Love to know how you got it going on your macbook, I never could, I ended-up using bluetooth tethering instead.

I hope it really is just a driver issue & that W8 hasn't removed ad-hoc support completely.

i'm pretty sure it's Windows 8.1 that removed the functionality. Windows 8 RT just didn't support it at all. Both my surface pro and Sony laptop worked fine with the N9 hotspot running windows 8 pro. But now that I have upgraded to 8.1 with both machines, none of them can detect the network.

I don't recall ever trying it while on Windows 8. Now that I upgraded to Windows 8.1, the tablet/laptop just doesn't see it. It is working on the wife's ipad (not upgraded to iOS7 yet), Windows Vista, and my Ubuntu box. IMHO, I think MS purposely gimped Windows 8.1 of this functionality.

IIRC ad-hoc's considered as more-or-less a vulnerability in some circles, + it's a inferior approach when it comes to WLAN's, so maybe the legacy baggage has just been jettisoned, sadly.
Still, I'm sure there's ways around that on both Windows and OS X...

I have found this possible solution, it worked for me!
Sorry for my english!!
I was having the same issue.
Below is something that I found on the internet which helped me out




It turns out that Windows 8.1 doesn't show ad-hoc networks and it's by design, and the hotspot created by Joikuspot is an ad-hoc network.

There is a way to manually connect to that network, however. Note, this is NOT about how to create an ad-hoc network to share your Internet connection with another device! It's about how to connect your Windows 8.1 PC to an existing ad-hoc network created on another device.

How to connect to an ad-hoc WiFi network in Windows 8.1.

Because the wireless network picker in Windows 8.1 doesn't show ad-hoc networks, connecting must be done by hand.

To see all networks in range, including ad-hoc, run this command in command shell (cmd.exe):
> netsh wlan show networks

SETUP

This must be done only once per network.
• go to "Network and Sharing Center"
• click "Set up a new connection or network"
• double click "Manually connect to a wireless network"
• enter the SSID of the ad-hoc network (as shown by "netsh wlan show networks") into the "Network name" field
• configure security settings accordingly
• uncheck "Start this connection automatically" (important)
• click "Next", then "Close"

Run this command (important):
> netsh wlan set profileparameter <ssid> connectiontype=ibss

Replace <ssid> with the SSID of your network.

CONNECT

After setting up, run this command whenever you want to connect:
> netsh wlan connect <ssid>

Replace <ssid> with the SSID of your network.

Hovering over WiFi icon in system tray will show the name of the network that you are currently connected to, even if it's an ad-hoc network (the network picker will not show it if it's ad-hoc). The name is also visible in "Network and Sharing Center" window.

DISCONNECT

To disconnect from the ad-hoc network: connect to a different network, turn off wifi, or run this command:
> netsh wlan disconnect

CLEANUP

To remove the network profile from Windows, run this command:
> netsh wlan delete profile <ssid>

Replace <ssid> with the SSID of your network.

Source : http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...2-9312b179aa3b

Good Luck!!

sounds like a lot of work. i've actually found a workaround for this that is much simpler.

just download the wefi app (it's free on their site). then run it, and it will show any ad-hoc networks, and you can just click on it and connect. you can leave the app open all the time and use that to connect to networks, or just close it and run it each time time want to connect to your hotspot.