While there are a variety of issues that one comes across on their computer every now and then, some of the most arduous ones usually revolve around the network. Of these, problems revolving around internet connectivity often turn out to be the most annoying, leaving you with no internet access. To help fix such issues, here’s a guide with solutions to some of the most common and annoying WiFi problems on your Windows 10 machine.
8 Ways to Fix WiFi Issues on Windows 10
1. Uninstall network adapter
i. Open the quick link [Windows key + X] and click on Device Manager.
ii. Tap on Network adapters and locate your network adapter. Right-click on the network adapter, and select Uninstall.
iii. If a prompt appears, check the checkbox next to Delete the driver software for this device and hit OK.
iv. Restart the machine, and you will have the driver automatically installed upon restart.
2. Update network adapter driver
Automatic method –
i. Press Windows key + X and click on Device Manager.
ii. Here, locate your network adapter and select Update Driver Software. Now tap on Search automatically for updated driver software, and follow the on-screen instructions.
iii. Once the driver is successfully installed, restart your computer.
Manual method –
i. If you have a .exe file for your driver, double-click on it to install the driver on your computer.
ii. Alternatively, if you have downloaded individual files (with a .sys and a .inf file name extension), follow the same process as automatic update, except, upon clicking on Update Driver Software, tap on Browse my computer for driver software, select your downloaded file, and hit OK.
iii. As soon as the driver is installed, restart the machine.
3. Change network mode
i. Open Network and Sharing Center.
ii. Select Change adapter settings and locate your wireless network adapter. Right-click on it and select Properties.
iii. In the Properties window, click on the Configure button.
iv. Now, go to the Advanced tab, scroll down to find Wireless Mode, and click on it.
v. Finally, change the Wireless Mode to the same mode as your router and hit OK. (Most of the time, this is either 802.11b or 802.11g)
4. Manage Network adapter’s power management settings
i. Open Device Manager and navigate to Network adapters.
ii. Right-click on your network adapter and select Properties.
iii. From here, tap on the Power Management tab.
iv. Uncheck the checkbox next to . Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power and hit OK.
5. Unblock web access through Firewall (temporarily)
i. Go to Start and search for the command prompt.
ii. Right-click on it and select Run as administrator.
iii. Here, type netsh advfirewall setallprofiles state off and hit Enter.
6. Disable and Enable network connection
i. Open Network and Sharing Center.
ii. Select Change adapter settings from the left-hand menu.
iii. Right-click on your network and tap on Disable.
iv. Once that’s done, right-click again, and this time, tap on Enable.
7. Forget Network and connect again
i. Open Settings and go to Network & Internet.
ii. Tap on Manage Wi-Fi settings.
iii. Here, scroll down to the Manage known networks section.
iv. Now, tap on your network name and hit the Forget button.
v. Finally, connect to the network again by entering your password.
8. Use Troubleshooter to fix network connectivity
Go to Start and search for Troubleshooting. Tap on it and select Network and Internet. From here, tap on Internet Connections and hit Next. In case that itself doesn’t fix the issue, you can try using some commands. For this, press Windows + X and run Command Prompt as administrator. Now, in the command prompt window, use the following commands –
i. netsh winsock reset – reset back to default setting or clean state
ii. ipconfig /release – force the client to give up its lease
iii. ipconfig /renew – renew/assign a new IP address
iv. netsh int ip reset – reset TCP/IP back to its original configuration
v. ipconfig /flushdns – clear the current cache of DNS records
That’s it. By now, you must be able to connect to your network and access the internet as you did earlier on your Windows 10 machine. Besides, if the problems still persist, Microsoft also has an essential troubleshooting guide, which you can check out here.