Cannot press the wifi icon on bottom right windows 11

Question

On the bottom right of Windows 11, when I try to change my wifi I normally press the bottom right where it brings up Wifi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, etc. As of a few months ago, when I do that, it pops up empty and crashes within a split second. I've tried resetting the wifi settings and things like that. My wifi and everything else work, I just have to go all the way to settings to change wifi, Bluetooth, mobile hotspot, volume, etc and it's just becoming a hassle. I have a great PC when it comes to functionality and components. This just randomly came up after a Windows update late last year.

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

Have you tried restarting the File Explorer process in Task Manager before, and see if it helps?

Open the Task Manager.

Locate Windows Explorer Process in the lists, right-click and select 'Restart'.

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If that doesn't resolve your issue,

Open an elevated Command Prompt.

Run the commands one by one below and click Enter for each command.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

Once completed, restart your computer.

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Another method,

running the command will reset Windows components related to Start Menu and Taskbar UI.

Open a PowerShell (Administrator) window and run the command below.

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost | Reset-AppxPackage

Once completed, please restart your computer and check if the taskbar icons work without any crashes.

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Answer 2

The issue is consistent with a broken or corrupted Settings/quick actions UI rather than a Wi‑Fi problem. Re‑registering the Settings app and built‑in apps via PowerShell has resolved similar symptoms (Settings pages crashing, networking UI not opening) in Windows 11.

Use these steps:

1. Open elevated PowerShell
   • Press Windows key + X.
   • Select Windows PowerShell (Admin) or Terminal (Admin).
2. Re‑register the Settings app
   • Run this command and let it complete (ignore red errors):

          Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name windows.immersivecontrolpanel | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml" -Verbose}
     

3. Re‑register all built‑in apps
   • Run this command next and wait for it to finish (again, ignore red errors):

          Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
     

4. Restart the PC
   • After the commands complete, restart Windows.
   • Then try clicking the bottom‑right quick settings area again (Wi‑Fi/volume/battery cluster) and verify that the panel opens and stays visible.

If the quick settings panel still crashes after this, use Settings → Network & internet as a workaround and consider a broader repair (e.g., Reset this PC while keeping files) as shown in similar corruption cases.

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References:

• Fix Wi-Fi connection issues in Windows
• Network settings crash settings app, wifi and Ethernet not working or appearing - Microsoft Q&A
• Plethora of issues relating to windows and possibly security. - Microsoft Q&A