🛠️ How to Enable Mobile Hotspot in Windows 10/11 if It’s Greyed Out (Internet Sharing Disabled by Network Administrator)

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Are you unable to enable Mobile Hotspot on your Windows 10 or 11 device? Is the “Sharing” tab showing an error like:

“Internet Connection Sharing has been disabled by the network administrator”

Don’t worry — this typically happens due to Group Policy or Registry restrictions on your system, especially in managed environments. Follow the steps below to resolve this issue.

🔍 Problem Summary

You may experience:

  • Mobile Hotspot toggle is greyed out.
  • Sharing tab in adapter settings is missing or throws an error.
  • You cannot enable Internet Connection Sharing (ICS).

✅ Resolution Steps

🔧 Step 1: Modify Registry Settings

  1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter.
  2. Navigate to:
CopyEditComputer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Network Connections

❗ If the above key does not exist, you may need to create it manually.

  1. Inside the Network Connections key, ensure the following DWORD values are added or updated:
Value NameTypeValue
NC_PersonalFirewallConfigDWORD321
NC_ShowSharedAccessUIDWORD321
  1. Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC.

🧰 Step 2: Modify Group Policy Settings

⚠️ Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is only available in Windows Pro, Enterprise, or Education editions.

  1. Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter.
  2. Navigate to:
nginxCopyEditComputer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Network Connections
  1. Locate and disable the following policies:
  • Prohibit installation and configuration of Network Bridge on your DNS domain network
  • Prohibit use of Internet Connection Firewall on your DNS domain network
  • Prohibit use of Internet Connection Sharing on your DNS domain network
  • Require domain users to elevate when setting a network’s location
  1. Apply the changes and restart your device.

🔁 Final Step: Try Enabling Hotspot Again

After rebooting:

  1. Open Settings > Network & Internet > Mobile hotspot.
  2. Toggle the Mobile Hotspot switch to ON.

The feature should now work correctly, and you should no longer see the error message.

🧩 Still Not Working?

If you’re on a company-managed system, your organisation’s policies might override your local settings. In that case, you’ll need to contact your IT administrator.

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