Can't connect to my laptop WiFi hotspot with my phone

[Pl4t1num]

Hello Zorin users

I have a laptop connected to a network via LAN cable. A used to make a wifi hotspot for my phone on Zorin OS 16 but few days ago I upgraded to Zorin OS 17 and now I can't connect to the hotspot - I get "Unable to join the network 'wifi name'".

My internet on laptop works, the security type is for the hotspot is WPA (can't make it anything else), my UI is default Gnome Zorin uses.

Thanks for your replies and have a good day!

[applecheeks37]

So just out of curiosity, do you have your firewall enabled on your Zorin 17 install currently? Only reason I ask is something similar was happening to someone else and may be worth a look:

UFW/GUFW configuration for hotspot

Hi. I am a newbie to zorin os core 17.2. It's just been a month. I wanted to know how to configure the UFW(the in-built firewall )properly. I want to use hotspot from my laptop'ethernet to other devices when UFW is on. The android devices just keep saying "connecting" and never connects. It works when UFW is off. How do I set the hotspot as a exception in UFW? So that the hotspot will work with UFW on. Current UFW settings is set to on with home mode, incoming traffic disabled, outgoing enabl…

If you scroll more towards the bottom, you'll find information on wifi hotspot to a device with the firewall on. An easy way to test if that's the issue though is to turn off the firewall (if it's on) and see if it'll connect with the firewall off. If it does, the solution towards the bottom should work.

If you're having this issue and the firewall is not on, then we may need to look deeper.

[user2000]

You are right. Turning off the firewall is the easiest way to solve the issue. If the firewall is on, the laptop's wifi hotspot will activate, but the phone won't be able to connect to the hotspot since the firewall will block it.

So it is important to know if @Pl4t1num has his/her firewall on

If the firewall is on, and you want your hotspot to work with hotspot on, then follow this dedicated tutorial/guide made by zenzen after I gave my post which @applecheeks37 mentioned:

[HOW TO] Configure firewall rules for sharing internet

Then again, as @applecheeks37 said, if your firewall is off and you are still having the connection issue, then we have to dig deeper about the problem.

[Pl4t1num]

@applecheeks37 @user2000

Hello,

I've turned off my firewall and did the tutorial "Configure firewall rules for sharing internet" and it still doesn't work

I also tried updating the system (sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade) and restarted my laptop but that also didn't resolve the problem.

[user2000]

That's unfortunate. Sadly, this is outside my scope of knowledge since I am new to linux. I wish others will help you.

[swarfendor437]

I've used hot-spot between a no-sim phone with a sim one in the past and things have changed slightly. Wireless tethering now uses Bluetooth so you need to pair your phone with your notebook via Bluetooth: