Your Windows 10 computer may not show available Wi-Fi Networks (No Wi-Fi Networks Found) sometimes after installing a feature update. Many of the users have reported that they are unable to search and discover new Wi-Fi access points after going through the Fall Creators Update. However, this issue still exists in computers running v2004 which is the latest Windows 10 build as of this post.
Welcome to the Windows-land where the “mandatory updates” and “security patches” would more often than not, make your life harder by either messing up or not showing something. One of the rather recent additions to the list is the Wi-Fi problem.
Workaround: Connect to a Wi-Fi network via the lock/login screen
In some cases, the command netsh wlan show networks (from a Command Prompt window) may show the list of available Wi-Fi access points (SSIDs) correctly, but the GUI may indicate no wireless networks are available.
Despite this problem, the Lock Screen may show the list of available Wi-Fi networks and you should be able to choose the network via the Wi-Fi icon in the bottom right corner. The “missing Wi-Fi networks” problem may be seen only for logged in users.
Here is the comprehensive list for troubleshooting which if followed properly should make Windows 10 show all available Wi-Fi networks in your vicinity.
Windows 10 Does Not Show Available Wi-Fi Networks (SSID)
Step 1: Check your Services configuration
- Right-click Start, and click Run.
- Type in
services.mscand click OK. - Make sure that the following services are running, and the startup type is correctly set:
- Network Location Awareness (Automatic)
- Network List Service (Manual)
- Windows Event Log (Automatic)
- Windows Update (Manual)
- WLAN AutoConfig (Automatic)
- Radio Management Service (Manual)
- After verifying and fixing the Service configuration, close the Services console.
For more information, check out the article Windows 10 Default Services Configuration.
Step 2: Turn on the network discovery
Many users have stated that they are having difficulties connecting to the current networks; it, in fact, won’t show anything at all. So, let’s start the investigation by checking the Network discovery options.
- Open Control Panel
- Click “Network and Internet” which will lead you to the “Network and Sharing Center”.
- Click the “Change advanced sharing settings” in the left-hand top corner.
- You should now be on a page with the heading “Change sharing options for different network profiles”. Among many others, there should be a section named “Network discovery” around the top. Make sure it’s active; if it is not currently, click on the “Turn on network discovery” radio button.
- Click “Save changes” at the bottom.
Step 3: Turn on the Network Discovery for all network profiles:
We are going to turn on the Network discovery for all the networks this time. This time a slight bit differently though.
- Open an admin Command Prompt.
- Type in the following command and press ENTER:
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Network Discovery" new enable=Yes
- Close the command prompt after successfully executing the command.
This should eliminate any network problem that you had previously. If it’s still there bothering you then it implies that there might be something wrong with the drivers.
Step 4: Update the Wi-Fi network card (WLAN) drivers
There might be the possibility that the current version of the network drivers is not compatible with Windows 10 causing some Wi-Fi networks to not appear.
- Head over to the manufacturer’s website of your network adapter and download the appropriate version. It most often comes in the form of an archive (.zip or .rar format).
- Right-click Start, and click “Device Manager”.
- Expand the “Network adapters” option.
- Find your Wi-Fi adapter, right-click on it and choose the “Update Driver Software…” option. Also, make sure that the Wi-Fi network adapter is not in a disabled state.
- Click the “Browse my computer for driver software” option and locate the downloaded driver file from the explorer when prompted.
If everything goes well your network drivers should be updated successfully and the problem would be history by now. If it’s still present, follow on.
Step 5: Router’s frequency – 2.4 vs 5GHz band
It’s possible that the router is configured to use the 5 GHz frequency, whereas your Wi-Fi adapter (802.11 b/g/n) doesn’t support 5 GHz. If that’s the case, the specific SSID won’t be visible on your computer, but seen from your latest smartphone.
You may either purchase a new Wi-Fi 802.11ac (or higher) adapter or configure the router to broadcast in the 2.4 GHz frequency.
Step 6: Wi-Fi Channels 12 & 13
(This tip helps most users.)
It could be possible that your router is broadcasting on the channel 12, 13, or even 14 (e.g., Japan), but your Wi-Fi adapter is not capable of receiving signals on Channel 12, 13, or 14.
Option 1: Change the Wi-Fi adapter’s country region setting
On some Wi-Fi adapters, you can change the country region (2.4 GHz) setting to 1, in order to enable channels 12 and 13.
Open Device Manager, and access the Wi-Fi adapter properties. Click on the Advanced tab, and change the Country Region (2.4 GHz) setting accordingly.
FCC (US) permits 2.4 GHz Channels 1 to 11. Channels 12 and 13 are allowed, but only in low-power mode. In Europe and the rest of the world, channels 12 & 13 can be used unrestrictedly. Channel 14 is illegal in the United States. It’s valid in Japan.
If your router is broadcasting on Channel 12 or 13, but your Wi-Fi adapter’s Country Region (2.4 GHz) option is set to 0 or 2, the Wi-Fi network won’t be visible to your computer.
Country region setting missing?
Some users have indicated that upgrading the Wi-Fi driver restored the missing Country Region (2.4 GHz) setting. Not all Wi-Fi adapters may have this option. If your Wi-Fi adapter doesn’t, it probably has a hardware limitation. It’s time to buy a new adapter.
Option 2: Change the Wi-Fi network’s channel in the router
Routers are preconfigured with automatic channel assignment so that it chooses the right channel automatically based on the level of interference. But, if channels 12 & 13 are used, some adapters can’t see the SSID. In that case, you can manually assign your preferred channel (1 – 11) in the router administration screen.
Additional Tip: Some users have indicated that changing the 2.4 GHz band’s Channel Width to 20 MHz (from Auto) in the Wi-Fi adapter’s properties resolved the issue.
Step 7: Got a Wireless 6 (AX Wi-Fi) router? Try disabling the “AX” mode.
If you’re using the Wireless AX Wi-Fi 6 router and your computer is unable to detect your router’s WiFi 6 network, it might be because you have an older wireless network adapter. Downloading and installing the latest drivers for your wireless network adapter from your manufacturer’s website can fix this issue.
If updating your drivers does not fix the issue, you might still be able to detect your WiFi network if you disable the AX WiFi feature of your router.
To disable AX WiFi on NETGEAR RAX series AX routers:
- Login to your router configuration page.
- On the BASIC Home page, select Wireless. This opens the Wireless Setup page.
- Clear the “Enable AX” check box. Clearing this check box turns off AX WiFi.
- Click the Apply button.
On Cisco WiFI AX routers,
- Open the Wi-Fi router settings page
- Select “Wireless” → “802.11 a/n/ac/ax” → “High Throughput (802.11 n/ac/ax)” → “11 ax mode” [uncheck]
- Repeat same for 802.11 b/g/n/ax
Step 8: Router SSID broadcast is hidden
If the router is configured to hide the SSID broadcast, devices can’t see the SSID in the list of networks.
However, users can connect to the hidden Wi-Fi network manually. You can create a new Wi-Fi network profile using the GUI. And connect to it on-demand any time using the following command if you want:
netsh wlan connect name=[SSID_name]
Or, if you’re in charge of the router, you can uncheck the Hide SSID or similar option in the router administration window.
Step 9: Manually connect to a Wi-Fi network
If the Wi-Fi network SSID is not visible, then router’s SSID broadcast may be set to hidden you may attempt to connect to the hidden network manually.
- Backup your Wi-Fi profiles.
- Delete the Wi-Fi profile that’s pointing to the problematic SSID.
- Open Control Panel → Network and Sharing Center → Click Set up a new connection or network.
- Click Manually connect to a wireless network.
- Type in the network name, security type, and the security key
- Enable the Connect even if the network is not broadcasting
- Click Next, and complete the process.
Step 10: Unblock SSIDs using Netsh command
Make sure that some SSIDs are not blocked manually using the Netsh command. For more information, check out the article How to Hide your Neighbors’ Wi-Fi Network (SSID) on Your Computer.
If some SSIDs are showing up, but others don’t, then you may have added a whitelist of SSIDs or blocked certain SSIDs earlier. Open a Command Prompt window run this command to clear the blocked entries:
netsh wlan delete filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure
Step 11: Remove the Outdated VPN software entry in the registry
This is a known issue that is mostly caused by some outdated VPN software. But before you even think about going to step 1, it’s strictly advised that you take a registry backup as it may mess up the system in the worst-case scenario.
- Open an elevated or Admin Command Prompt as explained earlier.
- Type the following command in the window and hit Enter:
netcfg -s n
- This will show a list of networking protocols, drivers, and services. Check to see if
DNI_DNEis listed in the output. This component is related to an outdated Cisco VPN client. - If
DNI_DNEis listed, then type/run the following commands to uninstall the components.reg delete HKCR\CLSID\{988248f3-a1ad-49bf-9170-676cbbc36ba3} /va /f - Now type the following command and press ENTER:
netcfg -v -u dni_dne
- Exit the command prompt window and restart Windows. You should now have access to all the Wi-Fi access points in range.
Step 12: Buy a new Wi-Fi adapter
If none of the above steps help, buy a new Wi-Fi USB adapter and see if the Wi-Fi network(s) is visible and you’re able to connect to it.
Also, a SuperUser member named Paul Sweatte posted the following observation:
The connection speed of the wireless adapter in the laptop may exceed the speed of the router based on the mode:
- IEEE 802.11b: 1, 2, 5.5, and 11Mbps
- IEEE 802.11g: 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 54Mbps
- IEEE 802.11n: from 6.5 to 150Mbps
- IEEE 802.11ac: from 173Mbps to 1.3Gbps
In a mixed environment of old and new devices, the router may stop broadcasting its SSID to devices requesting 150Mbps and higher connections, but continue to broadcast to devices requesting 54Mbps or lower connections.
Although I’ve not verified the above, it could be true. And, that may be the reason why certain Wi-Fi networks are not detected in a computer but seen from another computer or mobile phone.
Step 13: Reset Windows 10
If none of the above steps (including the new Wi-Fi adapter) helps, you may try resetting your Windows 10 device. Make sure you backup your data first.
Hope that was helpful. Let us know whether you were able to make Windows 10 show all available Wi-Fi network (SSID) successfully using the above methods. Let’s know your feedback in the Comments section below.
One small request: If you liked this post, please share this?
One "tiny" share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog. Some great suggestions:- Pin it!
- Share it to your favorite blog + Facebook, Reddit
- Tweet it!
Thank you! In my case, “network list service” has been disabled on my PC after an international trip. I spent days before found this solution here.
Thank you for the guidance..
In netcfg –s n it should be a hyphen (-) and not a dash (–).
@KrautHolg: Fixed it. Thanks.
My laptop has no Wifi networks foun issue.
After typing netcfg -s n and hit enter in the Admin Command Prompt, there is no DNI-DNE in the output list. What to do?
Please help.
Thanks.
Everything worked fine until the pointless, destructive, FORCED “up date” by the worst windows ever, 10. So now when the wifi drops out there is NO way to make it show available networks . I checked ALL of these settings mentioned and all were where they were supposed to be. I went to the admin section and tried that correction but received the message “For ‘SET’ commands , the ‘new’ keyword must be present and must not be the last argument provided.” So it sounds like this instruction is as screwed up as windows 10 is.
This article on wifi not connected and wifi icon not appearing in windows 10 laptop is helped me to fix my problem.
Thanks
Thank you so much for the info…it’s all fixed now 🙂
Nothing worked, just kept saying working but ipconfig says media disconnected.
Followed suggestion to add USB WiFi card and immediately everything works, but built in card still is disconnected.
Does this mean bad card (motherboard)?
none of the above worked. I can see other wifi networks, and I can hotspot onto my iPhone. Other computers ON THE SAME DESK are connected to the wifi network that the desktop in question doesn’t show (desktop in question is using Windows 10 Pro version 1909)
Did you ever find a solution? I have exactly the same issue.
Same for me — none of this worked, and I can see many WiFi networks but not the one I was happily connected to just a few hours ago. My phone is fine. My daughters’ phones are fine. My personal laptop is happily on the Internet. My husband is logged into work. Prime Video on our cable box works. But my company laptop has just decided it can’t see any of the access points in the house. Note: I didn’t reboot or anything — I just walked away from the computer long enough to have dinner with the family and walk the dogs. In addition to trying these steps, I also reset our entire household network, have turned WiFi on and off multiple times, have gone into Airplane mode and back, have rebooted both before and after the network reset, have tried moving as close to the router as practical, tried a complete cold reboot, and now have just plain given up. I’ll see if it spontaneously recovers in the morning, but if not I’ll have to go in to the office, and officially the bosses are discouraging that because of covid-19. It’s immensely frustrating and has wasted several hours of my evening.
@CJ: Does running this command show the missing SSIDs?
Also, have you tried a different WiFi adapter to test?
i have the exact same problem and none of these solutions worked
I never post comments but I am so thankful. My new router wan’t getting seen on my laptop. I tried everything. Updating drivers has NEVER been effective in troubleshooting ANYTHING personally or professionally in 30 years.
At the end of my rope, I updated my Wireless driver and the ___ picked it right up. Thank you!
Thank you man.. Lifesaver
Thanks the one of my service.msc was disabled and now it’s working fine. Thanks again
Sorry none of these measures worked for me. Started after update to Build 2004. Also tried rolling back to 1809 but no joy.
Ended up putting in a nano usb wifi adapter for USD 11.40.
Uninstalling my WiFi Network adaptor and restarting my computer worked for me.
Thank you, for this post
thank you very much , this problem was bugging me for months , i finally fixed it , thanks to your post..Step 3 was the solution .i think i messed up with the settings before but thanks to you now i can finally connect to my wifi without any wires..Thank you for your help.
Thank you so much
It worked for me
I have visited many sites, youtube videos every told some shit but never worked.,.
finally this Worked, thank you very very much,..
Hahahaha it’s working now
love you
I can play csgo now :’)
Try disabling and then re-enabling WiFi in “Change adapter Option” in your network settings. That’s what worker for me.
None of these worked for me and it makes no sence i have scoured the internet and every thing i have tryed does not work i have cheked the hardware and there doesnt seem to be any physical damage is it posible the card it self is faulty? Less likely since i have used this adapter for over a year now.
Also the modem and router where infact checked and working fine would it also be possible that another windows app can be blocking it some how, also want to mention does not even give me an option to turn of and on in action center.
Brian I had a similar problem like you where none of these worked. Then I had an idea. I went to the WIndows Update Feature on my PC and simply unistalled the latest update for windows.
You may have a similar issue:
Go to “Windows Update” in Settings, click ‘View Update History’ then click ‘Unistall Updates’. Look for the recent Update for Microsoft Windows (Kb4…..), right click then unistall.
Thanks for the tip, Thomson. May I know which version or build of Windows 10 you were using before the rollback?
DID UPDATE Feature update to Windows 10, version 2004 (2) , I cannot pick up any wifi networks please help . I cannot roll back
I’ve been trying to fix my laptop for the past 24 hours with the help of our technical team at work. Thank you so much!!! Finally I’m back online again thanks to your wonderful article. Every video / fix etc I tried beforehand was unsuccessful can’t thank you enough 😊
Its not working for me. Please help me..
This was the best reply and solution. Everything is working properly now.
Read so many articles online but of no use.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks heaps, fixed my problem
Thank you so much, Ramesh.
For unknown reasons, the list of wifi networks had stopped being populated.
The solution was Step 1, enable these services:
o Network Location Awareness
o Network List Service
Hi Ramesh,
Step #6 worked for me. Thanks a lot
Finally, found this site. My portable wifi can now be detected in my laptop.
Thank you so much!!! Step one fixed the issue!!
In Step 4: (Update the Wi-Fi network card WLAN drivers), point No.4 (Find your Wi-Fi adapter, right-click on it and choose the “Update Driver Software…” option. Also, make sure that the Wi-Fi network adapter is not in a disabled state.), my Wi-Fi Adapter (Ralink RT3290 802.11) was MISSING.
However, I noted the option “SCAN FOR HARDWARE CHANGES”, and intuitively performed this available action. Immediately, my Wi-Fi Adaptor showed up and the problem of MISSING Wi-Fi Adaptor got resolved.
You may suitably provide this tip which would be helpful to those facing this problem, which seems to have developed ONLY AFTER THE LATEST WINDOWS UPDATE, just few days back.
Thanks for the many other tips you have provided,
I had posted some comments related to your tips (which had helped resolving my problem), but it seems for some reason my post has been removed, although it was showing earlier. Anyways thanks for your tips and if you need to make changes in my post, which might be more helpful, you may do so.
Win10 feature update messed up the wifi adapter. Exhaustive list of solutions here. Thank You.
Thanks for the information, I tried like 6 different sites, even windows. The services and making the one little change to automatic worked and I have my internet back.
Thanks again
Thank you so much! This guide helped me solve the issue. I want to highlight the fix that helped me. Changing the 2.4GHz band’s channel width to 20MHz worked like a charm! 🙂
Thank you so muchh for providing us with workarounds that help it work !!! Appreciate it! Step 1 worked for me:)
Thanks man.I had previously disabled the Radio Management Service because I thought it was unnecessary. But thanks to you, I learned that this is a useful service.
My WiFi stopped working on my laptop when I bought a new WiFi 6 router. I finally figured out that I had to UNCHECK the box that said “Enable AX features”. This fixed the problem.
You will find this under the WiFi settings when you log into your router.
Still no idea why they had disappeared, but your step 3 (Turn on the Network Discovery for all network profiles) restored the list for me. Thank you very much, I had not seen this mentioned anywhere else.
Starting the services did the trick never had to do that before, but thank you!
Thanks very much!! Was panicking but checking the services fixed the problem. Keep up the great work
Thanks, it worked. I had disabled windows event logs 😀
Awesome, It is working. I watched so many YouTube Videos and Websites for the “No Networks Found” problem. None of these worked for me. You are Awesome. I fount the right solution on this website. Great Work… Keep it up.
Thank You so much for your help.