Hello! Let's figure it out today with the inclusion of Wi-Fi on laptops that run on Windows 7. For some reason, many people ask such questions. But as a rule, Wi-Fi on a laptop is turned on by default. That is, if the driver is installed, then you can immediately connect to Wi-Fi networks. There is no need to make special settings, and it is not necessary to turn on Wi-Fi on a laptop in a special way. No, there are, of course, different cases and problems when you cannot connect to Wi-Fi without dancing with a tambourine. Now we will understand everything in detail.
If you are faced with the problem of turning on Wi-Fi, then the status of your Internet connection will most likely be as follows:
If the network icon is simply crossed out with a red cross, then there are no Wi-Fi networks available for connection in the radius, or the wireless network is disabled. If you have just such a status (icon), then I recommend watching this manual: there are no available connections in Windows 7. Wi-Fi disappeared, network with a red cross.
Before moving on to any instructions, let's figure out that turning on Wi-Fi on a laptop and turning on Wi-Fi on Windows 7 (in the operating system itself) are two different things. Therefore, I will divide the article into these two points. This will make it much clearer, and easier to understand this issue. What is our main goal? That's right, connect to a Wi-Fi network. You can do it! Follow the instructions.
Before moving on to any settings and bothering yourself with unnecessary information, try connecting your laptop to a Wi-Fi network right now. For this instruction: how to connect a laptop (computer) to the Internet via Wi-Fi? Perhaps you already have everything included, configured, and you will connect without problems.
If something does not work out, then see this article to the end, or possible connection problems, which I described in the article at the link above.
Turn on Wi-Fi on a laptop: with a keyboard shortcut, or a switch on the case
Almost every laptop: Asus, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Del, etc., has either a dedicated switch or keyboard shortcut that turns Wi-Fi off and on. To be honest, I don’t know about other laptops, but on my Asus, pressing the FN + F2 key combination turns off all wireless modules. The pop-up window says "all wireless device on". Which means that all wireless interfaces are on or off. At the same time, Wi-Fi does not disappear.
These keys, or switches, should be tested only in extreme cases, when nothing else helps. And manage wireless connections from under Windows. Since the combination of special keys does not always work, or they work, but not as they should.
On the same Asus laptop, to turn off or turn on Wi-Fi, you need to press the key combination FN + F2.
On laptops DEL, this is the key combination Fn + F2, or Fn + F12. On HP - Fn + F12. Lenovo - Fn + F5 (or, look for a special switch on the laptop case). If you haveSamsung, then these are Fn + F12, or Fn + F9. And onAcer - Fn + F3.
As I already wrote, a special switch can also be used to turn on Wi-Fi. Look at the case of your laptop.
And the key used in combination with Fn usually has an antenna painted on it.
It is better not to touch these keys at all. As I wrote above, they do not always work adequately. And there is little sense from them. Everything is smooth, in most cases, pressing the keys simply tells the system to turn off the Wi-Fi adapter.
Turn on Wi-Fi in Windows 7
Let's now figure out how to manage the wireless adapter in the operating system itself. Let's start with the most important. And most importantly, it is an installed, correctly working driver for Wi-Fi (Wireless adapter). If there is no driver, then no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to turn on Wi-Fi. But first things first.
First, let's check if we have the adapter included "Wireless network connection"... To do this, right-click on the Internet connection icon (in the lower right corner), and selectNetwork and Sharing Center... On the left, select Change adapter settings.
If near the connection "Wireless network connection" written "Disabled", then right-click on it and select Enable.
After these steps, the status of the Internet connection should change. And if there are Wi-Fi networks available for connection within the radius, then they will be displayed in the list, which can be opened by clicking on the icon itself (tray icon). You will be able to select the desired network and connect to it.
If you do not have a "Wireless Network Connection" connection, then most likely you do not have the driver for the Wi-Fi adapter installed. Install the driver according to these instructions, and everything will work.
Update: trying to enable the wireless network in the mobility center
To open the Mobility Center in Windows 7, press the keyboard shortcut Win + X.
There should be a tab called "Wireless". Most likely it will be disabled for you. Click on the "Enable Wireless" button.
It happens that the button for turning on the wireless connection in the mobility center is inactive.
From my own experience, I can say that the reason is most often in the software. And most often it is in the utilities that are responsible for managing wireless modules on a laptop, or the operation of function keys. Therefore, go to the website of the laptop manufacturer, in the support section, find the download page for your laptop model, and see if there are such utilities there. If so, download and install them. There you can also download the driver for Wi-Fi (Wireless) and start installing it.
How to check if the Wi-Fi adapter is working in Device Manager?
You can also go to Device Manager and see if there is a wireless network adapter there and how it works. To open the device manager, we do this: go to Startthen Control Panel... Selecting a section Hardware and Sound... In the tab Devices and Printers click on device Manager.
In the manager, open the tab Network adapters... The Wi-Fi adapter has something like this name: "Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter"... You can navigate by wordWireless... You should have something like this:
If you see an arrow-shaped icon next to the driver, then right-click on the adapter itself and select Engage.
If there is no adapter at all in Device Manager (usually there is only one network card driver), then you need to install the driver. Again, you can watch this article.
Here are all the Wi-Fi settings in Windows 7.
After you nevertheless connect to the wireless network, another surprise may await you - the Error "Without access to the Internet" I wrote about the solution to this problem in a separate, detailed instruction.
Also, another article may be useful to you: where on a computer or laptop (Windows 7, Windows 8) can I find the Wi-Fi settings?
