no WiFi after system update: "No operation can be performed on Wi-Fi while it has its media disconnected."

I was busy working at the library on their WiFi, and then ran a system update while I went to the bathroom. Which was still stupid because that took like 45 minutes even after I got back which is insane, but that is another problem so whatever.

Things **SEEMED** fine after I got back and I continued work at the library, I was still getting data over the internet, etc...

Then I got home, it can't even see the WiFi network (and yes that network is fine, the OSX box I am writing this on and all the other household devices are doing just fine on it.). This area is riddled with WiFi networks, one can always see at least about 20 on all the other devices, but now the only WiFi network this Win 11 computer thinks (really imagines) it can see is the one back at the library which is impossibly out of range. There are literally no other WiFi option on it except a network that simply is not even close to range which it thinks it is connecting to.

So I restart the computer. Same deal after it fully reboots

So I restart the network settings by going Settings -> Network & Internet -> Advanced network settings -> Network reset
I then restart the computer. Now there are **NO** WiFi networks at all, not even the impossibly out of range one at the library that until this move it was certain it was still in the process of actively connecting to (albeit eternally).

So, following instructions on the internet I tried the following command prompt instructions for clearing network issues on Windows 11 I found on the net (forgive typos, I have to retype all this instead of copy and paste, because without the network I can't get much off and on this dumb Windows 11 laptop.):

This did not fix the problem, still no WiFi networks available. As an aside, what are those fourteen "empty" or invisible "things" it reset "Ok" encompassing the thing it failed to reset and then threw an "Access is denied." ? Also why is access denied to anything when I am running this as an administrator? That seems crazy. How am I supposed to fix my constantly broken Win 11 machine if being an admin on my own computer isn't enough access to try and fix things?

So then I tried a few other things from the command prompt as an administrator as follows:

Then I restart the computer. It still says "No Wi-Fi networks found" even though every other device here shows at least 20 WiFi networks of various strengths permeating the area.

Also ... what "Media" would be connected for the Wi-Fi that it is dependent on? Its the official internal WiFi card that came with the machine, at least it is supposed to be.

Checking: Device Manager -> Network adapters
Correctly Reveals: Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160Mhz
As well as the: WAN Miniport (SSTP)

Checking: Settings -> Network & Internet
Does not reveal any "red Xs" or the like, and doesn't complain if I toggle the Wi-Fi on or off. Going into the Wi-Fi settings everything looks normal except "Show available networks" is perpetually empty even though there are 20+ Wi-Fi signals here.


Correctly Reveals: Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160Mhz

Checking: Settings -> Network & Internet
Does not reveal any "red Xs" or the like, and doesn't complain if I toggle the Wi-Fi on or off. Going into the Wi-Fi settings everything looks normal exceppt "Show available networks" is perpetually empty even though there are 20+ Wi-Fi signals here.

Checking: Settings -> Network & Internet -> Wi-Fi -> Wi-Fi
Yields:


Trying the Windows 11 Troubleshooter I get: "We couldn't run the network diagnostic test." With one recommendation, which is to restart the computer like I already have a couple dozen times now to absolutely no benefit. Do people get any use out of the Windows Trouble Shooters? I always try it and its like "Well I don't understand your issue and probably can't run my tests, so I assume your computer isn't plugged in. Have you checked to see if your computer is plugged in you idiot?" Its like it is designed to mimic an obnoxious, useless, unhelpful personality that would make you want to smack its head clean off if it were a human being.

So I used Device Manager -> Network adapters and uninstalled the Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160 MHz to try and reinstall it on restart ... and instead on restart it did not even try to reinstall it, it just loaded all the way in except microsoft edge was no opened to www.xbox.com (a place I have never gone) with a warning about no longer being on the internet. Yes I know, that has been the issue all day. But why is this the first restart this happened as nothing else has changed, and why is Edge opening up to check and do this, I have done everything I can to disable microsoft edge as best as possible without damaging the machine.

I got the drivers manually installed and am back to 23.150.0.4 there is still no detectable Wi-Fi signals.

Maybe I am missing a key service running? The services I suspect that are relevant to proper Wi-Fi service and that are running are:
- Telephony
- Wi-Fi Direct Services Connection Manager Service
- Windows Connection Manager
- WLAN AutoConfig
- WWAN AutoConfig
- Connected Devices Platform Service
- Connected Devices Platform User Service_<USER>
- Device Setup Manager
- DHCP Client
- DNS Client
- IP Helper
- Network Connection Broker
- Network List Service
- Network Setup Service
- Phone Service

There are plenty more services running, I just don't know which ones might also be Wi-Fi related so I am not going to list the giant bulk of them, but will happily check specific groups of them if people can think of important ones for Wi-Fi not listed above.

Computer is a: Dell Inspiron 14 7440 2-in-1 laptop.

Thoughts suggestions?

"No operation can be performed on Wi-Fi while it has its media disconnected" means your computer thinks the Wi-Fi adapter isn't physically connected or recognized,
You can easily prove it's a hardware/driver issue rather than a windows issue by using a $10 wireless wifi adapter.

You speak of installing an update but do not say what update it was.

Thank you, I actually, coincidentally just bought a cheap USB Wi-Fi adaptor for totally different reasons. Let me go give that a try shortly and report back.

As an aside though, why does it thinks there are two different network dependent media that are disconnected for the Wi-Fi instead of one ... or am I reading that wrong?

All else fails, check that your user profile hasn’t been corrupted. You can do this by creating a new user account and checking the new profile.
You can remove the profile when done testing:

I have also now run sfc /scannow No effect on the Wi-Fi issues.

glasskuter said:

"No operation can be performed on Wi-Fi while it has its media disconnected" means your computer thinks the Wi-Fi adapter isn't physically connected or recognized,
You can easily prove it's a hardware/driver issue rather than a windows issue by using a $10 wireless wifi adapter.

You speak of installing an update but do not say what update it was.

Click to expand...

I don't know what update it was, windows update just downloaded it and started installing it when I restarted without me involved in any part of it or why things needed to be updated.

Okay I just put in the a USB Wi-Fi adaptor, no fix, still no networks.

All the hardware seems to be working, here is my checks below (again may have typos as it has to be retyped by hand because the afflicted computer has no network capacity right now.)

I am using a tp-link AC600 Nano Wi-Fi Bluetooth 4.2 USB Adapter Archer T2UB Nano, though that might be a "relabel" as it appears to be a differently named equivalent device when registered by the machine as reported and reposted in the query results below.

Checking: Device Manager -> Network adapters
Correctly Reveals: [the original built in]: Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160Mhz
Reveals: [the new USB attached]: Realtek 8821CU Wireless LAN 802.11ac USB NIC
As well as the: WAN Miniport (SSTP)

so both Wi-Fi hardware devices are being detected.

Checking: Settings -> Network & Internet
There is now: "Wi-Fi" and "Wi-Fi 2" both show absolutely no networks in their own independent "Show available networks" tab, totally empty. Does not reveal any "red Xs" or the like, and doesn't complain if I toggle "Wi-Fi" or "Wi-Fi 2" on or off. It does have a minor red note now for "Wi-Fi 2" (the USB) that the "Random hardware addresses" [Red text]: "Not supported by these adapters: Wi-Fi 2" which is fine, shows its being detected and shouldn't effect detection of Wi-Fi networks or the standard use I was intending it for.

Wi-Fi [1]: "hardware properties"
Correctly Reveals: Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160Mhz
Driver version: 23.150.0.4

Wi-Fi 2: "Hardware properties"
Reveals: Realtek 8821CU Wireless LAN 802.11ac USB NIC
Driver version: 1030.38.712.2019

So all the hardware looks to be working including the brand new external USB Wi-Fi adaptor. ... but there is still no detectable Wi-Fi networks despite 20+ signals in the area visible on other devices. So this must be a software issue.

Let me now check @antspants suggestion of a potentially damaged user account.

See if the computer is able to run Windows troubleshooters (many have been deprecated)


Administrative command prompt:

msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsInbound
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsWeb
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsNetworkAdapter
msdt.exe -id WindowsUpdateDiagnostic

zbook said:

See if the computer is able to run Windows troubleshooters (many have been deprecated)


Administrative command prompt:

msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsInbound
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsWeb
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsNetworkAdapter
msdt.exe -id WindowsUpdateDiagnostic

Click to expand...

msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic does launch. Claims it finds a bluetooth driver issue. Useful to fix, but not the issue at hand as confirmed by the fact that fixing it didn't do anything for my issue.

msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticInBound Simply produces "Windows Online Troubleshooting Service is not enabled for this version of Windows."

msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsWeb Does launch. Produces "Troubleshooting couldn't identify the problem"

msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsNetworkAdapter Does launch. Detected both Wi-Fi adaptars, the internal built in one and the cheap USB one and asked me to select one or both. I selected both. It thought for a while then went to "Troubleshooting couldn't identify the problem"

msdt.exe -id WindowsUpdateDiagnostic Does launch. Found a "pending update" that hadn't been installed. Clicked "Apply this fix". Claims it fixed a corrupt or missing Service registration and a pending update. Didn't change anything in the active instance, so I restarted the machine. No change after restart, neither the internal Wi-Fi card nor the external USB Wi-Fi adapter can see a single network.


It was good advice, worth a try, and maybe (hopefully) helped fix some other things about other issues elsewhere, but it did not fix the Wi-Fi issue this thread is about or even modify it in a meaningful way.

antspants said:

All else fails, check that your user profile hasn’t been corrupted. You can do this by creating a new user account and checking the new profile.
You can remove the profile when done testing:

Add Local User Account in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to create and add a local account as a user on the PC in Windows 11. Having different accounts on a shared PC lets multiple people use the same device, all while giving everyone their own sign-in info, plus access to their own files, browser favorites, and...

www.elevenforum.com

Delete User Account in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to delete a user account to remove it from your Windows 11 PC. Having different accounts on a shared PC lets multiple people use the same device, all while giving everyone their own sign-in info, plus access to their own files, browser favorites, and desktop...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

I made a new user account. Same deal. No Wi-Fi on either the internal Wi-Fi card or the external Wi-Fi USB device. Both devices are detected correctly in all Network and Device related panels that I know of, but the system simply cannot detect any Wi-Fi signals, no matter what, even on a new user account.

I am not sure how this is possible, as I don't ever delete anything from the system folder or the like, so I would have assumed a new user with a clean registry would be fine, but apparently not, and because of correct hardware detection everywhere and the sudden loss of Wi-Fi support after a system update it really does look like a software update instead of a hardware issue.

>netsh winsock reset
>netsh advfirewall reset
>Profit??

I 'll give it a try (forgive retype errors in my "code" below, the computer can't copy-paste to this forum as it is offline, so I am retyping via my phone, and I have fat fingers on phone keyboards.)

yngDreamer said:

>netsh winsock reset
>netsh advfirewall reset
>Profit??

Click to expand...

Restart computer, says "Someone else is still using this PC. If you restart now, they could lose unsaved work." Which is strange as this is a personal laptop that ostensibly has only one user and account, me. Wait ten minutes, try to restart again, get the same warning, restart anyway.


After restart, it still cannot find any wifi networks on either the internal wifi card, or the external wifi USB adapter, but it is still reading both correctly and all ways I know to test them, they seem to be working just fine.


Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll take any I can get at this point as I am desperate.

Does anyone know, are there commands I can issue, or places I can check where I can find additional relevant information to trouble shoot? It seems like the internal card and wifi USB adapter are working and register correctly to the system drivers, and maybe the first layer of software above that so that narrows things down, but there should be a way to probe the remaining layers some way to really pinpoint the problem. I just don't know what that would be. Any suggestions?

Try this? I have no way of testing it ATM.

Copy/paste into an elevated PowerShell window

• Stops WLAN AutoConfig to release the adapter
• Purges all Wi‑Fi profiles (fixes phantom SSIDs and scan corruption)
• Resets TCP/IP
• Resets Winsock
• Clears hosted network state (Windows sometimes gets stuck here)
• Restarts WLAN service
• Disables/re-enables the adapter to force firmware reload
• Prompts for a full shutdown to clear the NIC’s hardware state

Thanks!

... now I need to borrow someone else's computer again so I can copy that script onto a USB to port it across. That won't happen today, but I am definately planning it soon.

Thsnks again.

@NatS1011 ........yesterday I had the same issue. Wi-Fi was disconnected, how odd because two of my computers were connected but not this one.
I did all of the above suggestions, nothing helped. This morning I ran the trouble shooter again. One of the things it said to try was "go into settings and
click forget". I was able to type in my wireless service\provider and password. Apparently something was right and I connected again!