Upgrading to Windows 11 doesn't allow access to old Wi-Fi connections.
Upgrading to Windows 11 doesn't allow access to old Wi-Fi connections.
Supporting standards: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac
Unfortunately, no choice is available for 802.11a/b/g/n/ac.
Reviewing the images shows an N setting but no AC signal detected. Try launching from an elevated CMD window (right-click and run as administrator). Use netsh winsock reset, then ipconfig /release, /renew, /flushdns, and restart. I’m also curious about the connection type on other devices—what kind of link are they using? Based on your use case, it seems like a 2.4GHz network. Check if WLAN AutoConfig is running on other machines. It should be active since you see other Wi-Fi networks. Remember, I have the same Wi-Fi card. Have you tried skipping driver installation and letting Windows install it automatically? My options are quite different—I’m not sure if you can access another network for testing. You could also explore the PDANet app from Android or Apple stores; it lets you connect your phone to a laptop via charging cable. I assume Windows will attempt to install at least a basic driver, possibly a phone hotspot to obtain an update.
I followed your suggestion to use my phone as a hotspot and managed to connect the laptop wirelessly. I ran a Windows update just to verify everything was working smoothly, but it didn’t help. I also performed a network reset through the Win 11 settings. The command prompts you provided didn’t yield results. It noted that when I ran ipconfig /release, my WLAN adapters showed "media disconnected," though the IP address listed for my WiFi adapter was IPv6. On my main computer, I’m using a PCIE wireless connection on the motherboard. The network is listed as WiFi 6 (802.11ax) on the 5 GHz band. Unfortunately, I can’t connect via Ethernet. Thanks for all the advice!
Did you fully remove the driver and allow Windows to install its own? I haven’t installed a driver for my Wi-Fi card, which is relatively recent. My research on Intel’s site suggests they simply provide drivers through Windows. The Wi-Fi adapter is considered end-of-life, so no further updates will be available. I plan to uninstall the driver and restart the computer. Avoid loading any drivers at all and observe if Windows installs one automatically. It should use a more recent version. If this doesn’t help, it might be due to the motherboard not receiving updates for Windows 11 and an EOL card. I’m running out of options beyond replacing the Wi-Fi card.