Wireless Capability Is Turned Off: Here Is How To Turn It On For Windows 

Sometimes, you can get caught up with the problem of the inability of your computer to connect to Wi-Fi or it may connect before later disconnecting. For Windows users, this problem is sometimes said to be as a result of a lot of issues which when you troubleshoot sometimes, you may find the “Wireless Capability Is Turned Off” error.

The issue is as a result of a networking problem causing your system not to connect because the wireless device has been disabled as a result of one of many issues that may include incompatible or outdated network driver, power management settings of the wireless network adapter, among other things. While the issue can be frustrating, it is pretty much easy to fix.

How To Fix Wireless Capability Is Turned Off

1. Turn on your wireless option

Sometimes, the solution to the ‘wireless capability is turned off’ issue may simply be to turn on your Wi-Fi which you probably forgot to turn off or accidentally turned off. This is the first thing that you may need to check once you are having any problem with your wireless connection.

The easiest way to turn this on is to look use the button on your keyboard which has the Wi-Fi sign on it. While for some computers you will need to press the fn and then f12 or f2 button to on it or another function key based on your computer. Other computers have a dedicated wireless button that you can simply press.

2. Power Cycling your computer

The next thing that you may want to do is power cycling your laptop. This may be very simple, but it has been found to have worked perfectly for many people. With this method, all you are expected to do is to shut down your laptop completely before bringing it back on.

To do this, the first thing to do is to shut down the system properly and when that is done, you will need to remove all wires from the laptop. The next thing is to remove your battery. Do not place back the battery until after a few minutes (2 to 3 minutes) so that the so that all the data that are currently on the RAM may be lost and the capacitors can discharge correctly.

Once that is done, you can have your battery put back and then turn on your computer. Now try again to see if the “Wireless Capability Is Turned Off” issue is still there.

Why power cycling is important is because it can help the device to reinitialise its configuration parameters as well as to reset network configurations.

3. Update wireless network adapter driver  

As already pointed out, one of the things that can cause this problem is outdated drivers or drivers that have a problem. As a hardware, the network adapter needs the drivers to ensure that it allows and maintains the network connection. Naturally, the windows is supposed to update the drivers, but there are times that this may fail and so you may have to do it manually.

To fix this issue, all you need to do is to simply update your network drivers by following the steps below:

1. The first thing you want to do is to open the device manager by either opening your run command by holding down the Windows and R keys or right-click on the start menu and then click on Device Manager.

2. In the Device Manager, you will find different drivers. Go to Network adapters and then expand it. Right-click on the drivers and then select Update Driver Software.

3. You will want to select the first option in the next window, Search automatically for updated driver software. Once you do that your computer will search online for it and once it is found, it will be updated. Simply follow the next options and it will be updated.

4. Turn on Power Management

As stated, another thing that may likely cause this problem is when the power management has turned off the wireless capability because it is not in use. In order to fix this problem, simply follow these steps:

Go to your control panel

Select Network Connections under Network and Internet

Right-click on the WiFi or the wireless connection and then select properties

Under the Networking Tab, click on Networking

Click on Configure

In the next window, go to the Power Management tab and then uncheck the box for Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power

5. Update your BIOS

The Basic Input/Output System which is also known as the BIOS is another way through which you can fix this network issue. When your computer starts up, the Bios software is the first thing that runs. It serves to get all other processes started on your computer. Importantly, you can use it to test hardware on your computer for any errors.

Updating the BIOS is another easy way of fixing this issue although there are different ways that it can be updated based on the computer you are using.

Before deciding to update it, you may also try enabling your Wi-Fi from the BIOS because there are times when the issue may be caused because the wireless adapter is disabled from BIOS.

To do this, follow the steps below if you are using HP:

1. Restart your computer

2. Before it boots up finally, press the F10 key when the power-on bios screen appears

3. Using your arrow keys, navigate to the Security Menu

4. Next, you want to select Device Security

5. Check to see that the Wireless Network Button is enabled. If not, simply enable it

6. Confirm this by pressing F10

7. Exit BIOS, Save Changes, and then Exit.

Once you have done this, your network should connect without any problem. If you are using a different computer from HP, simply search the internet for the specific guide on how to access the BIOS of your computer.

See Also: How To Fix “System And Compressed Memory Disk Usage” In Windows 10

Conclusion

Like always, a lot of problems can be caused not only with the network but with many other things on your computer when you fail to update your system or when you are using outdated programs and drivers. Hence, one of the easiest ways that you can sometimes fix the “Wireless Capability Is Turned Off” error is to have your windows always updated as well as other programs on your computer and drivers, with emphasis on the network adapters.

Tim Flaherty
Tim Flaherty
Tim is our talented senior tech writer and editor, the one who plays music on replay, drinks more coffee than beer, plays video games, and reads poetry. In between, Tim reviews products, write about computers, games, hardware, software, guides, reviews and talk tech and arts. If there is a WWIII, he thinks it could be caused by bad writing.

Recommended

Featured Today

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness, if you've found a possible error, be it factual, editorial or something that needs updating, please contact us

Read This Next