A new popup will appear where you have to click on Yes. This will install the driver.
- Now click on the Close button and restart your computer.
Option 3 – Try disabling any unnecessary network adapters/connections
Assuming that your Ethernet connection is showing ping loss which indicates that the internet is not stable. In such time, if you use the USB tethering functionality, you won’t be able to access the internet connection from your smartphone. The internet connection will be frequently disconnected since your computer gives priority to the Ethernet connection. Thus, you have to disable the Ethernet connection temporarily.
- Right-click the network icon on your Taskbar and select the option “Network and Sharing Center”.
- After that, click the network connection. And then click the Disable button from the status box that opens.
- After that, check if you can now connect to the internet or not.