So, the problem is your wifi not working on Windows 10 laptop. Hey! Welcome to the club. Tons of Windows 10 users who are dealing with the same right now. The other day when I faced this issue of the wifi not working on Windows 10 laptop of mine, I was asking google for its solution. Astonishingly, I found out that the web is flooding with alike search phrases -

  • Windows 10 no Wifi option in settings.
  • Windows 10 wifi driver
  • Wifi is not working on Windows 10 laptop despite internet connection
  • WIndows 10 wifi disconnects frequently
  • WIndows 10 wifi adapter is missing
  • Why is wifi not working on Windows 10 laptop?

  Also Read: How to Fix HP Laptop Wi-Fi Not Working Problem

Now, as you can understand, this wifi not working on windows 10 has many faces and it appears in front of you for many reasons. Thus, the focus of this article is to address these similar wifi related issues and how to fix these wifi glitches in spartan ways.

Forewords

Before we dig deep into this problem, Windows 10 is great to work with as it’s one of the best OS out there on the web. Admittedly, there are many sterling features like Cortana integration, virtual machine, the latest Edge web browser, Universal apps, and Windows action center. But, the most important and the most debated feature of Windows 10 is the return of the good old ‘Start menu’. But, with all these bright sides, there are some fallbacks too and one of them is the Windows 10 wifi. And, often it’s found that users are facing troubles and that’s - wifi not working on Windows 10. Now, it may appear silly to you, but it’s always better to check for these. Who knows a simple ‘overlooked silly mistake’ will save the day for you? So, before gunning for the big issues, check these:

  • Is your modem and/or router powered on?
  • If your laptop has a physical wifi switch, is it switched on?
  • Have you tried to reboot your modem/router?
  • Have you tried to reboot your Windows 10 laptop?
  • Have you tried to reset the physical connection of your wifi network?
  • Is your ISP healthy?

If the answer to each of these questions is ‘yes’ then it’s time to move to the deeper areas. So, let us move to our focal point - why is the Wifi not working on Windows 10?

Alo Read: Wifi Not Working On Dell Laptop? Resolve this in 5 Easy Steps

Wifi not working in windows 10 despite the Internet connection is active.

The exact message from the Windows 10 may look like this -’Windows 10 can’t connect to this network’. It’s probably the Windows 10 network adapter or the Wifi driver is not working properly. Further, to check the health of the network adapter and solve this issue, try this:

  1. Press the Windows button + X.
  2. Locate and click on ‘Device Manager’.
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_device_manager
  1. Locate the option ‘Network Adapter’
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_network_adapter
  1. Expand ‘Network adapter’ and choose ‘uninstall device’
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_network_adapter_uninstall_device
  1. Further, choose ‘Delete the driver software for this device’
  2. Now, ‘Restart’ your Windows 10 laptop.
  3. You will notice that after restarting your laptop Windows will search and re-install the required driver software for wifi connection.

So, it seems fairly easy. Right? Now, if this doesn’t solve your particular problem and that’s your wifi not working on Windows 10 laptop, try the other solutions that are detailed in this article. Added to this, there’s another way around to address this wifi issue and that’s the version of the driver software. Technically, at times windows 10 fails to update the required driver software due to network limitations and its internal updating system’s glitches. So, at that time, the version of any driver software can cause unexpected annoyances. Thankfully, there’s a simple way to fix this windows 10 wifi problem.

Fix the Windows 10 Wifi Driver Version.

Please, follow this:

  1. Press the Windows button + ‘X’, or right-click on the ‘Start Menu’
  2.  
  3. Choose ‘Device manager’.
  4. Locate the section ‘network adapters’
  5. Click on the ‘>’ sign adjacent to the ‘network adapters’ to expand the different adapter options on the drop-down list.
  6. Locate your required network adapter and right-click on it.
  7. Choose the ‘properties’ option.
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_required_network_adapter_properties
  1. Now, in the newly opened window choose the ‘Driver’ tab.
  2. Choose either the ‘Update Driver’ or the ‘Roll-back Driver’ option.
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_network_adapter_properties_driver

Now, if Windows finds an updated version of the required driver software, automatically, it will solve the problem. Else, you will have to go to your laptop manufacturer’s website to search and download if there is an updated version of the driver software that you are looking for. Restart your laptop if there’s any version change of the existing driver software.

Is your Wifi not working on Windows 10 because it can’t find any Wifi network?

This wifi issue is also related to the driver software. But, you will have to be sure that your wifi connection is healthy and it has access to the web. Before changing anything on the Windows 10, you need to make sure of this. And, it’s fairly easy to check the condition of a wifi network. Try connecting another wifi-smart device with your wifi network. Check whether that device gets connected to the wifi network and gets access to the web. If it’s not, then it’s time to turn your attention towards your modem and/or your wifi router. Further, there can be a problem with your ISP too. So, it’s better to gradually narrow down the area, systematically, to find the root cause of the wifi issue and the particular piece of hardware or software responsible for it. Coming back to the Windows 10 laptop, let’s consider that, your ‘Windows update settings’ is in auto mode. It’s fine. Now, what happens is that Windows 10 will automatically look for driver software updates from its official store, and if there are any it will download and install that updated version of the driver software. So, up to this point, this is ok but, it may happen that just after the installation of the driver your wifi adapter may get blind to the previously known wifi network. The result? Windows 10 can’t find wifi network - becomes a real hiccup. The remedy? You will have to roll-back the driver software version of your windows 10 wifi network adapter. And, the process of getting there is already discussed in the previous section. So, chill. It’s like getting two birds stoned at once. But, the problem can get triggered from another area. Not all but a considerable number of windows 10 network adapters have access to the ‘region’ property. And, that can be a reason for your wifi not working on Windows 10 laptop. How to fix it? Please follow these:

  1. Press the Windows key + R.
  2. Key in ‘devmgmt.msc’ and hit ‘Enter’.
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_devmgmt
  1. Choose the ‘Network adapter’ and expand it.
  2. From the dropped-down list of adapters, choose the name of your required ntwork adapter.
  3. Choose ‘Properties’ and then the ‘Advanced’ tab.
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_required_network_adapter_properties_advanced
  1. Highlight the ‘Country & Region’ tab.
  2. Key in your values.

Bingo. You are done. Now, reboot the laptop and you may find that now the Windows 10 can find your wifi network and you can connect to that.

Wifi is connected. Internet connection is live. But, no access to the web.

It seems weird. Right? Everything is there and working fine but still, it’s like getting back the square one - wifi not working on Windows 10. Bummer! Yes. It happens. And, there are three cardinal issues behind it. Namely, DNS client resolver cache, glitchy TCP/IP stack, and IP address coupled issues. Thankfully, it can be easily fixed through the ‘network troubleshooter’. Go to Windows 10 Settings >> Update & Security >> Troubleshoot >> Internet Connections. 

wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_troubleshoot_internet_connection

Now, this is an easy fix. But, at times it fails to kill the problem. There is another way to fix this issue and that’s through the windows command line.

Fix Windows 10 wifi problems through the command prompt.

There is a set of commands that you will have to run using the Windows command prompt. Type 'cmd' in the left search box on the taskbar. Now, right-click on Command Prompt App and select 'Run as administrator', then click 'Yes'. Here, it's always a better practice to analyze the network connection report to understand the connection problems before you try to fix it. Type 'netsh wlan show wlanreport' and it will generate an HTML file covering all the WiFi events from the last three days. The results are grouped by WiFi sessions which also reveal the reason for the disconnection. That's how it becomes easy for you to evaluate the reason behind the situation of WiFi not working on Windows 10 on your laptop. Now, if you are done here, let's focus on fixing. Try running each command shown below successively and press ‘Enter’ after keying in each command into the command prompt window.

  1. ‘netsh winsock reset’ - recover from any probable socket error
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_command_prompt_administrator
  1. ‘ipconfig /release’ - release the preset IP address
  2. ‘netsh int ip reset’ - resetting the TCP/IP protocols to its default value
  3. ‘ipconfig /renew’ - renew the IP address
  4. ‘ipconfig /flushdns’ - flush DNS values

Reboot your laptop and check. If you are still stuck with the ‘wifi not working on Windows 10’ issue there are other ways to arrest the problem.

Other common wifi issues and their fixes.

Firewall & Anti-Virus:

  • Maybe the Windows 10 Firewall is blocking the way of your laptop to get connected to any wifi network. Turn off or disable the Windows firewall and try reconnecting your laptop with the wifi network. If everything goes fine, turn on or enable the firewall again. This whole workaround is true for the anti-virus programs too.

Wireless profile:

  • Yor windows 1o wireless profile may get bugged. It’s better to delete the wireless profile and re-create the same to freshen things up.

Do this: Go to Search >> CMD >> Command prompt and run this command - ‘netsh wlan delete profile name=’your profile name’’. Replace ‘your profile name’ with your actual profile name. Hit ‘Enter’. Now, recreate your wireless profile again.

Disable IPv6:

  • Both on your windows laptop and your router. Go to: Network and Sharing Center >> Connections(your active connection will get highlighted) >> Properties >> Uncheck the box adjacent to the IPv6 option.
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_settings_network_and_sharing_center
wifi_not_working_on_windows_10_settings_connection_properties

I bet if the problem of your wifi not working on Windows 10 laptop is still not solved, then it’s probably any deep hardware issue, and it’s definitely out of the ‘can be done at home’ type of workarounds. So, it’s better to check your laptop with the local professionals. But, I will strongly recommend you to bring your laptop to an authorized laptop service center and solve the issue.

Here is the List of Dell Authorised Service Center in Kolkata | Lenovo Authorised Service Center in Kolkata