These steps follow Microsoft's support page Fix Wi-Fi connection issues in Windows, which covers Windows 10 and Windows 11. This site has no lab and no PC on every build, so none of this was checked on Windows 11 26H2, the current release. Menus move between versions: if a name below does not match your screen, Microsoft's page is the reference, not this text.
The order below goes from changes that undo themselves to changes that do not. The ordering is ours; the steps are Microsoft's. Check after each one whether the connection holds for a while before going further, because the last step erases settings.
Step 1: rule out the simple causes
Open Settings > Network & Internet > Airplane mode and make sure it is off. Then restart the modem and router: unplug both, wait at least 30 seconds, plug the modem in first and the router after it. If other devices in the house also lose Wi-Fi, the problem is the router or the line, and nothing on the PC will fix it.
Step 2: run the network troubleshooter
Go to Start > Settings > Network & Internet, choose Status on the left, then Network troubleshooter. It runs its own checks and applies what it finds. If it finds nothing, move on; that result tells you the problem is not one of the things it tests.
Step 3: forget the network and reconnect
Go to Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks. Pick your network and select Forget, then reconnect and enter the password again. Have the password at hand first. This clears a saved profile that went bad, and it costs you nothing else.
Step 4: stop Windows from powering the adapter off
Right-click Start and open Device Manager. Expand Network adapters, right-click your Wi-Fi adapter and choose Properties, then open the Power Management tab and clear the box "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". On a laptop this uses a little more battery. If the drops stop, that was the cause.
Step 5: remove the adapter driver
In Device Manager, under Network adapters, right-click the Wi-Fi adapter and choose Uninstall device, following Microsoft's page on whether to remove the driver software as well. Restart the PC. Windows normally detects the adapter on startup and installs a driver again. Before you do this, make sure you can get a driver another way if Windows does not: a wired connection, or the PC maker's support page open on another device. Without Wi-Fi you cannot download one.
Step 6: network reset, only last
Go to Start > Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Network reset. Microsoft's page describes it as removing any network adapters you have installed and the settings for them; the adapters are reinstalled afterward with default settings. Expect to reconnect to every network and to set up again anything you configured by hand, such as a VPN client. Microsoft's page treats it as the final option, and so should you.
If the option is not there
The Power Management tab is missing. Some adapters do not show it. Microsoft's page does not say what to do in that case, so skip step 4 and go on to the others.
There is no Network adapters section, or no Wi-Fi adapter in it. Then Windows does not see a Wi-Fi radio at all, which is a different problem from one that connects and drops. These steps have nothing to act on; the PC maker's support page for your exact model is the next place to look.
The Network troubleshooter is not under Status. On some builds the troubleshooters have moved. Search Settings for "troubleshoot", or use the Get Help app.
What these steps do not fix
Microsoft's page covers settings on the PC. It does not cover a weak signal, a router on a crowded channel or a router that needs its own update. If the same PC drops in one room and holds in another, or if a phone drops in the same spot, the cause is the signal or the router, and the six steps above will not change it. A PC that has only dropped since a recent Windows update is also a question for that update, not for the adapter.
If the problem is a headset or mouse rather than the network, the Bluetooth walkthrough has the same kind of steps. On an iPhone the equivalent is the iPhone Wi-Fi walkthrough. And if the PC itself has slowed down, finding what holds the disk at 100 percent is the next thing to check.
Last updated October 7, 2026