If the Wi-Fi adapter is not working or is not working properly, the wrong drivers for it may be the reason. This article shows you step by step how to install and reinstall, update or uninstall the Wi-Fi adapter driver on your laptop in Wondows 10, 8 and Windows 7.
Note: If the reason that you were looking for instructions on how to download and install a driver on Wi-Fi is that it does not work, and a red cross is shown in the connection icon, then this article can help you: (since this is not necessarily in the drivers).
Often, in order to update the driver of the wireless Wi-Fi adapter, the user goes to the manager Windows devices, selects the required adapter in the "Network adapters" section, and then on the "Driver" tab clicks the "Update" button (or "Update driver" in context menu). And he receives a logical report from the system that the driver does not need to be updated.
It is important to understand here: this message does not mean that you have the correct driver installed - it only says that there is no other driver in Windows and there is no other driver in the Update Center (in the same way, the message in the manager "The device is working normally" often means only that it does not cause conflicts and errors in Windows, but not that it really works as it should, and as a rule, all these issues are resolved by installing the original driver specifically for your laptop model.
Installing original Wi-Fi drivers on a laptop
The most correct way to install drivers, which usually fixes wireless problems, is to install the official drivers from the laptop manufacturer's website. This usually requires the following simple steps.
During the installation and download process, some problems are possible, in particular:
- There is no driver for the current version of Windows - then feel free to download for the previous one, they are usually installed, and if installed, they work (sometimes you need to run the installer in compatibility mode).
- The official website has several Wi-Fi drivers, such as Ralink, Qualcomm and Intel - it's not clear which one to download. This issue will be discussed further in the next section.
How to find out which Wi-Fi adapter driver you need
If there are several different drivers for Wi-Fi on the official website, or suddenly there is none, then you can find out which driver you need in the following way:
After you know the name of the adapter wireless network, you can download the driver for it from the official website or simply find it on the Internet at trusted sources.
Another way to install the wireless driver
If your Internet via Wi-Fi stopped working stably or stopped working altogether, while everything was in order earlier (and the system and drivers were not reinstalled), the following method can help, without downloading any additional drivers.
How to uninstall the Wi-Fi adapter driver
Well, in conclusion, about removing the driver, which may sometimes be required to install the original Wi-Fi driver.
In the same way as in the previous steps, go to the properties of the wireless adapter, and then on the "Driver" tab, click the "Uninstall" button and agree to uninstall the driver.
After uninstalling, run the installation of the original driver - if previously there were problems with it, it is most likely now that it will be successful.
The use of WI-FI networks has become a part of everyday life. It is for connection to access points and correct operation that you need to use a driver for WI-FI on a laptop.
How to check if the adapter is working
At the first Windows startup the laptop often fails to connect to WI-FI network... If such a situation arises, then it is necessary to install the WiFi driver on the laptop (firmware).
The first step is to make sure that WI-FI adapter works... To do this, click on the WI-FI icon in the lower right corner of the screen and select " Network and Internet settings"(For versions older than Windows 10 -" Network and Sharing Center ").
Make sure that the WI-FI module is turned on, then the icon next to it will be highlighted or turn it on by clicking on the slider. 
For Windows up to the eighth version, select the item "". 
If the module is enabled, the icon “ Wireless network"Will be colored, if it is not highlighted, then you need to turn it on, for this we right-click and select" Enable». 
How to find a driver
If the adapter is turned on and you cannot connect to the wireless network, you should start looking for the firmware. To do this, go to the laptop manufacturer's website and to find software for your model. Below is a list of links where you can download Wi-Fi drivers for the most popular laptop brands:
In the event that you cannot find a Wi-Fi driver for Windows 7/8/10 or you do not want to look for it, you can use third-party software. Examples of such programs are Snappy Driver Installer, DriverMax, DriverPack Solution.
Automatic installation of WiFi drivers
The easiest method to install the driver for the wireless network adapter is with standard tools Windows. To do this, press the key combination WIN + R. A window with an input line will appear in the lower left corner of the screen. In the line that opens, enter devmgmt.msc, then press the Enter button. 
In the list of devices, you need to find the WI-FI module by opening “ Network adapters", Click" Properties». 
Go to the “ Driver"By selecting the item" Refresh». 
Automatic software installation is possible not only using standard Windows tools, but also with the help third-party programs such as Driver genius and Driverpack solution.
After installing the application will independently search missing software and prompts you to update it or install it completely. It should be understood that programs do not always work correctly, therefore, it is recommended to first of all use the websites of the manufacturers, and only then try the applications.
In addition to the offline version, there are sites that allow you to find and download any, even rare software.
Manual installation
For manual installation, open device Manager using the key combination "Win + R" and the command devmgmt.msc, we find our WI-FI adapter. Then in the tab “ Driver"Choose" update". In the dialog box, click " Search this computer». 
We indicate the path to the folder where the control firmware files are located. 
If the software is correct, the installation process will begin.
If the above option for some reason did not fit, you can search by equipment id. To do this, open the module in the device manager and in the item " Intelligence"Select the parameter" Device ID". We rewrite the parameters that come after VEN and DEV, in our case they are 10EC and B822. We insert them into any search engine or on a specialized site, for example driverslab. 
Removing the WI-FI driver
There are situations in which you need to reinstall the firmware. For example, previously installed software does not work correctly. To do this, the first step is to remove the old firmware. To do this, open device Manager... According to the instructions from the previous paragraphs, we tear off the properties of our device. In the properties of the network adapter, going to the tab " Driver"Select the item" Delete device». 
Most laptops are equipped with their own wireless adapter that allows you to surf the Internet via Wi-Fi. Stationary computers are most often devoid of a built-in module, but in the store you can easily purchase a special modem for Internet access. But simply by activating the adapter, the Internet will not work. A network can be found, but it will not be possible to connect to it, often even its detection is not available. For correct operation, it is necessary to install drivers for each operating system and for each module. Where can I find them and how do I install them on my computer?
It is possible to find software on disks supplied with a removable adapter or directly on a laptop. In this case, you do not need to search for anything, after starting the disc, the installation will start automatically. If it is not available or it is not possible to use it, then you will have to search manually via the Internet. In this case, two options are available:
- installation in automatic mode through " ";
- or an independent search for software on the network.
For Windows 7, all of these methods are working. Let's figure out how the processes of installing drivers on Wi-Fi for this operating system.
It may be that everything is already installed and ready to go. You can check this through the settings. It is necessary:
If there is an icon “ Wireless connections"(" WLAN "," Wireless "), then everything is in order, if it is not there, then the adapter is not ready for operation.
Installing the driver on the Windows 7 network adapter
Let's start with the simplest option - installation via disk. This method is suitable only for those devices that have a floppy drive, that is, laptops and personal computers, it won't work on a netbook.
Rarely, but a purchased laptop will come with a disk with all the necessary drivers. Now it is almost impossible to meet - at the purchase, most often everything is already downloaded and installed, including for the wireless adapter. If the module is portable, then it is almost always accompanied by media for installing the driver specifically for it.
The problem with this method is that the software downloaded there may be outdated. Then these drivers will make life easier for the user (they just need to be updated), but they will not solve the essence of the issue.
To install the drivers via the disk, you will need:
Important! On the different disks the design may vary, but the installation itself is identical.
How else can you install the Wi-Fi driver
If installation via the media for some reason is not possible, then it remains to act using the "Device Manager" or self-search. Let us dwell in more detail on the first option.
In order to install the software, therefore, you must:
- Select "Control Panel" from the "Start" menu.
- Go to the "Device Manager", setting in the "View" mode the value "Large icons".
- Then open the "Network adapters" branch by double-clicking the mouse.
- This tab displays all devices connected to the network connection (network card, additional modules). To install the driver for the adapter, select the required module.
- Press the right mouse button and click "Update driver".
- Click on the link to automatically search for drivers. We are waiting for the automatic download and installation to start.
- After completing the process, reboot.
Downloading the correct driver
The previous method is convenient, but, unfortunately, not always effective. In addition, it will only work if the module is detected by the computer, which does not always work without a driver.
Windows 7 is not very good at finding new drivers, especially for third-party devices. If there is no disk, but it does not work through the "Task Manager" (for example, an inscription appears that the latest version is already installed), then you will have to search on your own, via the Internet.
To do this, you need to find out two things - the operating system on which the computer is running and the exact name of the network adapter. If everything is clear with the first one, then information about the module can be found in the "Task Manager" - "Network adapters".
It is best to download the software from the manufacturer's official website.
- In "Network adapters" we find the name of the device (in this case, it is Intel).
- On the Internet, we find what we are looking for and go to the official page.
- Click on the download link.
- We choose the appropriate option that meets the requirements of the operating system.
- We accept the license agreement.
- Select the "Downloads" folder, click on the "Save" option.
- Open the downloaded file in the Downloads folder and follow the instructions of the installer.
- The installation has started. At the end, the computer is rebooted.
There are quite a few programs on the Internet for automatically installing drivers on a computer. After installation, they scan the device and determine which drivers need to be updated or downloaded. One of the most famous programs is DriverPack Solution.
Attention! When choosing an unattended installation, the utility, along with the drivers, install additional applications that are indicated in the right part of the window.
Video - How to install a network adapter driver without Internet access
How do I know if a driver is installed?
To make sure that the driver is installed and the module is ready for use, you need to:
- Go to the "Control Panel" tab.
- Then to the section "Network and Internet".
- Click on the link "Control Center ...".
- Then follow the link "Change adapter parameters".
- Check for the presence of the item "WLAN", "Wireless" or "Wireless network".
If it is, then everything is in order, if not, the driver is installed incorrectly or incorrectly.
Updating, reinstalling, deleting
Through the "Device Manager" you can uninstall and update the driver. The issue with the update is discussed above, Windows 7 does not always correctly find the required version. Removing collateral in this way is easy:
After that, you can again in the same way, or find the required version on the network.
No need to uninstall for driver update previous version- you just need to find (download) the latest version and install using any of the methods described above.
Video - Download Network Driver for Windows 7
All modern laptops are equipped with a built-in Wi-Fi module, and this is not just the norm, but one of the basic requirements for the hardware, otherwise there would be no need to talk about any laptop mobility. Like other hardware components, a Wi-Fi adapter requires an appropriate driver for its operation, without which the device will not be able to receive or distribute a signal. IN latest versions Windows, in particular in 8.1 and 10, the universal Wi-Fi driver is included in the operating system, which eliminates the need to search and install it separately.
But with Windows 7, everything is a little more complicated, since in some assemblies the driver may be present, in some not. However, users of Windows 8.1 and 10 may also face problems, if the wireless adapter "does not want" to work with Microsoft drivers, or the system "loses" them for some reason. This, of course, is unlikely, but it does happen occasionally. In general, it may turn out that you have to search, download and install drivers for the Wi-Fi adapter yourself.
How to find out if the Wi-Fi adapter drivers are installed on a laptop
So, you have installed Windows, try to connect to a wireless network, but nothing works. It is very possible that the problem is in the driver, but before starting to search for a solution, you need to check if the software is installed at all. This is not difficult to do. Open the Device Manager, expand the "Network adapters" item and see if there is one among the devices that has "Wi-Fi" or "Wireless" in the name. If not, there is no wireless adapter driver. Also, its absence or incorrect installation will be indirectly indicated by the “Network Controller” device marked with a yellow icon or some unidentified device.
The presence of a wi-fi driver does not yet guarantee that the adapter will work. Perhaps the driver is not suitable for a specific device model or simply does not work correctly. In this case, you can try to reinstall it, and if this does not help, replace it with the one downloaded from the adapter manufacturer's website.
Where and how to download drivers for HP, Asus, Lenovo, Acer and Samsung laptops
It is quite possible to find and download a Wi-Fi driver for Windows 7/10 from the website of the manufacturer of the wireless adapter, from third-party resources and using special programs, which will be discussed below. Also, the driver can be installed from the disk with the proprietary software supplied with the laptop, if, of course, you have such a disk. If not, first of all download the driver from the manufacturer's website.
Search the manufacturer's website by device model
Let's look at the whole thing on the example of a laptop from Asus. In addition to the brand name, you need to know. It is very simple to define it - the required designation should be indicated on the lower part of the case, on a sticker. You can also execute the command in the Run (Win + R) window msinfo32 and look at the Model column in the system information. In our example, this is ASUS X55VD.
We go to the official website of the company www.asus.com and drive the model number into the search field.
If your laptop is not very old, it will be found. Immediately in the search results, follow the link "Drivers and Utilities", select your operating system, find the Wireless section and expand it.
That's it, the drivers can be downloaded, there is, however, one small "but" here. There may be several Wi-Fi drivers from different manufacturers in the proposed list, for example, Ralink Wireless and Qualcomm Atheros Wireless. Which one do you need? To determine the manufacturer will help a small free utility HWVendorDetection... Run it and see what is indicated next to Wireless LAN. This will be the name you need.
Similarly, Wi-Fi drivers for Windows 7/10 installed on laptops from HP, Lenovo, Acer, Samsung and other brands are searched for and downloaded, the URLs of which you can easily find on the Internet. Of course, the web interfaces of the official sites will differ, but they have a common search principle.
Search by ID
If suddenly you could not find the drivers for the laptop model, and the HWVendorDetection program did not help, try using the Device Manager. So you can kill two birds with one stone - and determine the manufacturer, and find a suitable driver. We will search by device ID.
It is clear that since the Wi-Fi driver is not installed, you will not have a corresponding item in the "Network adapters" section, but you can look for an adapter in the "Other devices" section. The module can be called WLAN, Network controller, and the like. Open its properties, go to the "Details" tab, select "Equipment ID" in the drop-down menu of properties and copy the first value in the list.
Trim the resulting string to the right so that the second ampersand is left at the end:
PCI / VEN_1814 & DEV_3290 & SUBSYS_E055105B & REV_00 PCI / VEN_1814 & DEV_3290 &
Next, go to the devid.info/ru resource, paste the edited line into the search field and click "Search", indicating your OS version in the drop-down menu. We look at the manufacturer's name in the search results. For example, we have this MediaTek (Ralink). From the same resource you can download a Wi-Fi driver for a laptop with Windows 7/10 absolutely free.
This method of searching for drivers is especially relevant for Windows 10, for which software is not always offered on the websites of device manufacturers.
Automatic and manual installation of Wi-Fi drivers in Windows 7/10
There are two main driver installation modes - automatic and manual. Let's consider the first one first. Open the Device Manager, find the desired device in the list (in this case, a Wi-Fi adapter), right-click on it, select "Update driver" and click "Automatic search for updated drivers" in the window that opens.
Windows will search for the driver itself and install it. In Windows 10, if the driver is not found, the system will offer to search for software in the Update Center. Automatic search also implies the use of special programs, which is described below.
Installing drivers in manual mode is done again either using the Device Manager, or by running executable file installer, if the driver was downloaded from an official or third-party Internet resource. Searching for and installing drivers in manual mode using the standard Device Manager utility is not much different from the same procedure, but performed in automatic mode. All you need to do is select the option "Search for drivers on this computer" in the update window and specify the directory.
You can install the Wi-Fi driver on a laptop as regular program by running the executable EXE file and following the instructions in the wizard. If you downloaded the archive with the driver and found that there is no EXE file, but there are SYS, CAT and INF, then install the driver as follows. Right-click on the INF file and select the "Install" option from the menu. After receiving a notification about the successful completion of the operation, restart the computer.
Convenient programs for installing Wi-Fi drivers
The methods described above for finding and installing drivers are quite working, but not very convenient. For novice users, they can cause difficulties, so the best option in such a situation would be to use special programs. They have a significant advantage, unmistakably identifying devices that need to be installed / updated, downloading and installing the latter automatically.
Perhaps the most popular manager for finding and installing drivers. The program is fully automated, so the user just needs to launch it, and she herself, without any help, will identify all devices and offer to download and install the most current driver versions.
DriverPack Solution can work both online and in offline, which allows you to install drivers without connecting your computer to the Internet, but you will need to download the appropriate DriverPack Solution for your version of the operating system in advance and transfer it to your computer in any convenient way. Launch from portable media is possible. It is advisable to work with DriverPack Solution in expert mode, since in addition to drivers, the manager installs additional free software.
Download the Wi-Fi driver for Windows 7/10 and install it will help another program - Auslogics Driver Uрdаter. The principle of its operation is very similar to DriverPack Solution: the application scans the computer for missing, outdated or incorrectly working drivers and offers to download and install them from official sources. current version... Custom installation of packages is supported.
Of additional opportunities application can be marked creation backup installed drivers, restore from backup and launch scheduled operations. Unlike DriverPack Solution, this program is shareware, for full work with it you need to activate the full version.
Free and simple tool for installing drivers in Windows. Extremely simple and straightforward. After launching DriverHub, click the "Find Now" button, after which the program will analyze the system and present a list of drivers that need to be installed / updated. Supports viewing driver information, working in expert mode, backing up and restoring drivers, viewing download history, etc. The program works with devices from most companies, including Asus, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Samsung and Toshiba.
Outcome
The lack of a Wi-Fi driver on laptops is relatively rare. As a rule, Windows 8.1 and 10 already contains all the necessary drivers for wireless adapters, the same applies to Windows 7. The absence of a compatible Wi-Fi driver in the system is more likely an exception, however, it may turn out that installing drivers in You will need Windows separately. Be that as it may, now you know exactly how it is done.
It's no secret that all the necessary drivers for your computer can be downloaded on the Internet. But what if the drivers for network adapters are not installed on a freshly installed Windows. To solve this problem, an offline driver pack of network devices comes to our aid, which can be downloaded to a USB flash drive and installed in a few clicks in manual or automatic mode.
Driver packs of network cards and Wi-Fi adapters are presented in 3 formats - zip, exe, 7z.
- ZIP- no archiving program is required to unpack files. Unzipping files is handled by itself Windows system... Can be unzipped separate folder if you know the manufacturer of the drivers.
- 7Z- here, to unpack files, an archiver program is required, for example 7z or Winrar. You can also unzip a separate folder if you know the manufacturer of the drivers.
- SFX archive (EXE)- such an archive can be unpacked on any computer, even if there is no archiver program, but you cannot unpack a separate folder here.