Restart Your Device and Router—The Old Faithful
This might sound super basic, but honestly, a lot of Wi-Fi issues after a Windows update can be fixed just by doing a proper restart. So, here’s what finally worked for me—completely shut down your PC. Not just Sleep or Hibernate, actually shut it off. Same with your router—power down completely. Sometimes, you just need to make sure everything’s reset. Unplug the router’s power cord from the outlet—double-check that it’s really out—and wait around 30 seconds. I’ve found that waiting helps clear out any cached info or stuck temporary configurations. If your router has a physical Reset button, you can press that too, but beware—some reset buttons do a full factory reset, wiping settings like custom passwords or SSIDs. Use that only if you know exactly what you’re doing or as a last resort. After waiting, plug everything back in, power it all up, and give it a couple of minutes to stabilize—watches the lights go green, basically. This simple power cycle has fixed connection hiccups for me more times than I can count. It’s a quick way to clear out temporary glitches and refresh your network lease, especially after Windows messes with your network adapters during updates. Honestly, this routine is often enough to get Wi-Fi back without diving into complicated driver fixes or changing settings.
Make Sure Wi-Fi Settings Are Still Enabled and Correct
Windows updates love to sneakily toggle stuff in the background, and before you know it, Wi-Fi is turned off or disabled without any obvious reason. So, first thing—go into Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi. Look for that toggle, and make sure it’s turned On. If it’s already on, try disconnecting from your network and reconnecting—this can often refresh the connection, sort of like clicking “Retry” on a stubborn webpage. Sometimes, after updates, Windows randomly disables your network adapter or changes network profiles, leaving you wondering why the Wi-Fi suddenly stopped working. To check that, open the Control Panel. You might need to search for it built into Start since it’s kind of hidden now. Once open, switch the view from Category to Large icons or Small icons. Click on Network and Sharing Center and then Change adapter settings in the sidebar. Now, right-click your Wi-Fi adapter—things like Realtek Wireless LAN or Intel Wi-Fi—and see if the option to Enable is available or if it’s greyed out. Sometimes, Windows turns off your adapter without telling you, especially if there’s a driver hiccup or after a Windows update. Just click “Enable,” and wait a few seconds. The adapter should come back to life. If it’s disabled, that’s probably your problem, and enabling it can bring your Wi-Fi back online almost instantly.
Ping the Router from Command Prompt—Check if It’s Reachable
This was a bit of a “wait, what?” moment for me. If your PC says it’s connected but you can’t browse anything, it’s good to see if the router is actually reachable. Open Command Prompt—hit Windows Key + R, type cmd, then hit Enter. For more reliable info, run it as administrator — right-click the icon and choose Run as administrator. The first thing is to find your router’s IP address (your default gateway). Type ipconfig and press Enter. Look for the section called Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi or similar—your network info—and find Default Gateway. It’ll be a number like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. Copy that IP address. Then, run a ping test: type ping 192.168.1.1 (or whatever your router’s IP is) and press Enter. If you see all four replies without any packet loss, you’re good—your PC and router are basically chatting. If you get timeouts or “Request timed out,” then the problem might be upstream—your ISP’s modem might be acting flaky, or the router’s having its own tantrum after that Windows update. In that case, try rebooting the router again, or check your cables. If you can connect via Ethernet, even better. Also, look for any firmware updates on the router or blinking error lights—sometimes, it’s just a firmware hiccup or a bad restart that fixes all your problems.
Forget the Network and Reconnect — Fresh Start
This one’s tried and true—especially if your network profiles got corrupted or became wonky after the update. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi, then click on Manage known networks. Find your Wi-Fi network from that list. It might be named after your router brand or just your usual Wi-Fi name. Click on it, then select Forget. Yes, it sounds extreme, but it clears out the bad profile and forces Windows to treat this as a brand-new connection. After that, just click that Wi-Fi icon in your taskbar, find your network again, and reconnect with the correct password. Sometimes, Windows just gets confused and keeps trying to use an old profile that no longer works properly. Re-establishing a fresh connection often clears that up. Rebooting afterward isn’t a bad idea either—sometimes everything feels better after a quick restart of the PC and router. Honestly, this method has saved me multiple times when the connection just refuses to play nice after a big Windows update.
Anyway, those are the main tricks that finally got my Wi-Fi back after getting totally stuck post-update. If nothing works, it’s probably time to look into updating your Wi-Fi driver, resetting network settings with netsh commands, or even rolling back the Windows update if major issues persist. But for most people, these steps are enough to cover the basics without a headache.
Hope this helped — it took way longer than expected to sort this out on my end. Hopefully, this saves someone else a weekend of frustration. Good luck, and may your Wi-Fi stay strong!