How to Fix Wi-Fi Problems on Windows (Diagnose It First)

Q: How do I fix DNS problems on Windows 11?

Run ipconfig /flushdns first. If names still fail to resolve while ping 1.1.1.1 works, set a manual DNS server in Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Hardware properties > DNS server assignment — 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 are reliable choices — then confirm with Resolve-DnsName .

Before changing any settings, find out which of three things is broken: the Wi-Fi radio link, the IP address your router hands out, or DNS. They look identical from the desktop — "no internet" — and each has a different fix, so guessing wastes time.

Two commands separate them. ping 1.1.1.1 tests whether you can reach the internet at all; ping google.com tests whether names resolve. If the first works and the second fails, your Wi-Fi is fine and DNS is the problem.

Most Wi-Fi troubleshooting advice is a list of things to click in the hope that one helps. This guide diagnoses first, because "Wi-Fi not working" covers at least three unrelated faults, and the fix for one does nothing for the others.

The 60-second diagnosis

Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run these three in order.

ping 1.1.1.1
ping google.com
netsh wlan show interfaces

Result	What is broken	Go to
Both pings fail	No working connection to the router, or no internet from it	Steps 1–3
`1.1.1.1` works, `google.com` fails	DNS only	Step 4
Both work but browsing fails	Browser, proxy or a captive portal	Step 5
Connection drops repeatedly	Signal, power management or driver	Steps 6–7

That third command reports the adapter's actual state. On the machine used to write this it printed State : disconnected, which is the honest starting point for everything below. If it says connected with a good signal but you still have no internet, the radio link is fine and the fault is further along — skip to step 3 or 4.

Step 1: confirm Windows can see the adapter at all

If the Wi-Fi option has vanished from Settings entirely, Windows is not seeing the hardware, which is a different problem from a bad connection.

Get-NetAdapter | Select-Object Name, InterfaceDescription, Status, LinkSpeed

On the machine here that lists four adapters, including Wi-Fi 2 — Realtek 8852BE Wireless LAN WiFi 6 PCI-E NIC. You are looking for a row whose description mentions Wireless or Wi-Fi.

No wireless row at all — the driver is missing or the card is disabled in firmware. Check Device Manager for a "Network adapters" entry with a warning triangle, and check for a physical Wi-Fi switch or an Fn key combination on laptops.
Row present, Status "Disabled" — enable it: Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Wi-Fi" in an administrator terminal.
Row present, Status "Disconnected" — the hardware is fine; continue to step 2.

Also check Airplane mode, which silently disables the radio and is easy to toggle by accident.

Step 2: renew the IP address

A very common failure is being connected to the access point while holding a stale or self-assigned address. The giveaway is an IP starting 169.254. — that is Windows assigning itself an address because the router never answered.

ipconfig /all

If you see a 169.254 address, or no default gateway, renew the lease from an administrator terminal:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

A healthy result has an IPv4 address in your router's range (usually 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x) and a Default Gateway that matches your router.

If renewing produces another 169.254 address, the problem is between you and the router — DHCP exhausted, MAC filtering, or the router needing a restart. Power-cycle the router: unplug it for 30 seconds, plug it back in, wait two minutes.

Step 3: reset the network stack

If the adapter is present and the address is valid but nothing passes, reset Windows' networking components. Run these in an administrator terminal, then reboot:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /flushdns

This clears the Winsock catalogue, resets the TCP/IP stack and empties the DNS cache. It is a genuine fix for a machine that stopped working after a bad VPN or security-software uninstall, both of which leave broken entries in the Winsock chain.

The reboot is not optional — the stack reset only takes effect after one. Microsoft documents the full command set in the netsh reference.

Step 4: fix DNS

If ping 1.1.1.1 succeeds and ping google.com fails, your connection works and only name resolution is broken. Websites fail while the connection tests fine, which is exactly the case people misdiagnose as "no internet".

Check what you are using:

Get-DnsClientServerAddress -AddressFamily IPv4

Flush the cache first:

ipconfig /flushdns

If that does not help, set a public resolver. In Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Hardware properties > DNS server assignment > Edit, switch to Manual, enable IPv4 and enter 1.1.1.1 with 1.0.0.1 as the alternate (Cloudflare), or 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (Google).

Then confirm resolution works:

Resolve-DnsName calcfern.com
Test-NetConnection calcfern.com -Port 443

Test-NetConnection is more useful than ping for diagnosing websites, because many servers drop ICMP while happily accepting HTTPS. A failing ping to a website does not prove the site is unreachable; a failing port-443 test does.

Step 5: connected, but pages will not load

If both pings succeed and browsing still fails, the network is fine and something above it is not.

Captive portal. Hotel, café and campus networks intercept traffic until you accept terms. Browse to http://neverssl.com — a plain HTTP site forces the portal to appear, where an HTTPS address often just fails.
Proxy left enabled. Settings > Network & internet > Proxy. A proxy pointing at something no longer running blocks everything.
VPN client. A disconnected VPN can leave a virtual adapter holding the default route. Disconnect it properly, or disable its adapter.
A slow site, not a slow connection. If one particular website is sluggish while everything else is fine, the fault is at the other end — see why a site loads slowly.
Date and time wrong. A clock that is far out makes every HTTPS certificate look invalid, so every site fails with a security warning while ping works perfectly.

Step 6: connection keeps dropping

Intermittent drops are usually power management or signal, not configuration.

Stop Windows powering the adapter down. Device Manager > Network adapters > your Wi-Fi adapter > Properties > Power Management, and untick "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". This alone fixes a large share of "drops when idle" complaints on laptops.

Check the signal honestly. netsh wlan show interfaces reports Signal as a percentage. Below about 40% expect instability. Router placement matters more than any setting: keep it off the floor, away from metal, and away from microwaves and cordless phones.

Consider the band. The same command reports which band you are on. 2.4 GHz travels further but is congested and slower; 5 GHz is faster with a shorter range. If your router publishes both under one name, moving between them can cause brief drops.

Step 7: update or roll back the driver

If problems started right after an update, the driver is the prime suspect.

netsh wlan show drivers

Get drivers from your laptop or motherboard manufacturer's support page rather than a generic download site — vendors ship adapter-specific firmware that the generic package lacks. If the trouble began immediately after an update, Device Manager > adapter > Properties > Driver > Roll Back Driver is the fastest test of that theory.

Driver rollback is also worth knowing for other hardware — the same tab appears for every device, and it is one of the fixes in our Windows 11 performance guide.

The last resort: network reset

Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Network reset removes and reinstalls every network adapter and returns all networking to defaults.

It usually works, but it forgets every saved Wi-Fi password and removes VPN configurations, so treat it as the end of the list rather than the beginning. Write down what you need before running it.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my Wi-Fi say connected but no internet?

The radio link to your router works, but something beyond it does not. Run ping 1.1.1.1 and ping google.com: if both fail you likely have a bad IP address or no internet from the router; if only the name lookup fails the problem is DNS. An address beginning 169.254 means the router never issued one.

How do I fix DNS problems on Windows 11?

Run ipconfig /flushdns first. If names still fail to resolve while ping 1.1.1.1 works, set a manual DNS server in Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Hardware properties > DNS server assignment — 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 are reliable choices — then confirm with Resolve-DnsName.

What does ipconfig /release and /renew actually do?

They give up your current DHCP lease and ask the router for a new address. It fixes cases where the machine is holding a stale or self-assigned (169.254) address. Both need an administrator terminal, and you will briefly lose connectivity while they run.

Why does my Wi-Fi keep disconnecting on a laptop?

Most often Windows power management switching the adapter off to save battery. Untick "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" in Device Manager under the adapter's Power Management tab. If it persists, check the signal strength with netsh wlan show interfaces and update the driver from the manufacturer.

Is it safe to run netsh winsock reset?

Yes. It restores Windows' network socket configuration to defaults and is a standard Microsoft-documented repair step. It can remove entries added by VPN or security software, so those may need reconfiguring, and it requires a reboot to take effect.

Should I use 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz?

5 GHz for speed when you are near the router; 2.4 GHz for range through walls. 2.4 GHz is far more congested because it has fewer non-overlapping channels and is shared with microwaves, Bluetooth and cordless phones.

Conclusion

Two pings tell you which of three unrelated faults you have, and that turns an afternoon of clicking into a few minutes of targeted work. Radio link, IP address, DNS — establish which one before changing anything.

If the machine is fully connected but simply feels slow rather than broken, that is a different problem: our guide to speeding up Windows 11 covers it.