Fix 5GHz WiFi Not Showing Up In Windows 10/11 [Resolved]

5GHz WiFi not showing up in your Windows 10 or windows 11 computer is a very common issue. There are literally thousands of queries out there asking why is 5G Wifi not showing up, how to enable 5G WiFi, why they can’t connect to 5G WiFi, and more. These issues usually come up when users change their WiFi Router, update their OS, change hardware components of PC related to WiFi, update device driver, etc. The most common of them all is when users get a new router. When the router is set up, instead of their PC’s WiFi Adapter detecting both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bandwidth signals, it only detects 2.4 GHz bandwidth signal.

There are various reasons because of which the problem of 5GHz WiFi not showing up in Windows 10 or windows 11 may occur. It could be either of the following problems:

1. Your computer’s hardware does not support 5GHz bandwidth.

2. Your WiFi Router does not support 5GHz bandwidth.

3. 5GHz is not set up properly either in your PC or in your WiFi Router.

4. Outdated or Improper WiFi Adapter Drivers installed on your computer.

In this piece, we are going to talk about different ways to find out the reason behind and solution for5G WiFi not showing up issue. Some of these methods are just for probing purpose and will only tell you whether your PC or WiFi Router is compatible with 5GHz Wifi or 5G WiFi. Other methods will tell you how to enable 5GHz WiFi to fix “5G WiFi not showing up” problem. We will also be working with WiFI Drivers if the primary methods to enable 5GHz WiFi do not work.

The first thing to do is give your PC and WiFi router a check if they do support 5GHz WiFi or not.

#1 – First Check whether Your Computer For 5GHz WiFi Support

The first step is to check if your PC has 5GHz bandwidth compatibility. Here are the steps to check the same:

Step 1: On your keyboard, press Windows + R keys at a time. This will open the Run dialog box.

Step 2: Type cmd in the Run box and press Enter to open Command Prompt.



 

Run 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 3: In the Command Prompt window, type the following command:

 netsh wlan show drivers

 

Cmd1 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

This will show the wireless LAN Driver properties on your computer.

Step 4: From the result that opens up in the Command Prompt window, look for Radio types supported.

 

Cmd2 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

In this section, you will see 3 network modes. Following are the network modes with what they mean:

a) 802.11g 802.11n: Your computer only supports 2.4GHz bandwidth.

b) 802.11n 802.11g 802.11b: Your computer only supports 2.4GHz bandwidth.

c) 802.11a 802.11g 802.11n: Your computer supports both 2.4Ghz and 5GHz bandwidth.

If you get the Radio types supported as any of the first two, then you need to upgrade your WiFi Adapter Hardware. If you have compatible PC, and get 5g WiFfi not showing up issue, then go to the next step and see if your WiFi Router has 5GHz support or not.

Note: For those people , whose computer Does not support 5.4 GHz , they can enable 5.4 GHz on laptop / PC by buying external USB WiFi Adapters.

#2 – Check If Your Router Supports 5GHz Bandwidth

 

To check if your router supports 6 GHz bandwidth or 5G, you will have to do some internet research. But before you go ask Google for this info, go find the box in which your router came. It would have the information if your router supports 5GHz.

If you can’t find the info on the box or can’t find box itself, go look for your router manufacturer name and model number. It is usually mentioned below the WiFi router device.

Now go to the manufacturer’s website of the router and look for the product with exactly the same model name. If you can’t find their website, take help of Google. Research and find out resources with the description of the router model you are using. There, you can see if your router supports 5GHz bandwidth or 2.4GHz bandwidth.

If it does, then proceed to the next step to solve the 5GHz WiFi not showing up problem.

#3 – Enable 802.11n Mode On Your WiFi Adapter

You have reached this section if both your PC and WiFi Router support 5GHz bandwidth or 5G, and you still can’t connect to 5GHz WiFi. In this step, we will try to enable 5GHz WiFi bandwidth by following these steps:

Step 1: Press Windows + X and click on Device Manager from the list of options that appear.

 

Win+x 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 2: In Device Manager, look for Network adapters and click on it to expand its menu. From the expanded menu, look for Wireless adapter. Right click on the Wireless adapter driver, and click on Properties.

 

Devmgr M1 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 3: A new Wireless adapter properties window will open up. Here, go to the Advanced tab. Look for 802.11n mode and select it. After selecting, change the value on the right side to Enable. Click Ok.

 

802.11n Enable 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 4: Restart your computer and see if you can find the 5GHz or 5G WiFi network in the list of Wireless Network Connections.

If this method doesn’t work for you, try the next method to enable 5GHz WiFi or 5G WiFi.

#4 – Set Bandwidth To 5GHz Via Device Manager

Here’s another thing that you can try to enable 5GHz WiFi and solve the “5GHz WiFi not showing up in Windows 11” issue.

Step 1: From the Method #3 mentioned above, follow Step 1 and 2.

Step 2: Go to the Advanced tab of the Wireless Adapter Properties. In the Property box, select the Preferred Band option. Now, on the right from the Value drop-down, select the Prefer 5.2 GHz band option. Then, click on Ok.

 

Preferred Band 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 3: Restart your PC and see if it can detect the 5GHZ or 5G WiFi network now.

If this method to fix 5G WiFi not showing up problem doesn’t work, you will have to tweak the WiFi driver in the upcoming steps.

Note: If your PC doesn’t support 5GHz, you will not be able to find the Band option in the Property box.

 

#5 – Update WiFi Driver Automatically

Updating WiFi Driver at times does the trick and solves the issue for you. To update WiFi Driver automatically, you can follow these steps below:

Step 1: Open the Device Manager tool. To do so, press Windows + X and click on the Device Manager option.

 

Win+x 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 2: In the Device Manager window, look for the Network adapters option. Click on it to expand it. From the expanded menu, look for Wireless Adapter driver. Right click on the Wireless Adapter option, and from the context menu, click on the Update Driver Software option.

 

Auto Update 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 3: A new Update window will open now. Here, you will get two options; one to update driver automatically and other to manually update driver. Click on the Search automatically for updated driver software to begin the automatic driver update process.

 

Auto Search 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 4: Follow on-screen instructions to complete the update. When done, restart your PC and see if your PC can detect 5GHz or 5G network.

Step 5: If not, you can carry out methods 4 and 5 again to make sure.

This will most probably fix the can’t connect to 5GHz WiFi issue.

Note: There are chances that your PC will tell that your WiFi driver is up to date and has the latest driver installed when you try to automatically update it. In this case, manually update WiFi driver.

#6 – Update WiFi Driver Manually

To update WiFi driver manually and fix the 5GHz WiFi not showing up in Windows 1o issue, you will have to download the latest WiFi Driver on your PC manually. To do so, first, go to your PC or Laptop manufacturer’s website. From there, download the latest WiFi Driver, compatible with your Operating System.

When done, follow these steps:

Step 1: From Method #5, follow Step 1 and Step 2.

Step 2: From the Update Window that will open, select the Browse my computer for driver software option.

 

Manual Ipdate 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 3: Now, browse and select the folder with the downloaded WiFi driver, or browse and select the downloaded driver yourself. When done, click Next. Follow on-screen instructions till the WiFi driver installation is complete.

 



Browse Driver 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 4: Restart your computer and see if you were able to enable 5GHz WiFi on it.

Step 5: If your PC cannot detect the 5GHz bandwidth, try methods #3 and #4 again to enable 5GHz WiFi support.

#7 – Roll Back WiFi Driver Update

 

This method to fix 5GHz WiFi not showing up in Windows 10 or windows 11 is for those users who were able to access 5G network before, but now are unable to. Chances are that your Windows 10 /Windows 11 got upgraded and the WiFi Driver was updated as well. The latest driver must be having some issue, thus, your PC is unable to connect to or detect 5GHz bandwidth.

Here are the steps to Roll Back WiFi Driver update:

Step 1: Repeat Step 1 and Step 2 from the Method #3 mentioned above.

Step 2: In the Properties window that opens, go to the Driver tab. There, look for Roll Back Driver and click on it. Then follow the instructions to roll back the driver to its previous version.

 

Roll Back 5ghz Wifi Not Showing Up Windows 10

 

Step 3: When done, Restart your PC and see if this process worked for you.

#8 – Edit router Settings

1. Log into your Router settings panel.

2. Locate 5G wireless settings and change channel to 36.

 

Channel 36 Min

3. Save and you will now be able to discover 5g.

Finally,

these methods will solve the 5GHz WiFi not showing up issue for your PC.

If your PC hardware is not compatible with 5GHz WiFi bandwidth, you might want to consult with your PC manufacturer’s help desk to see if something can be done to upgrade it.





33 thoughts on “Fix 5GHz WiFi Not Showing Up In Windows 10/11 [Resolved]”

  1. An excellent troubleshooting article. #8 was the simple fix. I should have tried it first.

    Problem is my Dell Inspirion 5539 laptop with Qualcomm QCA9377 adapter (Driver Ver 12.0.0.953) detected the 5.0GHz and 2.4GHz wifi signals, but the laptop would only connect to 2.4GHz. WIN10 could see 5.0GHZ, but not connect to it.

    My iPhone and iPad connected to 5.0GHz and 2.4GHz no problem. So was the issue with the laptop or router?

    Fix was #8 after eliminating #1-#6. I did not try rolling-back of driver version. Within Sagemcom F@ST 3864V3 HP router settings I changed Channel from the default “Auto” setting to “36/80”.

    The laptop instantly logged into 5.0GHz signal. The Apple devices continued to operate on 5.0GHz.

  2. This guy! legend

    Defs says

    NOVEMBER 22, 2019 AT 11:59 PM

    Hello everyone who found this thread.

    None of this fixed it for me!

    This fixed it for me!!!

    Go into router settings > 5g wireless settings > change channel to 36 and save

    After this, I finally was able to discover my 5g network and connect to it!

  3. Hi,
    When i go to Step 3 and to enable 802.11n mode i can’t see any option like this. But from the first step its clear that my laptop supports 2.4 and 5.0 Ghz as well.
    Could you please help.

  4. You are my hero. I’ve been on with Fios and Dell. Fios wanted to sell me a $300 router. All I had to do was roll back the driver. You are the best!

  5. Thanks, the following points really helped solve my issue of 5G band not showing up in my windows PC:
    #3 – Enable 802.11n Mode On Your WiFi Adapter
    #4 – Set Bandwidth To 5GHz Via Device Manager

  6. Thank you so much! I couldn’t understand why one laptop was so slow and could only find the 2G connection and the other was on 5G and super fast. This totally explained it to me (my hardware doesn’t support 5G) and you gave me a solution (to buy an external USB wifi adapter). So easy to understand and follow. Really appreciate the help.

  7. None of these worked for me.
    The 802.11n mode option is not available in my pc and roll back update option also is not available
    MY PC SPECIFICATIONS–
    1.8gb ram
    2.2tb rom
    3.2gb graphic card (INTEL)
    4.i7 processor with 4 cores

  8. There is ONE more thing that you can try if you have this problem.

    It was the real solution for me.

    You must make sure ALL your regional settings match your geographical region. ALL of them.

    If you are in the US, set your keyboard to US english, set your region to usa, but ALSO make sure your language for non unicode programs is also set to US English. Uk english is no good. it MUST actually be US English.

    After doing so, fully uninstall and reinstall the drivers for the wifi.

    Certain wi-fi driver installers (i’m looking at you, netgear!) will look at that last setting, and use it to determine what region drivers to install. If the wrong region drivers are installed, then it will scan on the wrong frequencies, and not be able to see some of the wi-fi bands.

    On the other hand if you are in the UK, set it to uk english, and NOT us english.

    If you are in another country, set it to that country.

  9. Thank you so much. I tried all these steps, and rolling back the driver was the winner! Works perfect now. Thanks again.

  10. Thank you guys so much, I was starting to want to throw my desktop out my window, and now it works again! Thanks again!

  11. Thanks for the article! #4 fixed up my laptop, it was not connecting to the 5 GHZ even though it was in the same room as the router.

  12. This fixed it for me too!!!

    Go into router settings > 5g wireless settings > change channel to 36 and save

    After this, I finally was able to discover my 5g network and connect to it!

  13. I’ve been everywhere and each recommendation site deals with a different issue – my issue is I have a very old laptop, my year 2020 Netgear Router supports 2.4g and 5.0g – I have multiple (modern) laptops and desktops and all of them can “see” the 5.0g channel from the router – the “older” laptop cannot – your post makes it completely clear, I wasted a lot of time, and your post said it all, my “802.11n 802.11g, 80211b” does NOT support 5.0G – so simple, once you reach the right place – thanks, don’t forget about those of us who know a “little” but don’t “know a lot” – thanks again!!!

  14. Hello! I was following step 1 and my network mode doesn’t match any of the 3 you listed.
    Mine is: 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n

    Do you know if this network mode supports 5Ghz?

  15. My USB WLAN is RTL8192DU, Radio types supported: 802.11n 802.11n 802.11b 802.11g 802.11a (it means both 2.4G and 5G band), (Under Win7 I can manually edit driver file/ or edit registry for working in 5G band, But I can’t do in Win10 Pro 64-bits.
    In Win 10 Pro – It supports both Hosted Network and Mobile hotspot (but I can’t change channel number, default alway is channel 1, and I also can’t switch from 2G to 5G band under Device manager/WLAN properties/ Advanced- there are no option to select prefered band.)
    However, I can manually edit channel band under Regedit (Registry Editor) for Hosted Network, But no way for changing channel number of Mobile hotspot ?
    Any help please !? Thanks

  16. your article leaves out one very important reason for 5ghz wifi not being seen. wireless regulatory domain is what decides which channels and at what frequency and ch. width. after a recent windows update about 1-2 months ago most of my 5ghz channels are “DFS UNSET” meaning blocked. intel nor microsoft will even explain what method they use to determine regulatory domain. in linux it’s as simple as a module option lar_disable=1 . on windows it’s a never ending road to nowhere. if you can figure out a way of forcing a regdom or overriding what channels get blocked on windows then you’ll truly have a unique article, otherwise it’s just like the rest of them out there. no offense intended on that last statement, just an observation/suggestion of adding something nobody else to an already great article.

  17. Hello everyone who found this thread.

    None of this fixed it for me!

    This fixed it for me!!!

    Go into router settings > 5g wireless settings > change channel to 36 and save

    After this, I finally was able to discover my 5g network and connect to it!

  18. Great article, thank you. I love it when I’m able to find articles like this online and quickly troubleshoot and/or fix a problem.
    Thank you!

  19. Same here. Yesterday my laptop got one of the regular Windows 10 updates. After the reboot, my 5GHz networks are no longer showing up. And I can’t even connect to my 2.4GHz network as it keeps asking for network key which is 100% correct. Started googling and found these comments here which seem to indicate that Windows 10 broke something the last few weeks.

  20. None of these solutions fixed my issue. 5G worked with no HW changes for 2 years and all the sudden stopped supporting 5G. Tried all recommended fixes and the laptop will still not detect 5G networks.

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