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13 Ways to Fix WiFi Connected But No Internet Access

Okay, you get your ass off and sit down to get some work done, but hell! You see a warning in your browser saying No Internet Access, and you know that you have connected to WiFi but no internet; that’s pretty annoying, right? So here I will show you few methods with which you can solve WiFi connection but no internet error with ease.

The problem you are facing may be several reasons; I encountered this error when I updated my Windows. Whenever I opened a Chrome browser, it used to give me warnings like “No Internet access” “Limited Internet Access,” but then me being a techie guy, managed to fix that in few minutes, So you thought of sharing what I did to resolve the issue, Keep scrolling!

How to Fix the “No Internet Access” Issue?

As I told you earlier, there are several reasons for the issue you are facing and also different ways to fix the problem like you may be getting an error with a router or your Windows system driver, not to worry as I will share all the causes with its fix, by clicking below links you can quickly jump to that particular topic.

  • Use Built-in Troubleshooter
  • Check your Router Cable
  • Check Router Lights
  • Reboot Devices
  • Uninstall and Install Wireless Drivers
  • Update Wireless Drivers
  • Flush DNS Cache
  • Obtain DNS and IP Address Automatically
  • Reset TCP/IP
  • Proxy Server Settings
  • Enable WiFi from BIOS
  • Remove Virus
  • Reset your Computer

Why am I getting this Error?

When you connect your mobile phone or your computer to the router, the router further connects your devices to the ISP you are using; then, it gets connected to the Internet with which you can browse the web.

If you are facing no internet connection error of only one particular device and others are running well, the chances are your system driver has been outdated, or an unsupported driver is installed but, in case you are facing connected to WiFi but no internet on all the devices connected, your router might be the cause.

1. Troubleshoot Problems

If you can access the internet from one device through WiFi but are not able to access it on another device, the chances are the device where the internet is not working will have issues with software drivers which can be easily downloaded and installed.

Windows has an excellent built-in troubleshooter, which will scan for the problem and automatically fix it, or at least it will give you a message saying what’s wrong, then Google it up, and you will find a ton of solutions. To access the troubleshooter, right-click on the WiFi icon, which is located at the bottom right corner, and click on troubleshoot problems; then, after, it will start scanning for issues and will fix it if it can!

2. Check your Router Cable

If you have connected to WiFi but no Internet connection on all the devices, the router might be the cause, make sure that the cable which your ISP (internet service provider) provides is connected to the Internet or WAN port of your router and not LAN port.

If you find the ports are coming out or damaged, replace it and connect the cable again; after that, if you can access the internet, that means the cause was your router, not the system you are using.

3. Check Router Lights

When I face the issue of WiFi connected but no internet, most of the time, it will be an issue with my router or the internet service provider. To make sure that the signal from your service provider to you is all perfect, there should be a network light blinking in my D-Link router. It was represented by a globe symbol; as in my case, the lights weren’t flashing. I called up my service provider. He refreshed the Network from his end, and from then, the internet started to work.

If your service provider says things from his side are all working fine, the culprit might be your router itself; try resetting it into factory settings, methods for resetting would most probably be given in the user manual of your router, and the easiest way is to press and hold the reset button which is present on your router for about 10-15 seconds, that will reset your router.

After resetting your router, log in to settings of it. The URL of the settings page of the router will be given in the user manual, and enter username and password both as admin, then set it up with a custom username and password that you desire.

4. Reboot Devices

Reboot all the devices like the modem, router, the system in which you are connected to WiFi but no internet connection, shut them down for at least like a minute or so, then restart it up.

I know this seems funny, but no, it isn’t. Rebooting devices will fix most of the minor errors you are facing; after restarting, try connecting to WiFi, and it should most probably connect, and you will have internet access.

5. Uninstall and Install Wireless Drivers

Windows drivers sometimes get corrupted and get into a non-working stage, but a restart will most probably fix the issue. Still, if it didn’t, you need to uninstall and reinstall the drivers manually to fix your problem of connected to WiFi but no internet access.

First, you need to head over to the Windows control panel.

Step 1 – Press Windows + R key on your keyboard together; as you click, it will open up the Run window at the bottom left corner of your screen.

Step 2 – After it opens, type “devmgmt. msc” and click enter on your keyboard, then after, it will open up Windows device manager.

Step 3 – As it opens device manager, under Network Adapters right click on WiFi adapter and click on uninstall the device or uninstall.

Step 4 – After uninstalling, click on the action, which is present at the top, and then click on Scan for hardware changes; as you connect it, Windows will automatically reinstall the WiFi adapter.

After that, your internet should work just fine; if you don’t see a WiFi network, head over to Network and sharing center settings and click on change adapter settings from there, right-click on WiFi, and select enable; that is all it!

6. Update Wireless Drivers

Windows drivers sometimes will be causing the issue while you are connected to the internet but no internet access because of an older version of the driver you are using; this happens mainly in the older versions of Windows as newer installed Windows comes built-in with more recent versions of drivers, but you can manually update the outdated drivers easily.

Step 1 – Simultaneously press the Windows key and R key and type “devmgmt.msc” and press enters on your keyboard.

Step 2 – As you press enter on your keyboard, it will open up Windows device manager in a new tab, where you need to find Network Adapters and click on the arrow which is present before the Network Adapter text; as you click, it will open a further list of drivers, in that special WiFi adapter and right-click on it.

Step 3 – After you right-click on it, it will show up with more options. Now click on Update Driver Software, and after selecting the browser my computer for driver software, and open up select the updated driver you downloaded and click open.

Download driver from a device from which you can access the internet. To find the updated drivers type your computer model number + WiFi adapter; you will most probably find it on the website of your computer manufacturer.

Also, you can use software like driver booster. After you download and install this software, click on the run, it will download and update all the outdated drivers of your system with one click.

Alternatively, if you can connect to the internet on your computer, click on search for new drivers as Windows will search the internet and downloads the driver and installs it for it; this all happens automatically.

Step 4 – After you select and open it up, give it some time as it installs the drivers, then after reboot, your system and your problem are fixed!

7. Flush DNS Cache

Most of the computer these days will store a cache data when you visit a website on your browser so that when you revisit the website later, it will speed up the loading time by showing you the cached version of the websites, but sometimes the cache gets corrupted with which you will see an error saying “Page not Found” on your browser, by flushing the DNS cache it will remove all the cached version of the sites you have visited. It will load the sites from scratch.

Most of the operating systems will allow you to forcefully flush/delete the cache stored in your browser, so follow the below-mentioned steps to flush the cache quickly.

Flushing DNS Cache on Windows

In Windows, you need to open the command prompt to flush DNS, follow the steps outlined below.

Step 1 – Press the Windows key and R key on your keyboard simultaneously.

Step 2 – Once you press those buttons simultaneously, a pop-up will appear at the bottom left corner of your screen, where you need to type CMD and press enter.

Step 3 – Then, it will open the command prompt in a new window, where you need to type ipconfig /flushdns and press the enter key; by doing this, your PC will instantly clear the DNS cache.

Step 4 – Later, you can restart your browser and load the website you were trying to reach.

Flushing DNS Cache on Mac

On flushing DNS cache on Mac, you need to head over to the terminal, and just like Windows, type a command and click enter.

Step 1 – Open Spotlight, which is preset at the top right corner of the screen, or you can also press the Command key and Spacebar simultaneously.

Step 2 – After it opens Spotlight, search for Terminal and select the Terminal option, it will most probably be the first option.

Step 3 – As it opens Terminal, type this sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder; say DNS cache has been flushed and click on the enter button, after clicking it will clear DNS cache.

If it is in case, ask you for the password, enter your Mac password (it won’t show you what you are typing, but it will be registering it), and click enter.

Step 4 – Once flushing DNS, restart the browser and open the web page, which you could not open earlier.

8. Obtain DNS and IP Address Automatically

This method will be helpful for those who are getting internet connection of their device while it's connected to another WiFi network, but when it's connected to your WiFi network internet won’t work; the cause for this issue will be a conflict between DNS or IP address, which you can quickly fix with few simple clicks.

This setting will be set to obtain automatically and use the internet service provider’s DNS and IP so that it won’t have many conflicts, but then again, some software you install might change it, or you might have only changed it while using LAN.

Step 1 – Head over to network settings by pressing Windows and R keys together, and as it opens up the Run window, type ncpa.cpl and press enter, it will open up network settings.

Step 2 – Right-click on the Network you are using; in my case, it's WiFi, and click on properties.

Step 3 – As you click, it will open properties in a new window from there; select Internet Protocol Version 4 and click properties.

Step 4 – After it opens up, select obtain an IP address and Obtain DNS server address automatically and click on OK.

After that, close the window and start up your browser, and the internet should be working now.

9. Reset TCP/IP

Another reason for WiFi is connected, but no internet might be caused by TCP/IP; it defines and determines how two network software communicate with each other, like tying your system to a web server via file transfer protocol (FTP).

But while you remove any software that uses TCP/IP, it might not work correctly, and when you try to visit a web page, it will display an error saying Page not found or Page cannot be displayed.

There is two know way with which we can reset TCP/IP. The first one is from Microsoft itself, the automatic method, and the second is manual via command prompt; I will share both ways with you.

Reset TCP/IP Automatically

Step 1 – Download the free tool to reset TCP/IP from the official Microsoft website by clicking here, and download for the Windows version you are using.

Step 2 – After downloading, install it up and go through the setup process; after the process is completed, your TCP/IP will be reset automatically.

Reset TCP/IP Manually

Step 1 – Go to the command prompt by pressing Windows + R key together and type CMD in the Run window and click enter; it will open the command prompt.

Step 2 – Once CMD is opened, type this command netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt and click enter; after that, CMD will reset TCP/IP for you.

After that’s done, reboot your system for settings to make changes.

10. Proxy Server Settings

If you have taken your computer to the outside world and connected to a different WiFi network, it might pick up the proxy server settings from the Network you linked to, but as you reach home and try to use your WiFi network, it won’t work, the chances of this issue is low but then if any one of the steps mentioned above didn’t work, give this a try!

Step 1 – Head over to the Windows search bar by pressing Windows + S key together and search for “Internet Options” or “Internet Properties” and click on the first option.

Step 2 – Once you are there, go to connections tab and click on LAN settings which is present at the bottom.

Step 3 – As you click, it will open a popup; make sure that Automatically detect settings are ticked, and the other two should be unticked.

Step 4 – Once that’s done, click on Ok and restart your system so that the settings will be saved.

11. Enable WiFi from BIOS

On a 9-year-old laptop which my uncle gifted me, I was not even able to connect to a WiFi network; the reason was wireless LAN support for the computer was turned off in BIOS, and I had not a freaking idea about it after some web research I found how to enter BIOS and enable it, after allowing I was able to connect to WiFi networks and use WiFi with ease.

So if you have a pretty old system in which WiFi is not working, this method might work for you, then again, this happens in only rare cases, and your system manufacturer will by default set this to Enabled, but then give it a try!

Enabling wireless Network from BIOS is pretty easy though, take a device that has a working internet connection and search for “How to enter BIOS mode in your system model number and the official site of your system manufacturer will have a detailed guide on entering into BIOS mode, for me it was pressing F10 while it was booting up, and my system manufacturer was HP.

Once you are there is BIOS, navigate to the security or configuration menu and enable wireless LAN support, for it was is security menu; after setting it up, exit from the menu and restart your system.

12. Remove Virus

The virus could be another culprit for connected to WiFi but no internet issue; there are a ton of free malware remover and anti-virus software that does the job of kicking out the virus from your computer like Malwarebytes and much more, or else you can use the built-in anti-virus that is Windows Defender, it does a pretty good job at fixing issues related to the virus.

Scan your computer and remove the virus. After that, reboot your computer into safe mode. As you reboot into safe boot mode, only the system apps and features will be working, which means the apps and software you might have installed will stop working in that mode; not to worry, as you reboot, all your apps and software will come back.

To boot up your computer in safe mode, follow the steps mentioned below.

Step 1 – Press Windows + R key simultaneously, type in msconfig, and hit the enter key on your keyboard.

Step 2 – Go to the second tab, which says boot and selects Safe boot, and then choose Network. After selecting click on OK, now it will reboot your computer into safe mode.

Now, as you selected safe boot with Network, that means only system apps and Network will be turned on, so now if you can connect to a WiFi network and use the internet, there might be something wrong with the apps and software you have installed, to fix that reset your computer following the next step.

13. Reset your Computer

If you have tried all the steps to fix WiFi connected, but no internet access issue and you can use WiFi network in safe mode (refer to the above step), then resetting your computer is the only way you can get your WiFi working, you can backup all your programs and files to a hard drive and then reset in case if you need them.

Resetting your computer will reset all the settings you have made to the computer to default factory settings, and your PC will be like how it was when you first bought it, and all the apps and software that you might have installed will be deleted.

While resetting your computer, you will also have an option to keep the files that you have stored or delete them; follow the steps outlined below for resetting.

Step 1 – Head over to pc settings by clicking on the start button, which is present at the bottom left corner.

Step 2 – Once you are in pc settings, go to the update and recovery tab (update and security in the newer version of Windows) and click on recovery.

Step 3 – Then, under Reset, this pc click on get started, there you will have two options remove everything and keep my files, select which option you need accordingly and then proceed with the instruction it gives.

It will take a couple of hours, depending on which option you have selected. After the reset is completed, it will automatically reboot your computer. Then after your issue for connected to WiFi but no internet will be fixed.

Conclusion

I know, connected to WiFi but no internet connection could be a pain in the ass and a frustrating problem that occur which will prevent you from access the outside world through the internet; as the technology grows, computer errors will also be likely to increase, so if it the issue was regarding software any one of the above methods should fix your problem of WiFi connected but no internet.

As there might be numerous reasons for the error you are facing, one or the other method mentioned above might not work for you, so try out all the steps and tell me which way fixed your issue and what was the cause in the comment section below, I’d love to hear from you.

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Michael

Michael Reddy is a tech enthusiast, entertainment buff, and avid traveler who loves exploring Linux and sharing unique insights with readers.