Is your Dell laptop having a problem connecting to Wi-Fi? If so, do not worry, here are some solutions you can try. Sometimes the laptop starts acting up and it’s not easy to find the culprit. Therefore, we’d suggest you narrow down the solutions below and you’ll get your Dell laptop connected to Wi-Fi again.

  1. Make sure WLAN is enabled
  2. Check the WLAN AutoConfig service
  3. Update your wireless network driver
  4. Uninstall SmartByte

Before we proceed any further, please use another device and try connecting your Wi-Fi to make sure your Wi-Fi works properly. For instance, you can connect your smartphone or any other laptop nearby to your Wi-Fi. If all devices fail to connect to Wi-Fi, you should restart your Wi-Fi router and modem, or contact the ISP. If your Dell Laptop is the only device that fails to connect to WiFi, then continue with the following troubleshooting guide.

1. Make sure WLAN is enabled

Without the WLAN function enabled on your computer, your Dell laptop will not be able to connect to Wi-Fi properly. Therefore, you should ensure that the WLAN feature is enabled.

WLAN can be enabled on your Dell laptop as follows:

  1. On the edge of your Dell laptop, you may see a Wi-Fi switch that allows you to manually turn on/off Wi-Fi. Please check that it’s switched on.
    How does WiFi Catcher work? - Dell Community
  2. Either way, you can press the Fn key and F5 on your keyboard to enable Wi-Fi service.

If you don’t see any Wi-Fi switch on your laptop body, then you can go to network settings to check. To do so:

  1. In the Windows Search box, type Control Panel and select Control Panel from the returned results.
  2. Click View by Small icons, then select Network and Sharing Center.
  3. From the left menu, select Change adapter settings.
  4. Right-click your Wi-Fi connection (with the name of Wi-Fi or Wireless Network Connection) and select Enable. (If your Wi-Fi is enabled, you can Disable it first, and then re-enable it.)
  5. Restart your Dell laptop.

Now check if your Dell laptop can connect to Wi-Fi. If the problem persists, move on to the next solution.

2. Check the WLAN AutoConfig service

When the WLAN AutoConfig service is disabled, all the WLAN adapters will stop working so that your Dell laptop cannot connect to Wi-Fi. This service is responsible for configuring, discovering, connecting to, and disconnecting from wireless local area networks (WLAN). So it’s recommended to check that the WLAN AutoConfig service is running properly.

Here are the steps:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to invoke the Run prompt. Then, type Services.msc and press Enter.
  2. Scroll down the service list and locate WLAN AutoConfig, then double-click to view its properties and make changes.
  3. Make sure the Startup type is set as Automatic, and the Service status is Running. Then, click Apply and OK to save the changes.
  4. Re-connect the Wi-Fi on your Dell laptop.

If your Dell laptop still cannot connect to Wi-Fi, please continue with the next tip.

3. Update your wireless network driver

If your Dell laptop still fails to connect to Wi-Fi, one of the first things you should do is update your wireless network driver, since an up-to-date wireless driver always ensures the best network performance and fewer bugs.

To update your wireless network driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  3. Double-click to expand the category Network adapters. Then right-click your wireless network card driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  4. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software.
  5. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
  6. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  7. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

Sometimes Windows may tell you that “the best drivers for your device are already installed”. However, it’s not always accurate since Microsoft doesn’t have access to all the newly released drivers for your devices.

Therefore, if Device Manager doesn’t find you the latest Wireless driver, we recommend using Driver Techie to scan and repair outdated, corrupt, or missing drivers. It works in most cases where you have a driver-related issue. You can download Driver Techie by Clicking Here or following the guide below.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest Wireless driver:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All (for Pro subscribers), and all your drivers will be updated automatically. (Please note that you can only update the driver one at a time if you use a free version. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.)

Driver Techie involves the direct human review of the driver database by our engineers, which ensures you always have the safest and latest device drivers. You can rest assured that all your device drivers are in good hands.

Furthermore, if you’ve subscribed to Driver Techie Pro, and need our technical support to help with the Dell laptop not connecting to the Wi-Fi issue, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

4. Uninstall SmartByte

The Dell Laptop Wi-Fi not connecting issues can sometimes be caused by software conflicts. From what we’ve known from users’ reports so far, SmartByte is the most-blamed software. Having said that, there could be other software triggering the issue and you can consider an uninstall.

To uninstall an application, here’s what you can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to invoke the Run prompt. Then, type appwiz.cpl and hit Enter.
  2. Under Programs and Features, select the application you want to uninstall, and click Uninstall.
  3. Click Yes to confirm if prompted.
  4. Restart your Dell laptop and try connecting to Wi-Fi.

Conclusion

When your Dell laptop fails to connect to Wi-Fi, you need to make sure your Wi-Fi is working properly first. You should also ensure that Wi-Fi, as well as WLAN, are enabled. Moreover, you can check updates for your WLAN adapters to see if it helps. And the last tip is to check for incompatible software.

Hopefully, one of the solutions above should fix the problem and your Dell laptop should be able to connect to Wi-Fi. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to leave a comment down below.