Recently, some Windows users have reported having trouble connecting to the internet and getting the error message “Not connected – No connections are available“. This error message can be viewed by hovering over the connection icons on the taskbar right end corner. Since most of the work done on the system needs internet connectivity and this is affecting the users to the maximum.
This issue may be occurring on the Windows system for a variety of reasons, some of which include failing to update the drivers or altering the power management settings. There is also a potential that the wireless router will have a problem.
We have therefore put together a few sets of solutions that will undoubtedly resolve this issue after carefully considering all the points raised above. If you are experiencing the same problem, don’t get upset. This article will assist you in how to fix it.
Fix 1 – Reset the Network Adapters
When any problems occur related to the network on the windows system, it is best that we reset the network adapters and see if this works very fine. So here are the steps on how to perform the network reset on your system.
Step 1: Press the Windows key on your keyboard and then type network reset.
Step 2: Now select Network reset system settings from the search results as shown in the below image.
Step 3: On the Network reset page, click Reset now button, which removes and then reinstalls the network adapters and restores the settings back to their default values.
Step 4: Then confirm on the popup window by clicking on Yes.
Step 5: Once done, close the Network reset page on the system and your system will be automatically restarted after 5 minutes.
Step 6: After the system gets started, check if the issue got fixed.
Fix 2 – Check if the Network device is enabled
This might happen very rarely but the network device might have got disabled by some other users unknowingly. This can also be the reason why it is not getting connected. You can check this either using the device manager or the network connections page.
Using Device Manager:
Step 1: Press the Windows and X keys together and then press the M key on the keyboard which opens the device manager on your system.
Step 2: Now after the device manager window appears, double-click on the Network adapters and right-click on the network device.
Step 3: In the context menu, click Enable device option if it is present. Otherwise, it means that this network device is already enabled.
Step 4: Wait for a few seconds till it enables and you will observe that the network device got enabled and got connected.
Step 5: Once done, you can close the Device Manager window.
Using Network Connections:
Step 1: Firstly, press the Windows + R keys to launch the Run box.
Step 2: Then type ncpa.cpl in it and hit Enter key.
Step 3: This opens the Network connections page on the system.
Step 4: Right-click on the Network connection and select Enable from its context menu as shown below.
Step 5: When it’s done, close the Network connections page.
Fix 3 – Clear the DNS Cache using a command prompt
The corrupted cache memory always arise many problems, which can be resolved by flushing the DNS using the command prompt on the system. Follow the steps below on how to do it.
Step 1: To do so, you need to open the command prompt as an admin.
Step 2: Press the Windows + R keys together on the keyboard to open the Run box.
Step 3: then type cmd and press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER keys together.
Step 4: Also click Yes on the UAC prompt to proceed further.
Step 5: Once the elevated command prompt window opens, execute the line below to flush the DNS cache on the system.
ipconfig /flushdns
Step 6: Once the DNS cache is successfully cleared, type the below line and press Enter to renew the network IP configurations.
ipconfig /renew
Step 7: After this is done, type netsh winsock reset in the command prompt and hit Enter.
Step 8: This will reset the Network settings database on the system as shown below.
Step 9: Close the command prompt window and you should restart your system once to make these changes take effect.
Fix 4 – Update the Network adapter’s driver
An outdated driver of the network adapter can also be the culprit behind this problem. So we recommend our users to maintain their system driver’s as a good practice. We have listed a few steps below on how to update the network adapter’s driver using the device manager.
Step 1: Press the Windows + R keys together and type devmgmt.msc in the Run box that just opened up.
Step 2: Now press Enter key which opens the Device Manager window on your system.
Step 3: Expand the Network adapters by double-clicking on them and then, right-click on the network adapter.
Step 4: Choose Update driver from the context menu as shown below.
Step 5: Select Search automatically for the drivers options and then it starts updating the driver.
Step 6: Once done, you can close the device manager and restart the system.
Fix 5 – Reinstall the Network Drivers
Even after trying all the methods explained above if the problem does not get fixed, then it can surely be the corrupted network adapter driver. Some users got this fixed by uninstalling the network adapter driver on the system using device manager.
Here are the detailed steps on how to do it.
Step 1: Press the Windows + X keys and then hit the M key on the keyboard.
Step 2: In the device manager window, double-click on Network adapters option to expand it and right-click on the network adapter.
Step 3: Then click Uninstall device from the context menu.
Step 4: This will uninstall the network adapter you selected.
Step 5: Now restart your system and while the system is booting, it automatically installs the network adapter on the system.
Fix 6 – Change the Wireless Adapter Settings in Power Options
Step 1: Press the Windows key and type edit power plan and press Enter key.
Step 2: Now click Change advanced power settings option on the Edit plan settings page.
Step 3: Expand the Wireless Adapter Settings by double-clicking on it and then again expanding the Power Saving Mode option.
Step 4: Now make sure the value of the On battery and Plugged in is Maximum performance by selecting it from the dropdown menu.
Step 5: Finally, click Apply and OK to close and make the changes.
NOTE – If the wireless adapter settings option is missing in the power options window, please follow the below instructions to get it back.
- Open the Register editor window by typing regedit in the Run box (Win+R) and pressing the Enter key.
- Also, accept the UAC prompt on the screen by clicking Yes to continue.
- Now copy-paste the below line in the clear address bar and press Enter key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettingscbb8fa-5279-450e-9fac-8a3d5fedd0c1bbebe6-58d6-4636-95bb-3217ef867c1a
- Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value by right-clicking on it and hovering over New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Rename it to Attributes and open its edit window by double-clicking on it.
- Now Enter 2 in the Value Data textbox and click OK.
- Close the registry editor window and restart the system to take effect.