Solved Windows 11 Laptop Taking 4 Minutes to Connect to Wireless Network

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

andrew129260 said:
did you uninstall it first, then reboot and then install the latest driver?

I followed the instructions on the Intel website and used their "Driver and Support Assistant" tool to update the Bluetooth and wifi drivers. That tool now reports that my drives and software are up to date.

andrew129260 said:
When you get into windows, open cmd and ping your router. See how long it takes. When hovering over the wifi symbol does it say establishing connection and then get stuck there for a bit?

Here are the results from a ping of the router:

Pinging 192.168.1.254 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 4ms, Average = 2ms

There is no wifi symbol in my systray until the laptop connects. Then hovering over it reports the connection and internet access. I would guess that means as soon as the preferred wifi connection is identified, it immediately connects. Again, until then, no wifi connections are "available". It takes fully 4 minutes to identify any available connections, at which point it connects to my preferred one immediately.

andrew129260 · May 4, 2026

Uninstalling first then restarting and then reinstalling the driver usually works best when having issues vs simply just updating it.

It also honestly might be simpler than we think, try this:

Go under settings> network and internet -> wifi > manage known networks. Choose forget on everything that isnt your network ssid/name and restart

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

andrew129260 said:
Uninstalling first then restarting and then reinstalling the driver usually works best when having issues vs simply just updating it.

I could uninstall then reboot and see what Windows does. Will it re-install the driver I just uninstalled or the driver that was installed before I went to the Intel site? Since I installed both Bluetooth and wifi, should I uninstall both and reboot?

andrew129260 said:
It also honestly might be simpler than we think, try this:

Go under settings> network and internet -> wifi > manage known networks. Choose forget on everything that isnt your network ssid/name and restart

I chose to forget everything that wasn't the 5G SSID that I prefer, including the 2.4G SSID that I use sometimes and several other SSIDs that I have connected to in the past. None of the neighbor's SSIDs can be "forgotten" since I've never connected to any of them. When I did this and rebooted, there was no impact on connection time. Indeed I think it took closer to 5 minutes rather than 4.

andrew129260 · May 4, 2026

Jim Rockford said:
I could uninstall then reboot and see what Windows does. Will it re-install the driver I just uninstalled or the driver that was installed before I went to the Intel site? Since I installed both Bluetooth and wifi, should I uninstall both and reboot?

Under device manager under network adapters take a screenshot and upload here.

You can download the drivers from here:

Support for Inspiron 7390 2-in-1 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell US

Choose select drivers, and then on the top right under category choose network, ethernet, and wireless.

Once you have them downloaded to your machine, you can safely uninstall it from device manager (make sure to choose to remove the driver software from device little checkbox) and then restart, sign in go to the downloads folder and install the driver.

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

andrew129260 said:
Under device manager under network adapters take a screenshot and upload here.

andrew129260 said:
You can download the drivers from here:

Support for Inspiron 7390 2-in-1 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell US

Choose select drivers, and then on the top right under category choose network, ethernet, and wireless.

Once you have them downloaded to your machine, you can safely uninstall it from device manager (make sure to choose to remove the driver software from device little checkbox) and then restart, sign in go to the downloads folder and install the driver.

I've downloaded the drivers from the Dell web site -- there are three of them. Here's a picture of what's included in the downloaded file:

Note that these drivers don't appear to be the same as the "new" ones I installed from Intel. Also, it seems like I need to uninstall the current bluetooth driver too. Is that right?

kelper · May 4, 2026

Jim Rockford said:
I've been here before. None of the recommendations there seem helpful.

How ungrateful!

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

kelper said:
How ungrateful!

Did you read the context of that message? My point was that I had been to the suggested Dell website already and didn't find anything there helpful. That should have been very clear from the context.

I very much appreciate the comments and suggestions from those here as I try to remedy the problem I'm having.

kelper · May 4, 2026

Jim Rockford said:
Did you read the context of that message? My point was that I had been to the suggested Dell website already and didn't find anything there helpful. That should have been very clear from the context.

I very much appreciate the comments and suggestions from those here as I try to remedy the problem I'm having.

Ok, I misunderstood you.

OAT · May 4, 2026

Hey g_e_f,

Your time to obtain a wifi network connection is excessive.
There seems to be some interference preventing any network detection.
In order to determine what it is, you need to power down anything that connects to your network so, that the only device connected is your laptop.
Test that way first.
You should repeat that while moving around, so you might need a few attempts.

I would then use my phone as a hotspot and see how long it takes to detect that network.

Could you log in as Administrator to see if there is any difference to the connection time?
Test that way third. I am not too optimistic about that as the detection is done prior to login, but what's there to lose?

In order to establish the best connection available I use Wifi Analyzer which tell me the optimal channel to use,
that is - once connected, but we are not there yet .
So try the 3 things I listed but I must warn you that something has been changed and you need to dig deep and go back to first day you noticed
the delay and back track yourself.
Do you have any backups from that time period maybe?
Report back and don't give up.

andrew129260 · May 4, 2026

OAT said:
Hey g_e_f,

Your time to obtain a wifi network connection is excessive.
There seems to be some interference preventing any network detection.
In order to determine what it is, you need to power down anything that connects to your network so, that the only device connected is your laptop.
Test that way first.
You should repeat that while moving around, so you might need a few attempts.

I would then use my phone as a hotspot and see how long it takes to detect that network.

Could you log in as Administrator to see if there is any difference to the connection time?
Test that way third. I am not too optimistic about that as the detection is done prior to login, but what's there to lose?

In order to establish the best connection available I use Wifi Analyzer which tell me the optimal channel to use,
that is - once connected, but we are not there yet .
So try the 3 things I listed but I must warn you that something has been changed and you need to dig deep and go back to first day you noticed
the delay and back track yourself.
Do you have any backups from that time period maybe?
Report back and don't give up.

dang I forgot about the channels. Good call.

Could be funky interference but seeing as how they were on 5ghz I ruled that out.

Jim Rockford said:
Note that these drivers don't appear to be the same as the "new" ones I installed from Intel. Also, it seems like I need to uninstall the current bluetooth driver too. Is that right?

Sometimes the newest drivers are not ones that will work with your system well. I always recommend trying the newest drivers for security patches and the like, but if you have problems it is best to use the manufactures drivers for your specific model. Especially on a laptop.

garlin · May 4, 2026

Another possibility is the WiFi services are configured for "Automatic (Delayed Start)". So they're pushed back to run right after system startup.

Can you run this command?

Code:

powershell -C "(Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\*' | Where-Object { $_.Start -eq 2 -and $_.DelayedAutostart -eq 1 }).PSChildName"

glasskuter · May 4, 2026

The only thing I can think of to suggest is try to work backward one thing at a time, testing after each step to see if there's a difference. This is assuming that you have verified you have NO isp connection problems and that other devices on your network have no issues connecting.
1. Restart the router.
2. Reset network components using attached @FreeBooter .bat file. Unzip it, right click on the unzipped file and run as administrator.
3. Assign the laptop a static ip address.
4. Eliminate it being a wireless adapter problem by using a usb wireless adapter. They cost less than $15. There are many brands but I recommend either TP-Link or Cudy as I have had good luck with both. Just disable your Intel one and plug in the usb one. The drivers will automatically install.
Right now I have 2 Dell devices using a usb wireless adapter and neither misses a lick.

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

andrew129260 said:
Under device manager under network adapters take a screenshot and upload here.

You can download the drivers from here:

Support for Inspiron 7390 2-in-1 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell US

Choose select drivers, and then on the top right under category choose network, ethernet, and wireless.

Once you have them downloaded to your machine, you can safely uninstall it from device manager (make sure to choose to remove the driver software from device little checkbox) and then restart, sign in go to the downloads folder and install the driver.

I did as you suggested here. After uninstalling the bluetooth and wifi drivers, I restarted the laptop. Windows "automatically" re-installed drivers; i.e., I didn't get a chance to install the ones I had just downloaded from the Dell site. Connection time was unchanged. Still between 4 and 5 minutes.

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

garlin said:
Another possibility is the WiFi services are configured for "Automatic (Delayed Start)". So they're pushed back to run right after system startup.

Can you run this command?

Code:

powershell -C "(Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\*' | Where-Object { $_.Start -eq 2 -and $_.DelayedAutostart -eq 1 }).PSChildName"

On running the command, I got the following results:

C:\Users\g_e_f>powershell -C "(Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\*' | Where-Object { $_.Start -eq 2 -and $_.DelayedAutostart -eq 1 }).PSChildName"
cbdhsvc
CDPSvc
Dell Digital Delivery Services
Dell SupportAssist Remediation
DellClientManagementService
DoSvc
edgeupdate
ESRV_SVC_QUEENCREEK
InventorySvc
MapsBroker
OneSyncSvc
PcaSvc
sppsvc
SupportAssistAgent
UsoSvc
whesvc
wscsvc
WSearch

So, it looks like they could be delayed if I'm reading the output correctly?

garlin · May 4, 2026

Jim Rockford said:
ESRV_SVC_QUEENCREEK

"ESRV_SVC_QUEENCREEK" is the Intel System Usage Report Service.

Go under Services, and disable it. Restart Windows and see if that makes a difference. It's a telemetry service that Intel installs as "Intel Computing Improvement Program" app under Programs & Apps, when you use their setup installers.

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

@OAT ,

Thank you for your extensive feedback. I'll think through what your suggesting and think about what to do next. Meanwhile, I did have some questions and comments of my own, based on my amateur status.

OAT said:
Hey g_e_f,

Your time to obtain a wifi network connection is excessive.
There seems to be some interference preventing any network detection.
In order to determine what it is, you need to power down anything that connects to your network so, that the only device connected is your laptop.
Test that way first.

I understand what you're saying, but I'm not sure how this would help. We know that all of my other devices (there are many; I've documented a few above) connect quickly and reliably, and speeds are very good. My gateway has both 5G and 2.4G radios. Some of my devices connect at 5G, some connect at 2.4G. That suggests to me (remember I'm an amateur) that the problem is in my laptop, either with software or hardware. Moreover, my laptop takes over 4 minutes to find any available connections, including my neighbors', which suggests again that the problem is not with my gateway.

OAT said:
You should repeat that while moving around, so you might need a few attempts.

I would then use my phone as a hotspot and see how long it takes to detect that network.

I had my phone set up as a hotspot early on. The laptop saw this as an available connection at 4 minutes, just like every other SSID.

OAT said:
Could you log in as Administrator to see if there is any difference to the connection time?
Test that way third. I am not too optimistic about that as the detection is done prior to login, but what's there to lose?

In order to establish the best connection available I use Wifi Analyzer which tell me the optimal channel to use,
that is - once connected, but we are not there yet .
So try the 3 things I listed but I must warn you that something has been changed and you need to dig deep and go back to first day you noticed

I get this and I need to reflect on what I may have done over the past month or so. That will take some time and energy on my part.

OAT said:
the delay and back track yourself.
Do you have any backups from that time period maybe?
Report back and don't give up.

View attachment 170580 View attachment 170581

I think I'll pick up a USB adapter and try it before I do much else. If the problem is in my laptop, it's got to be either the driver or the wifi adapter, right? I've uninstalled and Windows has re-installed the driver with no joy, which leave me with getting a USB adapter.

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

garlin said:
"ESRV_SVC_QUEENCREEK" is the Intel System Usage Report Service.

Go under Services, and disable it. Restart Windows and see if that makes a difference. It's a telemetry service that Intel installs as "Intel Computing Improvement Program" app under Programs & Apps, when you use their setup installers.

I disabled the service and restarted. No joy. Note that I had not installed their setup installer until after this problem occurred and I went to the Intel site in search of the latest drivers.

I think my next step is to install a USB wifi adapter. I'll report back on the results I get.

Jim Rockford · May 4, 2026

Well, I happened to have a USB wifi adapter here in the house, so I disabled the onboard adapter and installed the USB adapter. I rebooted and there was no change in connection time.

I'll keep thinking about what may have changed in the past couple months, but I'm out of ideas right now. I know I've installed a couple Windows updates during this timeframe. I also ran Dell SupportAssist and it did update a couple of Dell's programs (but no drivers). The only other "odd" thing that happened during this time is that I had to re-start the 5G radio in my gateway.

I do appreciate everyone's help here. Thank you and please advise any additional ideas as they occur to you. If I can ever solve this problem (or if it solves itself), I'll post back.

XxXxX · May 4, 2026

have you tried static addressing for the WiFi connection
IP address
subnet mask
gateway address
DNS

then check the connection to see if there is any improvement.
best of luck Steve ..

idgat · May 5, 2026

Boot from a Linux distro (Mint is a good flavour) and test the connection

Ultimate drastic step ... swap out the drive for a blank one. Clean install Win 11. Test. You can then replace the old drive and decide what to do next

Can't see it being asked previously, and at the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious ...
- no VPNs, I assume
- has the DNS settings been changed (physically check, not just assume)

In respect of the DNS, if no change, try a DNS change - Google iPV4 8.8.8.8 (primary) and 8.8.4.4 (secondary)

there's a great little progam called DNS Jumper tha can do that for you
Dns Jumper v2.3 (only this one from sordum, others are a bit iffy)

Solved Windows 11 Laptop Taking 4 Minutes to Connect to Wireless Network

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