Summary
Steps to completely uninstall and reinstall the wireless drivers if all other fixes have failed
Description
Unable to detect Wireless adapter in Device Manager
Clean installation of wireless drivers does not solve the issue.
Resolution
- Download the latest Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers for your adapter
- Don’t install them yet
- Disable Internet access
- Unplug the Ethernet cable and/or disable wireless
- Keep disabled until asked to re-enable
- Check for instances of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Intel Wireless Bluetooth in the Apps & Features window
- If none, skip to Step 6
- Uninstall each instance of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Intel Wireless Bluetooth
- When prompted, choose Discard Settings
- Manually reboot your computer keeping Internet access disabled
- Open the Device Manager
- Check the Network Adapters section for an entry for Intel Wireless Adapter that has an Intel driver associated with it
- Check the Bluetooth section for an entry for an Intel Wireless Bluetooth section that has an Intel driver associated with it
- If neither is the case, go to Step 10.
- Right click on the entry for the Intel Wireless Adapter and uninstall it,
- Checkmark Delete the driver software for this device
- Right click on the entry for Intel Wireless Bluetooth and open its properties. If it has an Intel driver associated with it, then uninstall it
- Checkmark Delete the driver software for this device
- Repeat Step 5
- (Optional but recommended) Clean out all temporary files using the Windows Clean Disk tool.
- checkmark all categories offered, even if no files are currently shown
- (Optional but recommended) Clear your browser cache
- Install the Bluetooth driver package
- Install the Wireless driver package (Specifically in this order)
- Manually shutdown and reboot your computer.
- Enable Internet access