How can I connect to my WiFi on my laptop?

Hi Gabrielle SmithZY

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, I understand that you have not been able to connect to the internet and even reset your network settings, network box, but still the WiFi option will not pop up, I understand very well how you feel!

For my first response, allow me to ask you some questions to be able to get a deeper understanding of your situation.

1. May I ask is this problem a recent and sudden occurrence?
2. I understand that you are not using an Ethernet cable, may I ask can you use the network assuming you have an Ethernet cable connected?

I will give you some options and hopefully solve your problem successfully! However, this first reply may not be able to solve your problem due to the lack of information and the fact that this issue requires different aspects to be troubleshooted, so please understand and provide more information (pictures would be great!) in your reply. Thank you very much!

Option 1: Some laptops will have a physical WiFi switch or a combination of function keys to manage whether it is on or not.

1. Assuming your laptop has a physical switch (usually F2, F3, F12 or a key with the Wi-Fi symbol) to enable/disable Wi-Fi, make sure it is turned on.
2. If your Wi-Fi is managed by function keys, press and hold the “Fn” key and press the corresponding function key to toggle Wi-Fi on/off.

Option 2: Make sure you have turned off Airplane Mode, if Airplane Mode is on, we won't be able to use WiFi options and features at this time either.

Option 3: Let's try running Network Troubleshooting to see if we can get the system to automatically check and fix the problem.

Open Settings with “WIN + i” -> select “System” on the left sidebar -> “Troubleshoot” -> “Other troubleshooters” -> click “Run” on the right side of “Network and Internet”.

Option 4: Sometimes the WiFi option disappears because the system cannot detect the wireless card device.

So we try to check if the wireless card device is in the device manager.

1. “WIN + x” select “Device Manager” and check if the wireless card device exists in your computer.
2. Assuming the device exists and there is a yellow exclamation mark in the lower right corner, it means there is a problem with the device driver.

1. Let's try to update the driver.

Right click on the wireless card device, select “Update Driver” -> “Automatically search for updated drivers”.

2. We try to install the driver manually.

The driver involves the following scenarios:

(1) Considering that you are a laptop, you can download the driver for the corresponding laptop model through the brand's official website.

(2) You can also download the driver for the corresponding model through the official website of the NIC manufacturer (e.g. Intel, etc.).

Let's try the latest version of the driver first to see if the problem still exists. Assuming the problem still exists, we then try some known older and more compatible versions.

3. If the device cannot be seen and the problem persists after manually installing the driver. At this point we need to wonder if there may be a problem with the wireless card itself that is causing the problem.

Option 5: Let's try to enter the BIOS on the next boot to see if the motherboard can detect the wireless card device.

Assuming that the motherboard cannot detect the wireless card device or it is unstable, we will try to discharge your computer at this time.

(1) Make sure the computer is completely turned off

(2) Remove all external connections, including keyboard, mouse, etc. If you have a laptop, you will need to remove all external connections. If you have a laptop, you will need to additionally remove the charging adapter.

(3) Press and hold the power on button (power button) for about 30s.

(4) Turn on the power normally.

Repeat the above operation 4~5 times to ensure complete discharge.

If it continues to be undetectable, consider that entering the BIOS does not load any system files or drivers, only the BIOS and hardware. So I suspect that there is damage to the wireless card hardware itself that is causing the problem.

Option 6: Most laptops have a built-in diagnostic tool, e.g., HP, Asus, etc.

Some diagnostic tools are built into the motherboard, some diagnostic tools are applications, and some diagnostic tools we need to download through the brand's website.

You can adjust and use them according to the actual situation, through the diagnostic tools provided by the laptop brand, we can carry out a comprehensive diagnosis of the laptop, to see if there may be some hardware damage caused by the problem occurred.

I sincerely hope that the above solution will solve your problem. Please feel free to contact me if you have any problems or still can't solve them. (Photos related to the question would be great!).

I look forward to hearing back from you. 

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

What version of Windows are you using?

Since when this problem started?

Are you able to connect to Ethernet or LAN connection?

If yes, do you have access to internet there?