How to connect to Wi-Fi on a laptop. Enable and configure Wi-Fi on laptops with different versions of Windows

The laptop, thanks to its small size and the power of desktop computers, has become one of the most widespread types of portable electronics. Its compactness and portability allows you to connect to world wide web absolutely everywhere. Therefore, every modern laptop is equipped with a special chip for connecting to Wi-Fi Internet. But when the owner is inexperienced, he probably doesn't know how to turn on Wi-Fi on a laptop, and when something goes wrong, he may get confused. This manual is intended for such a user.

Turning on Wi-Fi on a laptop

Option 1. Function keys or mechanical power button

Before you connect your laptop to the Internet, you need to turn on the Wi-Fi module. To do this, you will have to perform a couple of simple steps.

Combination function keys on a laptop

Everything is ultra modern laptops equipped with an Fn button on the keyboard. Using it in conjunction with the F1-F12 keys, you can control features such as adjusting volume and brightness, turning off the touchpad and screen, and turning Wi-Fi on/off. In models different developers combinations are used:

• ASUS - FN+F2.
• Acer - FN+F3.
• HP - FN+F12 or a touch or mechanical key with an image of an antenna.
• Lenovo - FN+F5, sometimes a special switch.
• Samsung - FN+F9 or

More details on how to connect a laptop to the Internet can be found in the user manual for a particular model, or you can aim at the button with a drawn antenna. It may also be that on older Wi-Fi models turns on with a physical button. If your device is not new, inspect it; the button may be on the front panel, on the side, or even near the back cover.

Option 2: Device Manager and Network Sharing Center

If you are trying to set up Wi-Fi on your laptop the previous way were unsuccessful, this means that the Wi-Fi module is probably disabled by default. It should be connected in "Device Manager" or "Network and Sharing Center" shared access».

device Manager

• Enter Device Manager.
• In line " Network adapters» Click on the wireless adapter. When it is disabled, next to its name there will be Exclamation point.
• Click right click mouse - “Engage”.

If you are unable to find the wireless module in the list of devices, you will most likely have to install additional software.

Network Sharing Center

• To get to the Network and Sharing Center, right-click on the network icon in the taskbar.
• Find the "Change adapter settings" section.
• Select "Wireless network" - "Turn on network device".

Installing drivers for Wi-Fi

If you bought a laptop in advance installed Windows, then difficulties such as lack of drivers will be absent. But sometimes various reasons you will have to install them, otherwise Wi-Fi will not work.

If the adapter is not detected or there is an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle next to its name, you will need to install a driver. It is downloaded on the website of the laptop developer company, after which it is installed, just like normal application. If you connect the Wi-Fi module correctly, its name will be displayed in the “Device Manager”.

Today use wireless internet absolutely possible different devices. This can be not only a laptop and computer, but also a phone, tablet and even a TV. But these devices must support WI-FI technology . Almost all modern laptops have Wi-Fi. This also applies to smartphones and tablets. And on computers, a wireless connection can be created by purchasing a special adapter.

I will tell you about this and much more right now.

So, after we turned on WI-FI already you can try to connect to it. Let's start with the laptop.

1. Connect to WI-FI on a laptop

Any modern laptop has WI-FI. Just turn it on, then find our wireless network and connect to it. Let's get on with it.

Opening:

Start – Control Panel – Network and Internet – Network and Sharing Center – Change adapter settings.

Here we see the icon Wireless network connection. By right-clicking on it, select the item Turn on.

A window will appear at the bottom of the screen (where the clock is) with the wireless networks found. We find our WI-FI and connect to it.

Confirm by entering your password.

Now we can open any other browser and try to load sites.

2. Connect to WI-FI on your computer

With desktop computers it's a little more complicated. They most often lack technology wireless communication. But this problem is easily solved by purchasing a special board or a small adapter.

This is what I had on my old computer:

By inserting it into standard USB WI-FI port appears on the computer.

On my new PC Network adapter as a fee:

The price is almost the same ($10), and it has a better signal, which has a positive effect on Internet speed.

After installing any of these adapters and installing drivers for it (the disk is included), exactly the same will appear on the computer connection to WI-FI, as in the laptop example. We proceed by analogy with a laptop.

3. Connect to Wi-Fi on your phone and tablet

On your phone, just go to settings, turn on WI-FI and find your network. Here's an example from an iPhone:

On other phones everything is similar, including Android smartphones. It’s the same on tablets too :)))

4. Connection on other devices

On other devices, for example, TVs that support WI-FI or even printers, everything is done the same way: it turns on, the network is found and the connection is made.

I hope you were able to connect to WI-FI.

This instruction is intended for very beginners who are just getting started with a personal computer. Having bought a modern laptop or netbook, the owner wants to surf the Internet via WiFi and not have to worry about wires, fortunately he has a Wi-Fi router at home and a tablet or phone is already connected to it.
If with a wired Ethernet connection everything is clear - plug the cable into the network and work, then in the case of a wireless network the procedure is a little more complicated. But notice - only a little. If you can connect your laptop to the Internet once via WiFi network router, then you will continue to do this without problems, since this process is not at all complicated. Let's take a closer look at it.

We start by checking whether it is turned on wireless adapter, because by default on many models of laptops, netbooks and ultrabooks it is often disabled. Typically used to turn on function button on keyboard. It is indicated by an antenna-shaped icon. If it is combined with the F2, F5, F12, etc. keys, then in this case, to turn on the adapter, you must press it together with the key designated “Fn”.

After this, the operation indicator should light up wireless module, or, if it was already burning, its color should change from red to blue or green.

In Windows 10 this can be done on program level. To do this, find the Wi-Fi icon on the taskbar. If the adapter is turned off, there will be a red cross on the icon.

Click on the icon and get this menu, which will have one or more buttons:

Click on the one that is signed as Wi-Fi. She must be gray and after you press the button, its color will change to blue, green or orange, depending on the one you are using color scheme desktop. The red cross on the icon should disappear, replaced by an asterisk:

Great! We click on the icon and get a list of WiFi networks available for connecting to the laptop.

We select the one to which we want to connect.

If you work in it on your laptop all the time, be sure to check the “Connect automatically” checkbox. Click the “Connect” button.

You can now launch a web browser and surf the Internet through your network. WiFi router.

Note:
— In cases where you cannot pass the authentication procedure, check the password in the settings of your access device.
— If the process hangs for a long time with the message “Obtaining an IP address”, and then the connection is broken, then most often this means that the DHCP server is disabled on the router and the IP address must be entered manually yourself.

How to disconnect from Wi-Fi:

If you want to disconnect from one wireless network to connect to another one, just click on the WiFi icon in the system tray, next to the clock:

In the list of networks that appears, select the one with the caption “Connected” and left-click on it. A Disconnect button will appear. You just need to click on it and the laptop will turn off.

In order for a computer with Windows 10 to never connect to this Wi-Fi network again, you need to forget it. To do this, go to the system settings and select the “Network and Internet” section. In the Wi-Fi subsection we find the item “Manage network settings”:

In the window that opens, scroll down to the “Manage known networks” subsection. We find the one we need there and click first on it, and then on the “Forget” button that appears.

First you need to understand what it is Wi-Fi is a way to connect to the Internet without a wire. , so before you proceed directly to the connection, you need to make sure that you have all the necessary equipment for this. On the one hand, this is Wi-Fi router, which converts a wired signal into a wireless one, which means that the wire fits into it, but does not come out of it. On the other hand, this is a laptop equipped with a Wi-Fi module. As a rule, all modern laptops are equipped with a built-in module, so special problems does not happen with it, but if for some reason it is not in the laptop or it does not work (and the failure is not related to the software), then you can connect an external Wi-Fi module, which is somewhat reminiscent USB drive and is connected through this connector.

Connection

So, we have a laptop with necessary equipment and a configured router. All you have to do is make a direct connection. First of all, you need to enable laptop Wi-Fi module. This is done very simply, just press the Fn key combination and one of the F1-F12 keys, the one you are looking for is the one with the Wi-Fi icon. After clicking, a message will appear on the screen indicating that the module is enabled.

After this, you should pay attention to the lower right corner of the monitor screen. Near the clock, icons different programs, the Wi-Fi icon appears, it looks like several gray sticks of different heights. Those who remember first Cell phones, they probably saw him, only earlier he showed the presence of a connection. If this symbol is crossed out with a red cross, then the module is not enabled, which means you need to repeat the keystroke process. If a yellow circle appears on it, this means Wi-Fi is working and, moreover, the module has detected wireless networks.

The next step is choosing a network. To begin, left-click on Wi-Fi icon. A window will appear showing all the networks to which the user can connect. The network signal level is shown by green sticks, the more of them, the more powerful the signal, which means faster and
more stable work Internet. Now you need to select the desired network and click on it. A “connect” button will appear. If the network does not have a password, then the connection window will hang for some time, then it will disappear, icon wireless connection will not have any symbols on top and that means everything is done correctly. Now it’s enough to check the Internet, and to do this you just need to go to any site in the browser.

If the network is under a password, a window will pop up asking you to enter the security key. If it is known, then there are no problems. If not, then there are two possible ways - hacking using special programs or connecting via wire and in the Internet connection settings you can find the security key or disable it or change it.

This completes the process of connecting to Wi-Fi. Sometimes a situation arises in which the wireless connection module does not work. There are two possible situations here: the drivers are not installed or it is physically broken. In the first case, it is possible to fix the problem yourself; in the second, you need to contact a service center.

Drivers

So, if there are no drivers for Wi-Fi module, then they can be found on the device manufacturer’s website. Large firms They post on the website all device drivers for their laptop models. The second way is to find the driver on a disk, which is sometimes found in the box with the laptop. If it is not there, you can go to the “device manager” and find the “network adapters” tab. All modules are displayed there, both for wireless and wired connections. If the laptop is connected to the Internet via a wire or USB modem, then double-click on required device and by opening the “driver” window, you can update them via the Internet. In most cases, the laptop itself finds the programs it needs on the Internet and installs it. If the problem is precisely software, then in the “device manager” an exclamation mark will be shown on the icon of the module that is not working correctly. This immediately indicates that you need to take care of updating the drivers or changing them.

Addition

The above method applies to connecting a laptop via wireless connection with Windows XP or 7 installed on it, for newer systems - Windows 8 or an almost similar process, but with a slight nuance. First, open the network window, it will appear if you click on the Internet icon in the lower right corner of the desktop. Next, you need to drag the slider to the “on” position and select the desired network. The further process is completely identical to that described above.

The second way is to go to the “networks” tab. The mouse cursor must be moved to the right top corner desktop, a panel will appear with a “Settings” tab. It has several different icons and among them is Wi-Fi. Further everything follows the already known method.

Sometimes it happens that the network tab is empty. In this case, find “network and internet” in the control panel. Next, you need to click “Network and Sharing Center”, and in it there is a tab “change adapter settings”. There you need to turn on the Wi-Fi module and then the process will be no different from the above.

Wi-Fi settings video

Need to connect to Wi-Fi modern man is encountered everywhere: wireless networks are much more practical and convenient than their cable “brothers”.

It’s just that similar WiFi privileges are mainly “used” by all sorts of mobile gadgets: phones, tablets, smartphones and most modern laptops. Accordingly, the question arises: why is a “classical” personal computer worse? After all, working on a desktop computer is much more convenient, and connecting cable internet often causes a lot of trouble.

And in this article we will look at how to connect desktop computer to wifi, and what needs to be done for the computer to “catch” invisible wi-fi.

By the way, the age of the device is not directly related to the creation of a wireless network, and you can connect WiFi even to a relatively old computer.

Can a regular computer be connected to wifi?

Some difficulties connecting to Wi-Fi personal computer are not at all connected with the “prejudices” of the developers or the unfortunate fate of this device, full of deprivations.

The fact is that mobile devices and modern laptops are initially equipped with a built-in Wi-Fi adapter for connecting to a wireless network (which is not available on a desktop computer). However, such devices are mostly designed for short-term access to the network, and have a rather meager set of functionality.

While a desktop computer is designed for long-term work with both serious offline software and any global resources information network. Accordingly, connection with all peripheral devices and external networks (Internet, power supply, etc.) are carried out here in a more reliable cable way.

A cable Internet connection for a desktop computer is more stable than a wireless Wi-Fi connection. Yes, when WiFi connection the reliability and speed of the network directly depend on the number active connections, channel congestion, room architecture and many other third-party factors.

Therefore, decide to connect home computer to wifi solely for aesthetic reasons - still not worth it. “Standard” cable connection is more reliable, more efficient ( Not), and causes much less damage to the health of the Internet user.

However, if a hard connection to the Internet source is unavailable for some reason, then you can connect Wi-Fi on your home computer in a matter of minutes.

How to connect your home computer to wifi?

To connect wifi to a desktop PC, first of all, you need to purchase a special removable Wi-Fi adapter - a miniature antenna that will “catch” the Internet signal transmitted by the router and return the data processed by the user to the router.

The most popular and inexpensive solution here would be to choose a removable USB adapter for your computer.

In order not to get a “pig in a poke”, it is better to buy a device from well-known and time-tested manufacturers: TP-Link, D-Link, etc.

If you purchased the adapter from an official distributor, then a disk with special program to install drivers.

How to install Wi-Fi on a computer running Windows 7?

1. Connect your adapter to any USB port on your computer.

2. Insert the disk into the drive, run the auto-configuration utility and, when prompted by the program, click the “Next” button.

3. After installing the driver in the “Network Center” folder for Windows 7 (or “Network Connections” for Windows XP), you will see a new shortcut (in addition to the usual “Connect via local network"). The name of the label will contain the brand name of the manufacturer of your adapter.

4. Now you can connect your desktop computer to wifi. To do this, right-click on the shortcut once -> “Connection” -> Select the name of your Wi-Fi networks and enter your password.

How to set up Wi-Fi if there is no installation disk?

In addition to the “classic” purchase of a brand new licensed adapter, there are cases when the user needed Wi-Fi on the computer “here and now”, and he borrowed/purchased an old used WiFi adapter from friends.

Naturally, the disk with the driver for such an adapter has long been lost.

In such a situation, you need to download the archive with the driver from the Internet.

“But there is no Internet!” - you say - “What to do?”

Here to connect desktop computer to wifi you should:

1.

Connect the computer you are setting up to the router using a cable (if possible).

Go to the official website of the manufacturer of this adapter(or the specialized resource ddriver.ru), find the driver you need by the name of the USB-Wi-Fi adapter and download the software to your computer.

If cable connection it is not possible to connect to the router, download the driver you need to any computer connected to the Internet, and using removable media(flash drives) copy the archive to your wired computer.

2. Next, right-click once on the “My Computer” shortcut, then “Manage” and select “Device Manager” here. In the “Network adapters” section, find the name of our USB adapter, right-click on it and select the “Update driver” menu item. Next, specify the folder into which the archive was copied from the necessary drivers, and click "OK".

3. Once the installation is complete, you will be able to connect your desktop computer to wifi. To do this, in “Network Connections”:

Select a new shortcut;

Right-click on it;

Select the menu item “Connection”;

Select the name of your Wi-Fi network (which you specified in the SSID when setting up the router);

Enter your password and you can use the Internet.