Internet Sharing has long been Apple’s way of letting you take the Internet connection your Mac uses and share it with other people and devices–also called a hotspot. This is useful if you don’t have a Wi-Fi gateway to use or there is a restriction that makes your Mac the only device with an Internet hookup. With the reorganization of preferences in macOS Ventura, you may have to hunt for this feature if you need to configure it; think of this as a Ventura guide whether or not you’ve set up a macOS hotspot before.
In general, you share an incoming ethernet connection with Wi-Fi, and that’s what I explain in the steps below. However, you can also share Wi-Fi via ethernet and other combinations.

Here’s how:
- Open it System Settings > General > Sharing. (That’s all System Preferences > Sharing options have been moved.)
- Click the information icon to the right of the Internet sharing item.
- When prompted, authenticate with Touch ID, a watch, or by entering a password.
- The box that appears should be familiar if you have used this feature before. It’s a slightly modified version of what’s been built into macOS for years. From the “Share your connection from” pop-up menu, select your ethernet adapter.
- In the “On computers running” list, select the Wi-Fi box.
- Click on Wi-Fi options button under the dialog.
- Enter a name, select a channel (see advice below), and set Security and Password (see more advice below).
- Click OK and then click Done.
- Click the button next to it Internet sharing to enable this connection sharing.
- Read the warning and click Start.
(Apple hasn’t reconsidered this message for many, many years. It ends with strange advice for home users, who might use it, “Contact your system administrator before turning on Internet sharing”!)
Apple does not allow you to share Wi-Fi on Wi-Fi, since macOS does not include the ability to create virtual Wi-Fi networks, an option that is required both to connect to a Wi-Fi network and to create a different one.
In step 7 above, select the higher numbered channel (36, 40, 44, or 48) for greater range than the lower numbered channels (1, 6, 11). The higher numbered channels use the 5GHz frequency band, which has been available in all mainstream electronics, including all Apple hardware, for many years. If you have older gear that can only use 2.4GHz communication, choose 1, 6, or 11.
For security, Apple offers WPA2/WPA3 Personal or WPA3 Personal. In most cases, choose WPA2/WPA3 for compatibility. WPA3 is widely available but mostly appears on hardware released in the last few years. From a security point of view, it is not much different than WPA2.
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