Wi-Fi is one of the standard features present in all recent laptops and desktops. With Wi-Fi, one can not just access the Internet wirelessly but also create new Wi-Fi hotspots so that other devices can also access the Internet using your Internet connection.
When working, Wi-Fi is a great feature, but when it’s not working, it’s hard to find the root of the issue. Very recently, my ThinkPad laptop running Windows 10 would get disconnected from the Internet after waking from hibernation or sleep mode. I had to restart the PC to make the Internet connection working again. In short, the Wi-Fi was not working after resuming from sleep or hibernate mode in Windows 10.
If you’re also experiencing the same issue on your Windows 10 PC, you should be able to fix the problem by following the given below directions.
Method 1 of 4
Enable or disable the Wi-Fi adapter
Note that this is a temporary fix to the issue. Please refer to the instructions in Method 2 to permanently fix the problem.
Step 1: Open Device Manager by right-clicking on the Start button and then clicking Device Manager.
Step 2: Expand Network Adapters tree in Device Manager window (refer to the picture below) to see wireless and Ethernet network card entries.
Step 3: Right-click on wireless adapter’s entry, and then click Disable. Click the Yes button when you see the confirmation dialog.
Step 4: Right-click on the wireless adapter’s entry and click Enable.
The Wi-Fi should start working again and automatically reconnect.
Method 2 of 4
Fix to Wi-Fi not reconnecting after sleep or hibernate mode
Step 1: Open Device Manager. There are many ways to open Device Manager, but the easiest way is to right-click on the Start button on the taskbar and then clicking Device Manager.
Step 2: In the Device Manager window, expand Network Adapters tree to see your wireless and Ethernet adapters.
Step 3: Right-click on the Wireless adapter’s name and then click Properties to open its properties dialog.
Step 4: Switch to the Power Management tab by clicking on the same.
Step 5: Finally, uncheck the option labeled Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option. Click the OK button. That’s it!
Tip: If you often connect to the Internet using an Ethernet cable, please right-click on Ethernet card’s entry (appears under Network Adapters), click Properties, and then follow the directions mentioned in Step 4 and Step 5.
Your Windows 10 PC should not get disconnected from the Internet after sleep or hibernate mode now.
Method 3 of 4
Update wireless driver
If the issue persists even after applying the above solutions, please update the Wi-Fi adapter driver to the latest version. To do so, open Device Manager, expand Network adapters, right-click on wireless card entry, click Update driver software, and then click Search automatically for updated driver software to automatically download and install the latest version of the Wi-Fi driver.
Method 4 of 4
Contact Microsoft support team for free
If none of the solutions are working, feel free to contact the Microsoft support team using the built-in Contact support app. Launch the Contact support app from the Start menu and then either have a chat with Microsoft support or schedule a call back from the Microsoft support team.
You might also like to read our fix to wireless icon missing from system tray in Windows 10 guide.
Ellie says
Same problem here. When put to sleep, after turning it on, there’s no wifi, wifi icon and even in the device manager.
dynamichael says
It’s not just Wi-Fi, it’s networking altogether that won’t work after waking the computer. No amount of property changes, disabling/enabling, or cable disconnecting/connecting fixes it–only a reboot does. This problem is really getting old!