A laptop that will not connect to Wi-Fi is a different problem from a laptop that connects but has no internet. Here the laptop cannot join the network at all — the network does not appear, the password keeps being rejected, or the connection drops after a few seconds. The cause could be the laptop, the network, or the router, and the fastest way to fix it is to find out which one before changing settings at random.
This guide uses cross-network and cross-device tests to separate the three, then works through the fixes for each, on Windows 11 and Mac. If your laptop connects fine but websites will not load, read our Wi-Fi connected but no internet guide instead — it covers the router, modem, and ISP side of the problem.
Step 1: Run the two tests that narrow it down
Before you touch a setting, answer two questions. They take two minutes and save most of the guesswork.
Test A: does the laptop connect to a different network? Try your phone’s hotspot, a neighbour’s network you have permission to use, or a public network. If the laptop connects to the hotspot but not to your home Wi-Fi, the problem is your home network or router, not the laptop. If it connects to nothing, the problem is on the laptop.
Test B: does another device connect to your home Wi-Fi? If your phone connects fine while the laptop cannot, the router is working and the problem is specific to the laptop. If no device can connect, the router or the internet service is down — restart the router and check with your ISP before doing anything to the laptop.
Keep the answers in mind as you work through the fixes. If Test A says the laptop is the problem, start with the laptop fixes below. If Test B says the router is the problem, restart the router first: unplug it from power, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in, and wait two to three minutes for it to fully boot.
Step 2: The quick laptop checks
These fix most cases in a few minutes.
Turn Wi-Fi off and on again. On Windows 11, click the network icon in the taskbar to open Quick Settings and toggle Wi-Fi off, wait a few seconds, and toggle it back on. On a Mac, click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar and turn Wi-Fi off, then on again.
Check airplane mode. On Windows, airplane mode turns off all wireless radios. If the airplane icon is showing in the taskbar, open Quick Settings and turn airplane mode off. Some laptops also have a physical Wi-Fi switch or a function key (often Fn + F2 or similar) that toggles the radio — check the keyboard if the software toggle does nothing.
Restart the laptop. A restart clears stuck network services and a driver that loaded badly. It is the simplest fix and the one most often skipped.
Move closer to the router. If the laptop sees the network but the signal is weak or the connection keeps dropping, distance and walls are a likely cause. Test with the laptop in the same room as the router. If it works there and not elsewhere, the problem is coverage, not the laptop — a router move, a mesh node, or a wired connection is the fix, not a driver update.
Step 3: Forget the network and reconnect
A saved network with a wrong password, an old security setting, or corrupted credentials will fail every time you try to join it, and the error message rarely says why.
On Windows 11: go to Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks, find your network, select Forget, then reconnect from the Wi-Fi list and type the password fresh. Check the password carefully — a single wrong character produces the same “can’t connect” message as a real fault.
On a Mac: open System Settings > Wi-Fi, click the Details or Advanced button next to your network, and select Forget This Network. Then reconnect and re-enter the password.
If the password is rejected even though you are sure it is right, check whether the password changed recently, and whether another device still connects with the same password. If the router’s password was changed, every device needs the new one.
Step 4: Check whether the Wi-Fi adapter is working
If Wi-Fi does not appear in the menu at all — no networks listed, no Wi-Fi toggle — the problem is usually the wireless adapter: disabled, driverless, or failed.
On Windows 11: open Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings. If Wi-Fi shows as disabled, select Enable. If it is not listed at all, open Device Manager from the right-click menu on Start, expand Network adapters, and look for your wireless adapter. A yellow warning symbol means the driver has a problem. If the adapter is missing entirely from the list, move to the driver checks below.
On a Mac: open Apple menu > System Settings > Network. If the Wi-Fi service is missing, open the Action menu (the three dots) and choose Add Service, set Interface to Wi-Fi, and add it. To check whether the hardware is detected at all, open About This Mac > More Info > System Report and look under Network > Wi-Fi. If the hardware is not listed there, you are likely dealing with a driver or firmware issue, or a radio failure — software fixes will not help until detection is restored.
Step 5: Fix the driver
Driver problems are a common cause, especially when Wi-Fi stops working immediately after a Windows update.
On Windows 11: open Device Manager > Network adapters, right-click your wireless adapter, and select Update driver > Search automatically for updated driver software. If the problem started right after an update, open the adapter’s Properties, go to the Driver tab, and select Roll Back Driver — this needs an administrator account and a retained previous driver; if the button is unavailable, continue with the update options. If updating does not help, choose Uninstall device, restart, and let Windows reinstall the driver automatically. If Windows offers no suitable driver, or the adapter is missing from Device Manager, download the matching wireless driver from your laptop manufacturer’s website using another device, transfer it by USB, and install it.
You can also check Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Optional updates — wireless drivers are sometimes offered there.
On a Mac: Apple ships driver fixes with system updates, so keep macOS up to date — System Settings > General > Software Update. There is no separate driver to install for the built-in Wi-Fi adapter.
One more Windows check: if Wi-Fi disappears after the laptop sleeps, Windows may be powering the adapter down. In Device Manager, open the adapter’s Properties > Power Management tab and uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
Step 6: Renew the network settings
If the laptop sees the network and the password is accepted, but the connection still fails or drops immediately, the network configuration itself may be stale.
On Windows 11: open Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Network reset, then select Reset now. This removes all network adapters and saved networks and reinstalls them, so you will need to reconnect to Wi-Fi and re-enter the password afterward. It is a bigger hammer than forgetting one network, so use it only after the earlier steps. You can also try the built-in troubleshooter first: open Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters > Network and Internet and follow the prompts.
On a Mac: forget the network as in Step 3, then open System Settings > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced > TCP/IP and click Renew DHCP Lease. This asks the router for a fresh IP address, which fixes cases where the laptop holds an address the router no longer accepts.
Step 7: Check the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands
Many routers broadcast two networks — a 2.4 GHz band with longer range and a 5 GHz band with higher speed. Some older laptops only support 2.4 GHz and cannot see the 5 GHz network at all. If your laptop cannot see the network name at all, try connecting to the 2.4 GHz version of the network (it often has a different name, or the same name with “2.4G” in it). Conversely, if the 5 GHz connection keeps dropping at distance, switch to 2.4 GHz for a more stable link.
When the laptop is not the problem
If the tests in Step 1 pointed at the router, work through the router side: restart it, check whether other devices connect, and check whether the ISP reports an outage. A laptop that connects to a phone hotspot but not to home Wi-Fi is telling you the router needs attention, not the laptop. If the router is very old, its firmware may also need an update — check the manufacturer’s support page for your model.
If the laptop connects to nothing — no hotspot, no public network, no home network — and the adapter is missing from Device Manager or System Report even after a driver reinstall, the internal Wi-Fi card may have failed. A USB Wi-Fi adapter is a cheap test: if the laptop connects through the USB adapter, the internal card is the fault, and a repair shop can replace it.
What not to do
Do not install a third-party “driver updater” or “Wi-Fi booster” app to fix this. The reputable fix is the manufacturer’s driver or Windows Update, and the apps that promise to find drivers for you are a common source of unwanted software — the same caution applies as with the Bluetooth fixes we covered for accessories. Do not reset the router to factory defaults as a first step either; that erases its settings and creates a bigger job than the one you started with.
The bottom line
Test first: try another network, and try another device on your network. If the laptop is the problem, work in order — toggle and restart, forget and reconnect, check the adapter, fix the driver, then renew the network settings. If the laptop connects everywhere except your home network, the router is the suspect. And if the adapter is missing from Device Manager or System Report entirely, no software setting will bring it back — test with a USB adapter and get the hardware checked.
