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This is the second time I encounter this issue: Windows 10 suddenly cannot connect to ONE specific WiFi network (which is my home network).

(Update: I remembered that the first time I encountered the issue is after I restored Windows 10 with Lenovo Onekey Recovery,which may modified the configuration of WiFi adapters' region and/or drivers(which I think it does not))

Other devices (Android smartphones and MacBook Pros) can connect to the WiFi network without any problem, so it should not be the problem of the router. I also tried to boot into a Ubuntu live session, and the computer connects to the WiFi network without any problem, which means the problem is not at the WiFi adapter.To conclude, the problem is caused by Windows.

Last time, I changed the WiFi channel used by the router, it worked fine until I change the WiFi channel again(update: it seems the choice of WiFi channels are limited to 1-11, before the issue, channel 1-13 can be used).

I tried to Google for the solution, but most of them are just Windows 10 troubleshooting guide, and the rest of them are not effective or does not suitable in my case.

How can I solve this issue, or at least, which part of Windows should I look at?

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  • What is the SSID of the network? What wireless adapter are you using? Do you have the latest drivers? Virtualbox can mess with your network. On my configuration it breaks sending WOL packets. Feb 17, 2018 at 13:25
  • Why can't you change the WiFi channel back to the one that works ?
    – harrymc
    Feb 17, 2018 at 13:26
  • Possible duplicate of Windows 10 wifi issue: "Can't connect to this network"
    – harrymc
    Feb 17, 2018 at 13:30
  • @harrymc When I encountered the issue the first time,I changed the Wi-Fi channel(13->12)(channel 13 is legal to use in my country),and it worked.Some times later,I change the Wi-Fi channel(12->6) and it still working fine.After a few days,I changed the Wi-Fi channel(6->12),the computer cannot connect to the Wi-Fi network anymore.Therefore,I don't think it's a viable solution.
    – sosad9556
    Feb 17, 2018 at 13:38
  • 1
    netsh wlan commands from the command prompt will show WiFi profiles and help you remove them. I would suggest cleaning out any unused profiles, and removing the problematic profile. Then recreate it. Feb 17, 2018 at 14:27

4 Answers 4

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As @Appleoddity suggested, you can use netsh wlan commands to delete your profile. Do keep in mind you will likely need to have your SSID password handy to reconnect.

Maybe easier and faster, you likely could also just disconnect from that SSID, and before you reconnect, say: forget PW or network, and then reconnect to that SSID using your old password. This should force creating a new profile, (assuming you don't have multiple SUB-profiles--see below).

Another alternative is to visit your registry here and delete PART of a profile sometimes, (if your profile name for that SSID has 1, 2, 3, etc. that was added by Windows): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles

It seems to list all your profiles in general order of use or when created. In my case, I have FIVE DIFFERENT "profiles" showing for the same SSID, likely each with different settings. I've deleted individual profiles here before and it will recreate it. It is possible your PW might be stored elsewhere and would be preserved. In my case, right now I'm connected to: MySSID 5 even though the "5" is NOT part of the SSID name. I would bet that if I delete the first/top profile, which is MySSID 5, it would then reconnect using to older profile: MySSID 4. In this case, I know the older password would be saved and used, assuming it is part of that key.

Another alternative is to visit the other link given by @HarryMC, although most comments say the solutions are somewhat spotty, and are not very definitive:

Possible duplicate of Windows 10 wifi issue: "Windows 10 wifi issue: "Can't connect to this network"" – @harrymc

I'd like to revise this answer and add a UNIVERSAL, FAST, and EASY FIX for this problem, vs. anything that I, or the others have suggested so far.

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  • Correct on the profile name -- the bare "SSIDname" is contained in the key field name: "Description". The SSID profile that Windows uses is in the key field name: "ProfileName", which is in my case, is "SSIDname 5". So, if the profile name with a "5" is the one showing that won't connect, I'd delete only that hex key, and THEN hit F5, (Many reg changes in Windows aren't reread unless you F5/refresh, which usually forces that function to reread the registry and not the cached memory, and then you should NOW connect to that SSID.)
    – DaaBoss
    Feb 18, 2018 at 17:46
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I had a same issue but in my case there were changes done by IT department which was causing this issue.
I also deleted profiles using netsh wlan, But the issue still existed.

Later, I compared DNS server addresses of my personal laptop with my problematic Windows 10 laptop and found that the DNS addresses settings differs.

The problematic Windows 10 laptop has DNS address set as "Obtain DNS server address automatically" Whereas, my personal laptop was using "User the following server addresses" though I didn't explicitly set it.

I used the DNS server addresses from my personal laptop(which is connected to same network) to problematic one as below:
enter image description here

Also, verified in "Advanced -> DNS". (You can add 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 if nothing is present here).

This works fine until you disconnect(restart/sleep/etc) to your wifi network. However, after couple of days things started working automatically, That is I don't have to explicitly set the DNS server addresses. As it used to get changed after a disconnect.

Note: Once you set the DNS address to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, after connection is successfully established the address gets reset to a new address. Sometimes to 127.0.0.1.

The suggestion from IT team was to do a "Network Reset". Which I didn't do!

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One obvious reason can be that you are in the blacklist of that network.

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Had the same issue here with a mac on which I run bootcamp (and a mac partition). No problem connecting on the mac-partition. No problem connecting with any other device. Only solution working for me is setting my wifi channel to a fixed one instead of automated choice.

Of course this isn't a really good long term solution and Microsoft should fix this bug. To me it's clear Windows has some problems handeling certain channels and when your automation in the router picks one of those channels you get the problem.

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