Sometimes the Wi-Fi icon in the system tray can disappear or all the Wi-Fi SSID may be missing. Other times, the SSIDs are available and when you attempt to connect to the network, you get the error message “Can’t connect to this network.”
In the latter case, your Wi-Fi network may be working fine, but there is something wrong with your computer that is preventing it from connecting to a wireless network.
Whatever the case may be, these issues usually happen due to reasons like problematic network adapters, misconfigured internet settings, disabled network services, and corrupted network drivers. However, most of the time the problems are software related, so you may pretty easily fix this issue by yourself.
There are a few things you should keep in mind before jumping into the fixes listed below.
Run Network Troubleshooter
The Network Troubleshooter is a built-in Windows troubleshooter that checks for and fixes basic issues in your network. When facing any kind ofnetwork connection issueslike your computer not connecting to a network, you may try running this troubleshooter.
Reinstall Wi-Fi Driver
If you may’t connect to a Wi-Fi network because the Wi-Fi icon is not present in your system tray, it might be a problem with your network drivers. The network drivers help your system communicate with thenetwork adapterthat is used to connect to Wi-Fi networks.
To fix this kind of issue, you may try reinstalling the Wi-Fi drivers.
Check Windows Network Services
Some important Windows services need to be up and running for your computer to be able to connect to a network. If network services likeWLAN AutoConfigorDHCP Clientare not running, you won’t be able to connect to a wireless network.
Obtain IP Address Automatically
If you have a static IP address setup in one network, you might be unable to connect to any other network due to IP conflicts. Furthermore, improperly setting up a static IP address also causes you to be unable to connect to a network.
So, you should try switching to a dynamic IP address to fix this kind of issue.
Perform Network Reset
