You Don’t Have Enough Privileges To Configure Internet Connection Sharing Error on Windows 7 Starter : The Solution

Earlier today, I set up an ad hoc network on my Solar-powered Samsung NC215 netbook , running on Windows 7 Starter ; so I can share my glo data plan internet connection with my other devices (iPad, Infinix phone etc). I managed to do this by typing “ adhoc ” into the Windows search bar in the Start Menu.

However, after it was successfully created and ready to use, I saw a recommended option to “Turn on internet connection sharing”. After clicking the button to enable the option, a new page was displayed with the message :

“ you don’t have enough privileges to configure internet connection sharing “

I was surprised because I logged on to the netbool as an administrator and I’ve used the same trick to set up wireless internet connection on my HP laptop.

After a quick google search for solutions to the problem, I discovered that it’s a limitation imposed by Microsoft on PCs running on Windows 7 Starter. There is a Windows 7 edition compariosn chart on Wikipedia that clearly states that internet connectiong sharing (ICS) is not supported on Windows 7 Starter.

So, What Is The Solution?

You have to upgrade the Windows 7 Starter to at least Windows 7 Home Premium to unlock the limitations. Alternatively, you can install Windows XP on a seperate partition on the netbook.

I hope this helps.

If you know any other way of making the internet connection sharing to work on Windows 7 Starter without upgrading, kindly share via comments.