The laptop does not catch the wireless network. The laptop does not want to see your Wi-Fi network in Windows - several effective ways to solve the problem

If you got a brand new laptop or your existing device stopped seeing available wireless networks, if after the next reboot or the next update of Windows and the driver your device stopped connecting to Wi-Fi, if you observe some difficulties when searching for a network or connecting to them, then this article is what you need. In it, we will analyze the most effective methods that will help eliminate the incorrect operation of equipment and explain why “the laptop does not see Wi-Fi” and “an error occurs when connecting to a Wi-Fi network.” Consider other issues related to the correct operation of Wi-Fi on a laptop.

You can solve the problem with detecting a Wi-Fi network yourself

Below we present detailed instructions to troubleshoot various problems. But the first thing to do to find out the reason why the laptop does not see the Wi-Fi network is to identify the source of the problem. Several components are responsible for the correct operation of the Internet connection and the Wi-Fi connection of your computer:

A wireless router that is responsible for the direct creation and operation of the network.
A network adapter built into a laptop that is responsible for receiving and processing the signal sent by the router.
Drivers and software that ensure stable and correct operation of the network adapter.

If at least one of these components does not work as it should or does not work at all, the laptop will not see the Wi-Fi network or simply refuse to connect to it. Consider what needs to be done in order to identify the source of the problem. Knowing at what stage the snag occurs, you can proceed to troubleshoot and provide your computer with a quality Internet connection.

First of all, we recommend checking if Wi-Fi is activated in your laptop and whether it is ready to receive a signal. You can do this in various ways. The most obvious one is to find the wireless icon on the keyboard and activate the network adapter. The thing is that in most laptop models, to save battery power, Wi-Fi is quickly turned on and off. To do this, there is a button with the corresponding icon on the keyboard. On some models, this is the F2 or F3 key, which must be pressed at the same time as the Fn function button. And in some models, a special toggle switch can be built in, which is located on the side panel or at the top of the keyboard, separately from the main set of keys.

If a specific laptop model does not have a key to activate Wi-Fi, you can do this in the Windows Control Panel. To get started, follow this path: Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center. A new window will open in front of you, where you need to pay attention to the column on the left. Find the item "Change adapter settings" in it and click on it. You will see all the adapters and network connections that exist on your device.

Find “Wireless Network Connection” among them and see what is written right under its icon. If the status is "Disabled", then you need to right-click on the connection and click on the "Enable" item in the drop-down menu that opens. After that, go to the system tray in the lower right corner of the display. The icon of the active wireless adapter will be displayed there and by clicking on it, you can search for Wi-Fi sources.

Checking the router

The next step is to check the router. The easiest and most effective way to check the performance and correctness of the router settings is to connect another device to the target network, which will become an indicator of correct or incorrect operation. If another computer, tablet or smartphone connects to the Internet without any problems using the selected equipment, it will be quite easy to conclude that the router is working correctly, and the problem most likely lies in the laptop and its components. Software or hardware - we'll figure it out a little later. If the connection does not occur or the access point is also not visible on other devices, then it is worth re-configuring the router or diagnosing it.

There are times when a laptop sees available networks (neighboring offices, apartments, etc.), but your access point is simply not on this list. In this situation, we recommend that you search in close proximity to the router. This is necessary in cases where the device is new and recently configured. Perhaps its settings or location do not allow it to broadcast a signal to the required distance, while in close proximity it can work flawlessly. In the event that the laptop sees the desired network in close proximity to the router, you will need to check the settings of the latter.

Checking and installing the driver

What to do if all the previous steps were completed, but the laptop did not see the available Wi-Fi sources, we will consider in this section. In the case when the network adapter driver is not installed, does not work or does not work correctly, you can see the corresponding icon in the system tray - the monitor and cable icon crossed out with a red cross. In this case, do the following:

open the properties of your computer by right-clicking on the corresponding icon on the desktop;
a new window will open in front of you, in the left column of which you can find "Device Manager". Run it;

Among the "Unknown devices" may be the required network adapter

in a large list with nested items and a large number of categories, find Network adapters;
since there are usually several of these adapters in your PC (wired and wireless), find the wireless one among them. Most often, it is listed as Wireless Network Adapter or a derivative of a similar phrase;
click on this line (you also need to do this with the right mouse button) and in the drop-down list that appears, select the very last item - “Properties”;
you will see the system properties window of the adapter. Check it for the status indicated in the “Device Status” item. If the status differs from "The device is working normally", this indicates the incorrect operation of the driver or its complete absence. This happens after a system reset. In this case, you will need to visit the official website of the manufacturer and download the driver for the Wireless Network Adapter designed specifically for your model on the support page.

After installing the wireless adapter driver, you must restart your computer. After turning on the computer, go to the "Control Panel" again and check the status of the device again by opening its properties. Now the status should sound like "The device is working properly" - this means that you can start searching for available networks and connecting.

Fallback

A situation may arise when you carefully followed all the steps mentioned, made sure that the settings were correct or did it again from scratch, the performance of all important components, it would seem, is beyond doubt, but the laptop still does not see even the nearest Wi-Fi networks. Recommended to visit service center for complete and professional device diagnostics. It is necessary to do this to diagnose the router in the event that not a single device could detect a wireless network signal, but you are sure that the settings are correct. Or for a full laptop test - in the case when all drivers are installed and updated, but the network adapter still does not see a single Wi-Fi network or the system even reports errors and incorrect operation of network equipment.

A fairly common problem, especially common after some changes: reinstalling the operating system, replacing the router, updating firmware, etc. Sometimes, finding the cause is not easy enough, even for an experienced master.

In this short article, I would like to dwell on a couple of cases due to which, most often, the laptop does not connect via Wi-Fi. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with them and try to restore the network on your own before turning to outside help. By the way, if it says “without access to the Internet” (and the yellow sign is on) - then you better look.

1. Reason #1 - Wrong/Missing Driver

A very common reason why a laptop does not connect via Wi-Fi. Most often, the following picture appears before you (if you look in the lower right corner):

No connections available. The network is crossed out with a red cross.

After all, as it happens: the user downloaded a new Windows OS, burned it to disk, copied all his important data, reinstalled the OS, and installed the drivers that used to be ...

The fact is that drivers that worked in Windows XP may not work in Windows 7, those that worked in Windows 7 may refuse to work in Windows 8.

Therefore, if you are updating the OS, and indeed, if Wi-Fi does not work, first of all check whether you have the drivers, whether they were downloaded from the official site. Anyway, I recommend reinstalling them and watching the reaction of the laptop.

How to check if there is a driver in the system?

Very simple. Go to "my computer", then right-click anywhere in the window and select "properties" in the pop-up window. Further, on the left, there will be a link "Device Manager". By the way, you can also open it from the control panel, through the built-in search.

Here we are most interested in the tab with network adapters. Look carefully if you have a wireless network adapter, as in the picture below (of course, you will have your own adapter model).

It is also worth paying attention to the fact that there should not be any exclamation marks or red crosses - which indicates problems with the driver, that it may not work correctly. If everything is fine - it should be displayed as in the picture above.

Where is the best place to get a driver?

It is best to download it from the official website of the manufacturer. Also, usually, instead of with a laptop, native drivers come, you can use them.

Even if you have native drivers installed and the Wi-Fi network does not work, I recommend trying to reinstall them by downloading them from the official website of the laptop manufacturer.

Important notes when choosing a laptop driver

1) In their name, most likely (99.8%), there should be the word " wireless«.
2) Correctly determine the type of network adapter, there are several of them: Broadcom, Intel, Atheros. Usually, on the manufacturer's website, even in a specific laptop model, there may be several versions of drivers. To know exactly which one you need, use the utility.

The utility perfectly determined what equipment is installed in the laptop. You don't need to install any settings, just run it.

H several sites of popular manufacturers:

Acer: http://www.acer.ru/ac/ru/RU/content/home

HP: http://www8.hp.com/en/en/home.html

Asus: http://www.asus.com/en/

One more thing! The driver can be found and installed automatically. This is described in the article. I recommend to take a look.

2. Reason #2 - Is Wi-Fi turned on?

Very often you have to watch how the user tries to look for the causes of breakdowns where there are none ...

Most laptop models have an LED indicator on the case that signals Wi-Fi operation. So, it must be on fire. To turn it on, there are special functional buttons, the purpose of which is indicated in the product passport.

For example, on Acer laptops, Wi-Fi is enabled by pressing the Fn + F3 buttons.

You can do it differently.

Go to "Control Panel" your Windows OS, then the "network and internet" tab, then " network and sharing center", and finally -" Change adapter settings«.

Here we are interested in the wireless connection icon. It should not be gray and colorless, as in the picture below. If the wireless network icon is colorless, then right-click on it and click " enable".

You will immediately notice that even if it does not join the Internet, it will become colored (see below). This signals that the laptop adapter has worked and it can connect via Wi-Fi.

3. Reason #3 - Incorrect Settings

It often happens that the laptop cannot connect to the network due to a changed password or router settings. This can happen through no fault of the user. For example, the router settings may be lost when the power is turned off during its intensive work.

1) Checking settings in Windows

First, pay attention to the tray icon. If there is no red cross on it, then there are available connections and you can try to join them.

We click on the icon and a window should appear in front of us with all the Wi-Fi networks that the laptop has found. Select your network and click Connect. We will be asked to enter a password, if it is correct, then the laptop should connect via Wi-Fi.

2) Checking the router settings

If it is impossible to connect to the Wi-Fi network, and Windows reports an incorrect password, go to the router settings and change the default settings.

In order to enter the settings of the router, go to " http://192.168.1.1/" (No quotes). Usually, this address is used by default. The default password and login, most often, " admin" (in small letters without quotes).

Next, change the settings in accordance with your provider settings and router model (if they go wrong). In this part, it is difficult to give some advice, a more extensive article on creating a local Wi-Fi network at home.

Important! It happens that the router does not connect to the Internet automatically. Go to its settings and check if it is trying to connect, and if not, try connecting to the network manually. This error often happens on TrendNet brand routers (at least it used to be on some models, which I personally encountered).

4. If all else fails...

If you've tried everything and nothing helps...

I will give two tips that help me personally.

1) From time to time, for reasons unknown to me, the Wi-Fi network is turned off. The symptoms are different every time: sometimes it says there is no connection, sometimes the tray icon lights up as it should, but there is still no network ...

A 2-step recipe helps to quickly restore a Wi-Fi network:

1. I disconnect the power supply of the router from the network for 10-15 seconds. Then I turn it on again.

2. I restart the computer.

After that, oddly enough, the Wi-Fi network, and with it the Internet, work as expected. Why and because of what this is happening - I don’t know, I don’t want to dig either, somehow. this happens quite rarely. If you know why, please share in the comments.

2) It was once that it was not at all clear how to turn on Wi-Fi - the laptop does not respond to the function keys (Fn + F3) - the LED is off, and the tray icon says that “there are no connections available” (moreover, it does not find Not one). What to do?

I tried a bunch of ways, I already wanted to reinstall the system with all the drivers. But I tried to diagnose the wireless adapter. And what would you think - he diagnosed the problem and recommended to fix it "reset settings and turn on the network", which I agreed with. After a few seconds, the network started working ... I recommend trying it.

That's all. Happy settings...

We will explain why the laptop does not see Wi-Fi and how to solve the problem we will explain in the article, since no one is immune from malfunctions of the wireless Internet connection. The WiFi connection may not be functional for a number of reasons. And it is not necessary that these reasons will be somehow connected with each other.

Content:

You can easily check why the laptop does not see the Wi-Fi network. To do this, we first check the access point or router, as well as the laptop itself for performance. It is important to know which device is causing the problem.

Let's start with the router. Quite a common cause of a malfunction is the banal “freezing” of equipment. The first sign of this is an atypical indication, that is, the LEDs on the router are blinking in an unusual mode. To correct the situation, restart the device or unplug it, wait a couple of minutes, and then turn it on again. If it's a minor internal glitch, restarting solves the problem. The laptop, in turn, will quickly pick up the signal.

Voltage fluctuations can cause parameter reset. The router stops signaling. In some cases, the Internet connection is also lost. If this happens, then the settings must be re-entered using the device web interface. Input addresses: 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. The choice will depend on the model of the router. You can access the interface from any browser. If after that the connection worked, then everything is in order with the device.

Useful advice: The reason for the incapacity of the router is often the involuntary reset of the router to the original settings. To set up the configuration again, it is better to use the services of specialists from the provider company.

If each of the ways to check the router did not work, you need to check why the laptop does not see Wi-Fi. First of all, we check the activity of the network equipment. On the case of most models of modern laptops there are LEDs. We will be interested in the one that is marked with an antenna icon or directly with the inscription "Wi-Fi". If the diode is lit, then the built-in adapter is functioning. Otherwise, the adapter must be started. We hold down the "Fn" key and another one, where there is an antenna icon.

The cause of temporary inoperability may be a malfunction of the operating system software. Connection activity will be checked through the Windows Control Panel. If it does not work, then the launch is carried out using the context menu.

The NE may not be listed at all in the list of available connections. We check the "Network Adapters" section, and more specifically, the "Wireless" wireless devices. Enable the adapter using the context menu. Then we restart the computer.

Why does the laptop not see wifi? Typical Causes

There are several simple reasons why the laptop does not see Wi-Fi. For example:

The router is not turned on - turn on the router;
No Wi-Fi coverage – get closer to the source;
Your router is "buggy" - reboot it;
W-Fi receiver is not turned on - turn it on.

However, there are more serious violations of the connection. These include:

Wi-Fi is slow, why?

In addition to the fact that the computer does not see "wi-fi", the problem of a slow connection is also relevant. There are several reasons:

Today's Internet technologies are at a very high level. This manifests itself in the spread of wireless connections to the Web using Wi-Fi. However, there are situations when a device designed to receive such a connection (laptop, tablet, smartphone) does not want to work in normal mode. The lack of access to the World Wide Web for modern people is worse than the "plague", the dependence is so strong. What is the cause of the malfunction, and how can it be fixed?

Top Causes of Wireless Network Failure

Actually, in order to start repairing, you need to determine the root cause why the laptop does not see wifi.

Here it is worth highlighting the main categories of faults:

global problems;
not working router (router);
malfunction of the wireless network module on the device;
lack of network card drivers;
software settings wireless internet in OS.

Almost all the reasons when the wifi network is not visible on the laptop can be eliminated at home. But this must be done with extreme caution so as not to aggravate the problem.

Global Wi-Fi malfunctions

Common problems include the complete absence of the Internet on the line due to the provider (for example, preventive shutdown of the Internet everywhere), the limited operation of the router, as a result of which there may be no signal (all transmitting devices have a limited range), as well as an external factor, for example, a power outage on the central control panel of the provider company.

What can be done if there is no wireless Internet due to remoteness from the router? You can move to a closer room so that the signal appears. The fewer obstacles (walls, rooms, household appliances) between the router and the laptop, the stronger and more stable the signal.

Problems with the router

But this type of problem is already somewhat more serious, although it can be fixed on its own. First of all, you need to make sure that the router is working normally. To do this, you should try to connect another device via Wi-Fi. If the signal is detected, then the problem is exclusively in the device receiving the signal. If not, then somewhere there is a breakdown in the router itself.

At the first stage, you need to try simple measures - just turn off the power from the router, wait 10-20 seconds, and then turn it on again. It happens that the router simply “freezes”, and rebooting it restores functionality. If this does not help and the laptop still does not see wifi from the router, you need to move on to the second option.

It is necessary to check whether the incoming network cable is firmly inserted into the distributing device. It happens that due to a slight deformation, movement, the cable may move away, and as a result, the connection will not be established.

Another option, how to find out why the laptop does not see wifi, is to directly check the incoming connection. To do this, you need to connect the main Internet cable to the device. If access appears, then the problem is somewhere inside the router or its settings.

Important! Sometimes, Wi-Fi interference can be caused by household appliances, such as a microwave, oven. But this is more the exception than the rule.

Laptop malfunctions

Here the range of troubleshooting is very wide, from technical causes to software, which can block the work on the Web. As with a router, almost everything can be fixed by yourself, but you need to know where and what to look for. By the way, if it is not clear what to do if the laptop does not see wifi, then it is better to immediately take the equipment to a service center, where specialists will quickly fix the problem.

Technical reasons for the lack of Wi-Fi due to the fault of the laptop

There are several options here. The most common is to turn off the wireless connection button on the laptop keyboard. It is located near the F4-F5 keys. Press again to turn on Wi-Fi.

Another option is to turn off the toggle switch on the front of the device. In a similar way, you need to move the slider to the right position, and wireless Internet should appear. As you can see, these problems are easily solved in a few seconds. But sometimes the reasons why the laptop does not see wifi are more serious.

For example, the failure of the network card of the laptop. No skill and knowledge will help here if this component has burned out or does not work for another reason. Only the purchase of a new board will help, and for some time you will have to be without the Internet.

Software problems with Wi-Fi connection

In this case, there are a lot of malfunction options, but most of them are eliminated very easily:

Conflict with antivirus program installed on a laptop. It is likely that this software simply blocks access to the Network. Therefore, you should temporarily disable it and check access. If there are difficulties on how to connect a laptop to wifi with the antivirus turned off, then you need to immediately configure the antivirus, or install some other software.
Firewall. The standard Windows Network Defender can also add problems, so you need to open its settings and make sure that the specified wireless Internet channel is not in the list of dangerous connections. If present, then the laptop does not see wifi. You need to completely disable the firewall or remove this channel from its blacklist.
Technical failure of network resources in the operating system. In this case, figuring out what to do if the laptop does not see wifi can be problematic. Sometimes it happens that the installation of any programs entails changes in the network settings. This problem is especially relevant when installing working programs, cryptographers, modules that require work with secure connections, and so on. If this fact is the case, then you need to identify the source of the problem, and try to do a system restore. But more on that later.
Installing third party software. It is likely that a program for distributing wifi from a laptop is installed. If its settings are incorrect, the device simply turns into a distributing element, and there will be no connection on it. But this is a very rare error.
But the failure of network drivers is the most common situation for laptop owners. "Crooked" installation, non-original assembly - there can be a lot of reasons for incorrect operation of network drivers. But the result is sad - the laptop does not see wifi, and even there is no wired connection. And there is only one solution - removing the old ones and installing the official packages, which can be found on the official website of the laptop manufacturer.

Operating system recovery

This is, of course, the most radical decision, and may entail a variety of consequences. Although usually System Restore simply rolls Windows back to an earlier restore point. If such, of course, was made. When this operation is performed, the Wi-Fi connection will also be rolled back to the last working state.

By the way, the occurrence of difficulties, how to connect a laptop to wifi, is also associated with the clogging of the operating system with all kinds of garbage, temporary files. As a result, all processes start to run very slowly, conflicts arise, including in the network.

As the most difficult option for solving the problem with accessing the Internet via Wi-Fi - a complete reinstallation of Windows. This is the very last instance, when all means have been tried, but none has brought the desired result.

Additional ways to connect Wi-Fi to a laptop

There are several more ways to check the wireless network on your device.

The same one (to use this method, you need a second laptop with such software installed on it) will help determine the source of the malfunction. If the laptop sees the distributed Wi-Fi, the reason lies in the router. If not, in the device itself. This is a very good way to check which side is disconnected.

Alternatively, you can simply go to the Network and Sharing Center, go to the "Change adapter settings" menu. All installed adapters, including wireless ones, should appear in the window that appears. It is likely that it just needs to be turned on. Or install.

Afterword

Of course, many of those users who have computer equipment at home are quite savvy in terms of finding faults and fixing them. However, Wi-Fi is a special case as it requires programming skills. Therefore, it is better not to go deep, but to turn to specialist repairmen.

You can identify the source of the signal interruption, and then repair either the laptop or the router.

Many users sooner or later face this problem. The reasons why Wi-Fi does not work on a laptop may be different. You may have recently installed a new operating system, bought a new router or reflashed the old one and others.

In general, if you are also in this situation, and you are unable to connect your laptop to a Wi-Fi network, then in this article we will look at several ways that should help you connect your laptop to Wi-Fi.

Let's start with the simplest - reboot the router. To do this, unplug the power supply from the outlet, wait 10 seconds and plug it back in. Then reboot your operating system.

Network Diagnostics

Do network diagnostics. Although many will be rather skeptical about this advice, sometimes it can also help. Right-click on the wireless network icon in the tray and select "Problem Diagnosis". Windows will check, and if it finds a problem, it will suggest ways to solve it.

If a message appears after diagnostics:, then in a separate article you can read about ways to solve this error.

If after that, the laptop still does not see Wi-Fi, check is it enabled on the laptop wireless adapter WiFi.

Find the wireless network icon on one of the F1-F12 buttons, I have it F2. Also on the button itself, near the power button or touchpad, there should be a light indicator that indicates that Wi-Fi is on. Specifically, in my case, if Wi-Fi is disabled, the indicator light is on. To turn it on, press the combination Fn + F2.

You also need to check that the network card is enabled. To do this, right-click on the wireless network icon in the tray and select "Network and Sharing Center".

In the next window, click "Change adapter settings".

If you have "Wireless Network Connection" grayed out, right-click on it and select "Enable".

After that, the icon should become colored. This indicates that the network adapter is enabled and the laptop can connect to the Wi-Fi network.

Checking Drivers

Check network adapter drivers. Click "Start" and write in the search bar "Device Manager" and follow the link you found.

Expanding the List "Network adapters". The desired adapter will be called something like: model name and "Wireless Network Adapter" (may be written Wi-Fi).

First you need to make sure it's enabled. Therefore, right-click on it, and if there is an item in the menu "Engage", click on it.

Now pay attention that there is no yellow near the adapter exclamation mark or red cross. If you have the same as in the figure below, then everything is fine with the installed drivers. If you have one of the mentioned signs (in the figure I indicated with an arrow how it might look), you need to install or update the drivers.

If your laptop came with a disk with drivers for installed devices, use it and reinstall the driver. If this does not help, and the laptop still cannot connect to Wi-Fi, go to the official website of your laptop manufacturer, download the drivers for the network adapter from there and install them.

You can read about installing drivers in the article:.

Also, to update or install missing drivers, you can use.

Checking the WLAN AutoConfig Service

This service is responsible for wireless network adapters, and if it is not running, then the adapters will be unavailable, respectively, the laptop will not be able to connect to Wi-Fi.

We go to the "Start" menu and write in the search bar "Services". Let's move on to the relevant section.

Then in the list we look for "WLAN AutoConfig Service", click on it with the right mouse button and, if it is disabled, click "Run".

Checking your router settings

Router settings can go astray, and not always through the fault of the user. Perhaps the password for accessing the network was simply changed.

If your wireless network icon is muted, and there is a yellow star next to it, click on it with the mouse, select the network and try to connect to it, having previously found out if the access password has changed. The reason may be this.

Also pay attention to the section network information (LAN). You may need to change the settings here according to the provider.

For those who get an error when trying to connect:, the article at the link can help.

I hope at least one of the tips helped you solve the question: why the laptop does not connect to Wi-Fi, and now your device is successfully connected to the network.

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Webmaster. Higher education in the specialty "Information Protection". Author of most articles and computer literacy lessons