WiFi networks have become almost synonymous with how we access the internet these days. From offices, universities to your neighbourhood coffee shop, everyone has WiFi.

However, WiFi and the hardware it runs on isn’t bug-free and still faces some weird bugs and glitches. In this article, we’re going over a nine fixes you can try out if you do not see any WiFi networks around.

Restart your router

One of the first things to do in such situations is to restart your networking equipment. Restarting your router can fix a bunch of seemingly random issues, including your WiFi disappearing all of a sudden. It’s also a good idea to run an ethernet cable from your router to your PC to ensure that you have an active internet connection. If you don’t, reach out to your ISP.

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Security apps and Antiviruses

Although sparingly, but antiviruses, antimalware or other security apps may disable your machine’s internet access to protect it from any malware that might be on your device.

Try disabling any such apps on your system and reconnect to the network to check it resolves your issue. You can also try running a full virus scan on your PC to check if you have any malware or viruses on your PC that might be hampering network capabilities.

Disable your VPN

Improperly configured VPNs can cause conflicts with network adaptors on Windows, whether you’ve set them up manually or using a VPN client that does all the work for you.

In any case, try disabling the VPN and reverting any changes to see if your VPN was conflicting with the WiFi drivers.

Disable your firewall

Now, this might not sound like a good idea. Still, overly protective firewalls can interfere with internet connectivity altogether and even with network adaptors such as WiFi cards, especially if you’ve got a third-party firewall guarding you.

The best way to test this is to disable the firewall and check if the WiFi is working again. If it is, the firewall is the culprit; if not, it could indicate a problem with the drivers or the hardware itself.

Updating the driver

If restarting the router didn’t help, try manually updating the WiFi driver.

Step 1: Press Windows key + R, type in devmgmt.msc and hit enter.

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Step 2: Double click Network adaptors to expand it and right click your WiFi card. Click on Update driver.

Step 3: Select Search automatically for drivers, and Windows will find and install any available updates.

Also read: How to fix the ‘WiFi connected but no internet access’ issue?

Reinstalling the driver

The next step after updating fails is to reinstall the driver completely.

Step 1: Press Windows key + R, type in devmgmt.msc and hit enter.

Step 2: Double click Network adaptors to expand it and right click your WiFi card. Click on Uninstall device.

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Once the driver is deleted, restart Windows to force the driver to install manually.

Rolling back the driver

You can also opt to roll back to a previous version of the driver working fine for you. Here’s how.

Step 1: Press Windows key + R, type in devmgmt.msc and hit enter.

Step 2: Double click Network adaptors to expand it and double click your WiFi card to open its properties.

Step 3: Under the Drivers tab, click Roll Back Driver. If the option is greyed out for you, the driver can’t be reverted to an older version or is already on the oldest version.

Run the Windows troubleshooter

Windows 10 comes with many handy troubleshooters that are quite effective at rooting out problems from your PC. First, try running the Network Adaptor troubleshooter to see if it can resolve the issue.

Step 1: Press Windows Key + I to open Windows Settings. Click on Update and Security.