No wifi icon on laptop

Wi-Fi icon not showing or missing from Taskbar in Windows 11/10

The primary function of the taskbar is to allow you to access commonly used icons quickly. One of the most clicked icons is the Network icon. Without this icon being on your taskbar, you’d have to go to the Network settings in Control Panel to search for and connect to wired or wireless connections.

Therefore, if the taskbar icon is missing from the taskbar, you have to get it back for good. Fortunately, this could be a minor setting or arrangement problem. However, the taskbar missing could also stem from deeper network and driver issues. Please read this post to the end as we explore ways to get your Wi-Fi or network icon back to the taskbar.

Wi-Fi or Network icon missing from the taskbar

1. Check if the icon is hidden.
2. Enable the Wi-Fi icon on the taskbar.
3. Enable the Wi-Fi icon in the Group Policy Editor.
4. Reinstall the wireless adapter drivers.
5. Restart Windows Explorer.
6. Restart Network services.

For a breakdown of the above fixes, read on.

1] Check if the icon is hidden

The taskbar shows a specific number of icons at a time and hides the rest to keep things neat. It could be that there is no problem with your system, but the Wi-Fi icon is only hidden too. Before exploring any complex troubleshooting steps, confirm that the Wi-Fi icon isn’t hidden.

Click on the upward-facing arrow on the taskbar to reveal the hidden taskbar icons. You may just find the Wi-Fi icon here. If you do, you can access it from this hidden section. Alternatively, drag and drop the Wi-Fi icon onto the taskbar to show the icon.

2] Enable the Wi-Fi icon on the taskbar

Windows lets you handpick the icons that show up on the taskbar. If you don’t find the Wi-Fi icon with the hidden taskbar icons, the icon may be off, or your computer might’ve been set not to display it on the taskbar.

In Windows 10, press Windows key + I to open the Windows Settings. Click on Personalization and select Taskbar from the left-hand pane.

First, make sure the Wi-Fi icon is turned on. Click on the Turn system icons on or off link in the Notification area.

Confirm that the switch beside Network is toggled on. If it’s off, click on it to turn it on.

After toggling on the Network icon, check if it now shows in the taskbar. If it’s still missing, return to the previous screen and click on the Show which icons appear on the taskbar link under the Notification area.

Here, toggle on the switch next to Network to always show the network or Wi-Fi icon on the taskbar.

In Windows 11, it is not possible to hide the Network & Speaker icons in the corner overflow area.

3] Enable the Wi-Fi icon in the Group Policy Editor

The network icon could also be disabled from the Group Policy Editor. Here’s how to re-enable it. Start by opening the Run dialog box with Windows key + R. Input gpedit.msc in Run and press ENTER.

In the Group Policy Editor, go to User Configuration in the left-hand panel. Navigate to Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar.

In the right-hand area, locate the Remove the networking icon option and double-click on this item.

Select the Disabled option on the new window and hit the OK button to save and close the window.

4] Reinstall the wireless adapter drivers

Drivers make it possible for connected devices to function on your Windows computer. This also goes for the wireless adapter. When the wireless adapter drivers are buggy, outdated, or missing, it can cause your Wi-Fi icon to go AWOL.

Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows key + I. In Run, type devmgmt.msc and hit ENTER.

Find the wireless adapter under the Network adapters category and right-click on it. Select the Uninstall device option.

Follow the on-screen steps to complete the uninstallation process. On completion of this, restart your computer. Your machine will automatically re-install the driver fixing every bug in the process.

However, in some cases, you may not find the wireless adapter driver in the Device Manager. This means that the driver is missing from your system. Hence, you can’t uninstall it in the first place.

In this case, you must install the Wi-Fi drivers first. The short video below shows you how to install Wi-Fi drivers for Windows 10.

5] Restart Windows Explorer

To restart Explorer, press the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC key combination to open the Task Manager. Switch to the Processes tab and look for Windows Explorer.

Right-click on Windows Explorer and choose the End task option from the context menu. If there are multiple instances of the Windows Explorer process, end all of them.

Next, click on the File menu and go to the Run New Task option. Enter explorer.exe in the box provided, mark the Create this task with administrative privileges checkbox, and click on the OK button.

6] Restart Network services

• Telephony.
• Remote Procedure Call.
• Remote Access Connection Manager.
• Plug and Play.
• Network Connections.

Right-click on each of these services and hit the Stop/Start options from the context menu.

Let us know if anything here helped you.

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(Solved) Wi-Fi Settings icon missing from Task Tray in Windows

The Wi-Fi icon disappears when the Wi-Fi Network Adapter gets disabled or uninstalled. This issue often occurs when the computer or laptop wakes up from sleep mode. Moreover, if you have any third-party optimization application or your Wi-Fi services are set or disabled, then your WIFI icon can be disappeared from the taskbar for these reasons.

This issue cannot be caused by a hardware problem, but it is possible that the Network adapter stopped receiving power from the motherboard, preventing the internet from working, which results in a missing Wifi icon.

1. Power Flush Your System

When your system is working properly, but its components are behaving unexpectedly or doing unusual things, power flushing is the best way to troubleshoot these problems. If your Network adapter has stopped working suddenly, which results in a missing Wi-Fi icon, then you can try power-fishing your laptop or computer to see whether it helps or not.

To power flush your device:

1. Press and hold the Power button for 60 seconds to turn off your system.
2. Once done, wait for 10 to 15 seconds and turn on your system.
3. Once done, your issue should be fixed. If not, move on to the other methods.

2. Enable Wi-Fi Network Adapter

It is possible that your Wi-Fi network adapter gets disabled automatically for no reason, resulting in a missing Wi-Fi icon. To ensure that, check if your Network Adapter is disabled or not. If it is, then enabling it will fix your issue.

But if your network adapter is enabled and facing this issue, try disabling and enabling it, which will reload the network adapter from the RAM and can fix your issue.

To enable the Network Adapter:

1. Press the Windows key and type Control Panel.
2. Open the Control Panel and navigate to Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center.
3. Click Change Adapter Settings from the left sidebar.
4. Right-click on your wireless network adapter and select Enable.
5. Once done, the missing Wi-Fi icon will appear. If it’s not disabled, right-click the Network adapter, select Disable, and repeat the same step to enable the network adapter.
6. Once done, check if your problem is fixed or not.

3. Run Internet Connection Troubleshooter

Since there are various built-in components in Windows, there are also troubleshooters for them that allow users to fix the problems automatically regarding the components.

For instance, if you run the internet connection troubleshooter, it will first enable the disabled network adapters, and then it will install the necessary network drivers if they are missing.

To run the internet connection troubleshooter:

1. Press the Windows key and type Troubleshoot Settings.
2. Then, go to Other troubleshooters.
3. Run the Internet Connections troubleshooter. If it detects the problems, it will ask you to fix them. Just click Apply Fix.
4. With that, also run the Network Adapter troubleshooter, which will fix all the problems related to the network adapter.
5. Once done, check if the problem still persists.

4. Restart WLAN Autoconfig Service

WLAN Autoconfig is a service that contains logic that is used to configure, discover, connect, and disconnect from the wireless local area network (WLAN). It is an essential service required for Wi-Fi to run properly. If this service is disabled or set to manual, you cannot use Wifi or see Wifi icon on the bottom right menu.

It is possible that some third-party optimization software disables that service, causing Wifi icon to disappear. Therefore, you need to make sure that this service is running properly and set to automatic.

1. To do so, press the Win + R keys together to open the Run program.
2. Enter services.msc in the box and click OK to open the services Window.
3. Then, find the service named WLAN Autoconfig and right-click on it.
4. Go to Properties.
5. Change the startup type to Automatic.
6. Once done, click Apply and click OK and check if the Wifi icon appears.

5. Update or Reinstall the Wifi Network Driver

If the issue persists, then it is possible that your network adapter is corrupted, preventing the hardware from communicating with your system. Windows has drivers for commonly used devices such as network adapters, keyboards, mouse, and more. You can easily reinstall your driver without even connecting to the internet.

To fix this issue, you can either reinstall or update your network adapter by following the steps:

1. To do so, right-click the Start Menu and type Device Manager.
2. Open the device manager and expand the network adapters.
3. Right-click your wifi network adapter and select Update driver.
4. Then select Browse my computer for drivers.
5. Click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on your computer.
6. Select one of the compatible drivers and click Next to install.
7. Once done, check if your problem is fixed. If not, right-click your network adapter from the device manager.
8. Select Uninstall device from the listed options.
9. Again, click Uninstall and restart your computer to install the driver again.

6. Reset Network Settings

If you use any third-party application for optimization, then your network adapters can be disabled, resulting in missing a Wifi icon. Since all the methods have failed to fix your issue, the last step is to reset the network settings, which will reinstall all the network adapters and also reset the network configurations to their default, such as DNS and proxy settings.

To reset the network settings:

1. Press the Windows key and type Network Reset.
2. Press Enter to open the settings.
3. Click the Reset Now button. This will restart your computer with new network settings.
4. Once done, check if your issue is resolved.

Wi-Fi Icon is Missing from the taskbar — FAQs

To get your Wi-FI icon back, go to Device Manager, expand the Network Adapters, right-click your Wi-Fi network adapter, and click Enable device. If it is already enabled, try disabling and enabling it.

If you cannot see the Wi-Fi icon, you probably cannot use the internet either. It is because your Wi-Fi adapter has been disabled, corrupted, or uninstalled from Windows. To fix this, you need to either reinstall or update the network driver.

To add a Wi-Fi icon, click the Internet icon from the bottom right and then click the Edit icon. Then, click the Add button and choose the Wi-Fi icon. Once done, click Done, and your Wi-Fi icon will appear in the taskbar

Muhammad Zubyan

Muhammad Zubyan is a certified Google IT Support Professional with over 7 years of extensive experience. He has worked on more than 1500 computers, gaining valuable insights that enable him to detect and troubleshoot any complicated root cause of Windows-related issues and errors. In addition to managing Appuals as a Senior Editor, he is currently developing his own Game Optimization program that caters to both gamers and casual users alike.

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