Quick fix: Open Settings → Network & internet → Mobile hotspot. Toggle off Power saving (turn off when no devices connected). Also: Settings → System → Power & battery → Screen and sleep — set Sleep to Never while hotspot is active. Hotspot disconnects when PC sleeps.

You enable Mobile hotspot on Windows 11 to share Wi-Fi or Ethernet with phones/tablets. Connects fine for 1 minute, then disconnects. Devices lose Wi-Fi access. The cause is one of: Windows’s power-saving auto-disable, idle-timeout, or system sleep dropping the hotspot.

Symptom: Windows 11 Mobile hotspot turns off after about 1 minute despite devices being connected or trying to connect.
Affects: Windows 11 (and Windows 10) Mobile hotspot feature.
Fix time: ~5 minutes.

What causes this

Windows’s Mobile hotspot has a power-saving feature that turns it off when no devices are connected. If devices try to connect just after the timeout, they miss the SSID. Hotspot also disables when PC enters Sleep mode. Combined: the hotspot becomes flaky on laptops with aggressive power settings.

Method 1: Disable hotspot power saving

The primary fix.

Open Settings → Network & internet → Mobile hotspot.
Find Power saving: When no devices are connected, automatically turn off mobile hotspot.
Toggle Off.
Hotspot stays on continuously until you manually disable.
Test: enable hotspot. Wait 5 minutes without connecting devices. Hotspot still active.
Connect a device. Should pair successfully without timing out.

This handles the timeout case.

Method 2: Prevent system sleep while hotspot is active

For laptops where Sleep drops the hotspot.

Open Settings → System → Power & battery → Screen and sleep.
Set On battery, put my device to sleep after → Never.
Set When plugged in, put my device to sleep after → Never.
Or set to longer values: 4 hours, 8 hours.
For per-session: enable hotspot, leave PC running, return when needed.
For laptops on battery: hotspot uses significant power. Either keep on AC, or accept short hotspot sessions.
For Surface and some laptops with Modern Standby: even with sleep set to Never, Connected Standby may engage. powercfg /a in Terminal shows available sleep states; if Modern Standby is listed, no traditional S3 sleep. May need BIOS changes (varies by laptop).

This prevents sleep-induced disconnect.

Method 3: Reset network stack and reset hotspot

For persistent disconnect issues.

Open Terminal (Admin). Reset networking:

netsh int ip reset
netsh winsock reset
netsh wlan reset hostednetwork

Reboot.
Re-enable hotspot. Test stability.
For specific Wi-Fi driver issues: update Wi-Fi driver from manufacturer (Intel, Realtek, Qualcomm). Manufacturer driver often more reliable than Windows generic.
Check Wi-Fi adapter properties: Device Manager → Network adapters → Wi-Fi adapter → Properties → Power Management tab. Untick Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
For older Wi-Fi adapters (pre-2017): may not support hotspot reliably. USB Wi-Fi adapter or external dongle as workaround.

This handles driver/adapter-level issues.

How to verify the fix worked

Enable Mobile hotspot. Leave running for 10+ minutes without connecting devices. Hotspot stays on.
Connect phone to hotspot. Internet works. After 5 minutes of use, still connected.
Sound from phone using hotspot data audible if streaming.

If none of these work

If hotspot still drops: 5 GHz vs. 2.4 GHz: some phones don’t see Windows hotspot on 5 GHz. Switch hotspot to 2.4 GHz: Mobile hotspot → Edit → Network band. For wireless adapters that can’t host simultaneously: some Wi-Fi cards can’t be client and host at same time. They must choose. Check adapter specs. Use Ethernet for PC’s internet, Wi-Fi for hotspot. For VPN-connected PC: hotspot shares the VPN tunnel (or doesn’t, depending on config). VPN drop = hotspot drop. Use kill switch carefully. For phones that can’t connect at all: PSK/password mismatch. Re-create hotspot with simple password. Last resort: use a dedicated travel router (TP-Link, GL.iNet) for reliable hotspot. PC stays connected; router shares.

Bottom line: Disable hotspot power-saving in Settings → Network & internet → Mobile hotspot. Set system sleep to Never while hotspot is active. Update Wi-Fi driver if drops persist.