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Wi-Fi disappeared after a Windows update

DeviceInBox editorial team · Last updated October 6, 2026

A Windows update finishes, the machine restarts, and Wi-Fi is gone: no network list, no Wi-Fi switch in Settings, and sometimes no wireless adapter in Device Manager at all. The hardware is almost never the cause. Either the update replaced a working driver with a generic one, or the card is now hidden behind a power or firmware setting that the update changed.

Settings showing no Wi-Fi section after a Windows update, with only Ethernet listed
The Wi-Fi switch disappears from Settings when no adapter is loaded.

Find out what happened to the adapter

Open Device Manager and look under Network adapters, then under Other devices:

  • The adapter is there with its proper name: the driver loaded, so the problem is a setting. Jump to the radio and power sections below.
  • The adapter is there with a yellow mark: the driver is loaded but failed. Note the code on the General tab, usually Code 10, 31, 39 or 43.
  • There is a "Network Controller" under Other devices: the update dropped the driver entirely. See Network Controller.
  • Nothing at all: turn on View, "Show hidden devices". A greyed-out card means Windows no longer sees the hardware, which points at firmware or a loose module.
Four states of the wireless adapter in Device Manager after an update
What Device Manager shows decides which fix applies.

Roll back the driver the update installed

Windows Update often replaces a vendor driver with its own older build. The Driver tab has a Roll Back Driver button that puts the previous one back, and it is the quickest fix when Wi-Fi worked an hour ago.

  1. Properties of the adapter, Driver tab, Roll Back Driver, give a reason, restart.
  2. If the button is greyed out, there is no previous driver on the machine. Install a current package by hardware ID instead.
  3. After Wi-Fi works again, pause updates for a week so the same driver is not pushed back immediately.
Driver tab of a wireless adapter with the Roll Back Driver button highlighted
Roll Back restores the driver that worked before the update.

Current packages for the common cards, to install from a USB stick if the machine has no connection at all:

Check the radio itself

Updates reset these more often than people expect:

  • Airplane mode in Settings, Network and internet.
  • The Fn key with the antenna symbol, and on older laptops a physical slider on the side.
  • WLAN AutoConfig: press Win + R, run services.msc, set the service to Automatic and start it.
  • Power management on the adapter: Properties, Power Management, clear "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".
Power Management tab of a wireless adapter with the power saving option cleared
A card put to sleep for power saving sometimes never comes back.

Reset the network stack

If the adapter is present and healthy but no networks appear, run these from an administrator Command Prompt and restart:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
netsh wlan show drivers

The last command prints what the driver reports, including the supported radio types. If it says the wireless autoconfig service is not running, start that service first. Settings, Network and internet, Advanced network settings, Network reset does the same thing with one click and removes saved networks.

When the card is gone from the list entirely

A card missing even from hidden devices is not being seen by the machine. Check, in this order: the BIOS or UEFI setup for a wireless radio switch, a BIOS update for that laptop model, and the M.2 module seating if the laptop has been opened. Windows 11 upgrades on older laptops occasionally need the BIOS update before the card reappears, because the firmware hands the device over differently.

Related: Network Controller, Bluetooth missing and Code 10.

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