Hot questions

• How do I work-around my carrier's (such as T-Mobile or MetroPCS) tethering block?

Pre-purchase questions

• What is the difference between free and paid versions?
• Is it a one-time payment or are there any tethering fees?
• May I install the computer-side software on multiple computers or different operating systems?
• Does EasyTether void my phone warranty?

Purchasing

• How can I purchase EasyTether?
• How can I install my EasyTether copy purchased at Google or Amazon?
• How can I activate my EasyTether copy purchased at Mobile Stream?
• I have problems with purchasing EasyTether via Android Market

Installation (general)

• I cannot copy the downloaded drivers from my smartphone to my computer
• I used EasyTether Lite, then I purchased the paid EasyTether version. Do I need to reinstall anything on the computer side?
• How can I install EasyTether on an AT&T smartphone?

Installation (Windows)

• Installation fails with the 'EasyTether requires Service Pack for Windows' message
• Installation fails with the 'Installation ended prematurely' message (or something similar)
• Installation fails with the 'This installation package is not supported by this processor type' message

Connection (general)

• I cannot use my VPN with EasyTether
• How do I tether my Android phone to PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii?
• I get the 'Error code 67 registration failure PCS vision username and/or password may be incorrect' message on my phone

Connection (Windows)

• I do not see the EasyTether icon in the Windows taskbar
• I see 'No devices to connect' instead of the expected 'USB: Android' option when I right-click the EasyTether icon in the Windows taskbar
• I cannot open any web pages after establishing the EasyTether connection
• I get the 'Connection failed. Enable Easytether network adapter in Network Connections' message
• I get the unexpected 'Connection closed' (or 'Connection dropped') message on my computer
• I was on dial-up and my browser keeps trying to dial-up

Connection (Mac OS X)

• ADB on Mac OS X stops recognizing the attached device after installing the EasyTether driver

Connecting (Linux)

• How do I tether a computer with Ubuntu, Fedora or other Linux distro installed?
• How do I use EasyTether with my OpenWrt or LEDE-based router?

Connecting (*BSD)

• How do I tether a computer with FreeBSD or DragonFly BSD installed?

If nothing helps

• My problem is not described here

How do I work-around my carrier's (such as T-Mobile or MetroPCS) tethering block?

Some carriers inspect your HTTP traffic for the so-called user agent string in order to detect tethering. They use the fact that different web browsers use different user agent strings.

It is not hard to work-around this limitation by changing the user agent string in the web browser on your computer. Here are the instructions:

1. Visit www.useragentstring.com or wiht.link/wmuseragent (note we are not affiliated with these sites) from your phone and carefully write down the user agent string in some text file on your computer.
2. Change the default user agent string in the web browser on your computer to the string from your phone:

   Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge

   Press F12, select Emulation, enter the UA string.

   Firefox 36+

   Type about:config in the address prompt, confirm the action, right-click on the list of parameters, select New → String, enter general.useragent.override as the preference name, paste the UA string.

   Safari 5+

   Go to menu bar → Safari → Preferences, select the Advanced tab, enable the 'Show Develop menu in menu bar' option then use menu bar → Develop → User Agent.

What is the difference between free and paid versions?

EasyTether Lite will block secure (https://, TCP port 443) sites (such as gmail, facebook, amazon or ebay) and any UDP-based applications (including L2TP VPNs, most instant messagers and Xbox 360 / PS3 / Wii games) after some time. The paid/activated versions have no such limitations.

Is it a one-time payment or are there any tethering fees?

One-time. EasyTether is an application, not a service. It uses exactly the same data connection as any other networking applications on your smartphone (such as a mail or youtube app) so the same carrier's (not ours) fees apply.

Note however, that most 'unlimited' data plans are not that unlimited. Some carriers start to throttle your bandwidth when you exceed several GB per month.

May I install the computer-side software on multiple computers or different operating systems?

Yes. One license is tied to one phone so you may install the computer-side software on as many computers/systems as you need. The easiest way to setup another computer for EasyTether is to re-run the setup wizard in the smartphone-side application.

Does EasyTether void my phone warranty?

No. As distinct from many other tether apps, EasyTether does not require root and uses only official APIs, it is a normal low-priveleged Android application.

EasyTether works on all Android versions since 1.5 and up to Android 9 (including Android 8/7/6/5/4/2 of course). Newer Android versions require update of the computer-side software:

Android 9+

Upgrade the computer-side software to v1.3.4 (Windows), b15 (macOS), 0.8.9 (Linux, BSD) at least.

Android 4.2.2+

Make sure to use any post-2014 version (v1.3+, b7+, 0.8+). Or simply upgrade to the latest one.

How can I purchase EasyTether?

Buy EasyTether activation code from our site

You can pay via PayPal, credit/debit cards and you will receive the activation code for EasyTether Lite.

In Play Store (see the standard Market application on your smartphone)

See Google's Google Play Store Help for more information on payment methods etc.

In Amazon App Store

How can I (re-)install my EasyTether copy purchased at Google or Amazon?

Remember you never need an activation code for Google/Amazon purchase. Instead download the pre-activated version from the appropriate store and remove any free EasyTether versions from your smartphone (if installed at all).

In some cases you may be unable to re-download your past Google (but never Amazon) purchase for free because some carriers have hidden tethering applications from Google Store. In that case restore your Google order number (see here on how to do this) and send it us so we can arrange the alternative download link for you.

All of the above applies to the smartphone-side application only. If you need to re-download the computer-side software, see here.

How can I (re-)activate my EasyTether copy purchased at Mobile Stream?

Note you never should try to download the pre-activated version at Google/Amazon stores for Mobile Stream purchase. Instead enter the five-digit activation code from your purchase confirmation e-mail in the free EasyTether Lite downloaded from Google Play Store or from our site to your smartphone (you may need to enable Settings → Applications → Unknown sources).

You may get the 'Activation code is invalid' message. This is perfectly expected if you replaced your smartphone because the activation code is tied to the device's unique IMEI/MEID number.

Email us your phone's IMEI/MEID (exactly as it is shown in EasyTether → Activate EasyTether → Enter code) along with your purchase confirmation e-mail (or indicate your purchase e-mail address at least).

I have problems with purchasing EasyTether via Android Market

There is a bug in Android Market: sometimes Google Checkout fails to authorize a payment and Market gets stuck forever when you try to download the purchased application. Order processing is performed solely by Google so we, as the developers, have no control over it.

1. Let Google know about the problem. Contact the Android Market support team.
2. Refund that order (consult with the Google Play policies on the allowed refund period) and consider other ways to purchase the application as described here. If refund period is over, send the order number to our support e-mail address, we will arrange the download link from our site.

I cannot copy the downloaded drivers from my smartphone to my computer

As a general note, the support to copy files using USB is implemented in every Android-powered smartphone and this feature does not depend on EasyTether at all. Consult the User Guide for your smartphone if the instructions below do not help.

1. Connect your smartphone to your computer with a USB data cable.
2. Pull down the notification area (sliding down your finger) on your Android and tap Mount; this will allow you to access the SD card inside your smartphone from your computer.
3. Look for the EasyTether computer-side packages in the downloads folder, copy them to your computer first (do not run installers off the exported SD card) then launch and follow the wizard-like setup.

I used EasyTether Lite, then I purchased the paid EasyTether version. Do I need to reinstall anything on the computer side?

Absolutely not. This also covers any update of the smartphone-side application: do not re-install the computer-side software if you are not asked explicitly to do this.

How can I install EasyTether on an AT&T smartphone?

Now it has become very easy. You can download EasyTether Lite from the Android Market and follow the instructions. If for some reason you cannot find the app in the Android Market, please e-mail our support team, we will send you the instructions on how to work around that issue.

Installation fails with the 'EasyTether requires Service Pack for Windows' message

See the corresponding Microsoft article on how to update your Windows installation.

Windows Vista

How to obtain the latest Windows Vista service pack

Windows XP

How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack

Installation fails with the 'Installation ended prematurely' message (or something similar) when I try to install EasyTether on my computer

If you use Windows XP, open Control Panel → System → Hardware tab → Driver Signing and verify the 'Warn - Prompt me each time to choose an actions' check is set. If it is set as suggested or you have Windows 8.1/8/7/Vista, try to disable temporarily any third-party applications that may prevent the installation of non-WHQL drivers.

Installation fails with the 'This installation package is not supported by this processor type' message

You seem to be trying to install the ancient 64-bit EasyTether computer-side software package (easytether_x64.msi) on 32-bit Windows version. Download the unified installation package instead.

Note it is perfectly possible to have 32-bit Windows version on a 64-bit capable processor. See the Microsoft's support article on how to determine wheither your computer is running 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows.

I cannot get my VPN to work with EasyTether connection

TCP (including SSL/TLS-based) or UDP-tunneled (such as L2TP or some kinds of Cisco VPN) VPNs

These really should just work assuming you have the paid/activated or unexpired free version of the smartphone-side application.

PPTP VPN

PPTP will not work because there is no way to implement GRE passthrough on a non-rooted smartphone. Instead configure VPN on your phone in Settings → Wireless & networks on your phone, activate it there then establish the EasyTether connection from the computer. Make sure to set the Resolver option in EasyTether on your phone to 'Built-in' (instead of the default 'Google Public DNS').

IPSec VPN

Same problem as with PPTP VPN, same solution.

How do I tether my Android phone to PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii?

Prerequisites:

1. An Ethernet cable; Wii also requires the Wii LAN Adapter from Nintendo (other USB-to-Ethernet adapters may or may not work).
2. A computer with an Ethernet (LAN) port and the fully configured EasyTether installation.
3. A smartphone with the paid/activated or unexpired free EasyTether versions. Do not expect the instructions below to work if you see the 'Free feature-limited mode' status in EasyTether on your smartphone. The 'Full-featured trial mode' status is okay though.

Connection setup:

1. Configure Internet connection sharing on your computer. For Windows this means you need to enable ICS in Properties → Sharing tab for the EasyTether network adapter (not for the Ethernet port where you will attach the gaming console). Here is how to find it.

   Windows 7:

   Control Panel → Network and Internet → Network and Sharing Center → Change adapter settings (on the left side) → right-click Local Area Connection N → Properties → Sharing tab.

   Windows Vista:

   Control Panel → Network and Internet → Network and Sharing Center → Manage network connections (on the left side) → right-click Local Area Connection N → Properties → Sharing tab.

   Windows XP:

   Control Panel → Network connections → right-click Local Area Connection N → Properties → Sharing tab.

   If you also see the 'Home networking connection' pull-down list, select the connection where you will attach your gaming console later.
2. Establish the EasyTether connection from your computer and make sure it works.
3. Finally attach your Xbox 360 / PS 3 / Wii to your computer's Ethernet port using an Ethernet cable. For Wii you will need a USB-to-Ethernet adapter.

I get the 'Error code 67 registration failure PCS vision username and/or password may be incorrect' message on my phone

This is not EasyTether, it never displays this error. You are likely trying to use the built-in tethering feature which (unlike EasyTether) requires the special tethering plan. Do not enable Internet sharing mode on the smartphone when you attach it to your computer. Instead select 'Charge only' or 'Disk drive' and click 'USB: Android' in the EasyTether taskbar menu:

I do not see the EasyTether icon in the Windows taskbar

1. Open Windows Start menu → All Programs → EasyTether and left-click the EasyTether entry to start the application manually. If you do not have EasyTether in Windows Start menu at all, make sure you installed the core package from our drivers page.
2. Look in the Windows taskbar for the added icon (usually lower-right corner of the computer screen). If you do not see the EasyTether icon there, press small Up arrow (right-left arrow for Vista/XP) to unhide all the icons. If that does not help either, open Windows Task Manager, switch to Processes tab, find easytthr.exe there, right-click it, select 'End Process' then launch it again from the Start menu.
3. Now right-click the EasyTether icon in the Windows taskbar. You should see the popup menu:
4. Click the 'USB: Android' option. If you get 'No devices to connect' instead, see here.

I see 'No devices to connect' instead of the expected 'USB: Android' option when I right-click the EasyTether icon in the Windows taskbar

As a general note, device recognition never depends on the smartphone-side EasyTether application. It only depends on the computer-side USB drivers and the built-in (i.e. non-EasyTether) USB options on your smartphone.

1. So the first thing to check is the USB debugging option in Settings → Developer options on your smartphone (Settings → Applications → Development on older Android versions). It must be enabled.
2. If the problem persists see the advice below depending on your smartphone vendor.

   Samsung smartphones

   Install the supplementary driver either from our site or from Samsung support site. Note most Samsung smartphones have been including the supplementary driver on the built-in installation media since May 2011.

   LG smartphones (including Verizon-branded models)

   Install the supplementary driver either from LG support page (preferred) or from our site. On LG devices with Android 5.0 onwards use the PTP mode when attaching the device (by default MTP mode is activated).

   Huawei smartphones (including Verizon / T-Mobile / Vodafone-branded models)

   Install the supplementary driver from the built-in installation media (i.e. the pseudo CD-ROM device that Huawei smartphones export when attached). These devices also suffer from a very buggy USB debugging option; for the best result, unplug the device, turn USB debugging off, reboot the device, enable USB debugging then re-attach the device.

   Motorola smartphones

   Make sure the USB mass storage mode is active on your smartphone (these devices may ignore the USB debugging option in Charge only mode). If that does not help, install the Motorola USB driver from their site.

   Casio G'zOne Commando

   Install the Casio USB driver package (C771 USB Driver V1.0.11.0.msi or similar) from the built-in installation media.

I cannot open any web pages after successfully establishing the EasyTether connection

1. Disable any other LAN and/or a WiFi connections on your computer before connecting via EasyTether.

I get the 'Connection failed. Enable Easytether network adapter in Network Connections' message

It looks like the EasyTether network adapter driver disappeared for some reason.

If you upgraded to Windows 10 recently:

Upgrade the EasyTether core computer-side software to version 1.3.3 at least. It is available at the EasyTether drivers page.

Any other case (i.e. Windows 10 is not involved):

Try to find the adapter in Device Manager → Network adapters and enable it (right-click → Enable). If it is not there, unplug the device, close EasyTether tray agent, uninstall the EasyTether software, reboot the computer then install the latest version of the EasyTether computer-side software.

I get the unexpected 'Connection closed' (or 'Connection dropped') message on my computer

1. Make sure to update the smartphone-side application to v1.1.18 or higher. See the version number in EasyTether on your smartphone.
2. Make sure to either disable any third-party task killers or task managers on your phone or add EasyTether to their exceptions list.

I was on dial-up and my browser keeps trying to dial-up

Close all browser windows, open Internet Explorer (even if you use another browser), click Service → Options and enable 'do not use dial-up connections' checkbox.

ADB on Mac OS X stops recognizing the attached device after installing EasyTether driver

Do not follow this advice if you are not a software developer who uses the Android SDK on Mac. Otherwise run 'sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/EasyTetherUSBEthernet.kext' to unload the EasyTether driver manually. Load it again with kextload when necessary.

How do I tether a computer with Ubuntu, Fedora or other Linux distro installed?

First install the appropriate computer-side package from our drivers page and check any distro-specific notes below. Then to establish the connection:

via USB:

Version 0.8.5+ supports USB hotplug out of the box, just make sure to enable the USB service in EasyTether on the phone before attaching the device. Alternatively, open the command-line environment (e.g. Terminal, Konsole etc) then run as root:

via Bluetooth:

Pair your phone to your Linux computer first. Then (and only then) open the command-line environment and run as root: where xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx must be replaced by the actual Bluetooth address of your phone (EasyTether shows it on the main screen for your convenience).

You can use the standard sudo utility to run one command as root. Note EasyTether 0.8.4+ properly drops root privileges (to dedicated unprivileged user) and locks itself in the chroot(2) jail for more secure operation. It needs root privileges only to instantiate TUN/TAP interface and (on certain Linux distributions) open USB device.

Some Linux systems need additional steps:

Arch Linux and derivatives:

For i686/x86_64 configure the tap-easytether network interface somehow (on each successful connection attempt): Alternatively, enable and start (once) the dhcpcd service for all network interfaces: For ARM just restart (once) the systemd-networkd service.

Mageia 6:

Mageia binaries rely on systemd-resolved (installed and enabled by default in Mageia) so make sure to configure the /etc/resolv.conf file to be a symbolic link pointing to /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf (or edit /etc/nsswitch.conf appropriately). Otherwise DNS resolution will not work.

openSUSE Leap:

Network interface will be configured automatically only if you use wicked.

Ubuntu 20.04, Mint 20, 19:

Restart (once) systemd-networkd, e.g.:

Ubuntu 18.04:

Make sure to enable and start (once) systemd-networkd since ifupdown scripts are no longer used:

Ubuntu 16.04, Debian 9/8, Mint 18:

These versions support USB hotplug almost out-of-the-box. Just add the following line to your /etc/network/interfaces file:

Ubuntu 14.04, Debian 7:

These versions fully support USB hotplug. No manual configuration needed.

How do I use EasyTether with my OpenWrt / LEDE-based router?

Instructions below apply to the version 0.8.9+ of the EasyTether router-side software.

1. Get basic knowledge about OpenWrt / LEDE (package installation, administration via web UI or SSH etc).
2. Get basic knowledge about EasyTether (importance of the USB debugging option etc).
3. Install the EasyTether router-side package from our drivers page on your router. We provide several .ZIP archives for each supported OpenWrt / LEDE release. Each archive includes packages for all OpenWrt / LEDE platforms mirroring the structure of the official OpenWrt / LEDE downloads pages (where you can find all the dependency packages, such as kmod-tun). Finally, archives are divided into flavours:

   -openssl

   This variant uses the OpenSSL library. The libopenssl package is big, has additional dependencies so this flavour is unsuitable for routers with 4 MiB of flash ROM.

   -mbedtls

   This variant uses the mbedTLS library (libmbedtls) with smaller storage footprint. Unfortunately this variant is not published because of licensing restrictions.

   -tiny

   The minimal build, requires kmod-tun only. Use it if you have older phone (earlier than Android 4.2.2) or router with very limited flash ROM space.

   -bluez

   This variant provides the easytether-bluetooth binary. Bluetooth connection is hardly imagined on routers so we do not publish this flavour. Feel free to request it via e-mail though.

4. Enable the USB feature in the EasyTether phone-side application on your Android device and attach it using USB cable to your router.
5. Cryptography-enabled builds generate the RSA key pair on the first launch so please wait a bit (especially with the -mbedtls flavour, up to 30 seconds on low-end routers).
6. Finally you should see the status in the EasyTether phone-side application changes to 'Connection established'. Note on Android 4.2.2 onwards your will first see the RSA fingerprint prompt (this is the Android system feature), accept it.
7. Using OpenWrt web UI, configure the EasyTether network interface (tap-easytether) to use DHCP and make it part of your WAN zone. The same task can be accomplished via SSH of course, e.g. add in your /etc/config/network:

Normal usage (after successful configuration) is as simple as attaching the phone with enabled EasyTether USB feature. However if something went wrong:

'Connection established' does not appear on step 6.

First make sure your router recognizes the ADB interface of the attached phone. Log into your router with SSH, run the '/usr/bin/easytether-usb -l' command. If it shows nothing, follow the system-agnostic parts of the No devices to connect article. Also check (with lsmod) the 'tun' kernel module is actually loaded.

Phone-side application shows 'Connection established' but Internet does not work.

Log into your router with SSH, make sure tap-easytether is properly configured (i.e. 'ping 192.168.117.1' receives replies, name resolution works).

How do I tether a computer with FreeBSD or DragonFly BSD installed?

Generally, follow the Linux-oriented USB setup wizard in the phone-side application to accomplish common tasks (computer-side package installation, USB debugging). Final BSD-specific steps are outlined below (NOTE: tapX means tap0 unless explicitly changed).

1. Restart devd(8) to make it use configuration files in /usr/local/etc/devd in addition to the standard location.
2. Optionally, add the -ttapX option to the action line in /usr/local/etc/devd/easytether-usb.conf if you want to make easytether-usb use the non-default network interface.
3. Optionally, add the ifconfig_tapX='DHCP' line to your rc.conf(5). FreeBSD-only ifconfig_DEFAULT='DHCP' will work as well.
4. Add the tapX interface to the cloned_interfaces rc.conf(5) variable and apply all rc.conf(5) changes with 'service netif restart tapX'.
5. Make sure the USB service in EasyTether on your phone is enabled and attach the phone to your computer. Wait until status changes to 'Connection established'. Note on Android 4.2.2 onwards your will first see the RSA fingerprint prompt (this is the Android system feature), accept it.
6. If you have the proper ifconfig line in rc.conf(5), system should configure the network interface automatically. Otherwise run 'dhclient tapX' manually.
7. Check the configuration with 'ifconfig tapX' on your computer. Local address should be 192.168.117.2/24, remote address should be 192.168.117.1.

If something went wrong:

'Connection established' does not appear.

First make sure your computer recognizes the ADB interface of the attached phone. If the '/usr/local/bin/easytether-usb -l' command shows nothing, follow the system-agnostic parts of the No devices to connect article. Also check (with kldstat) the if_tap kernel module is actually loaded.

Phone-side application shows 'Connection established' but Internet does not work.

Make sure the tapX network interface is properly configured (i.e. 'ping 192.168.117.1' receives replies, name resolution works).

My problem is not described here

Please describe the problem in more details.