Sometimes after Windows 10 upgrade or upgrade system from Windows 7 to Windows 10, lack Ethernet adapter or wireless adapter in device manager, and its connection icon disappears from the taskbar. Sometimes after restarting your computer from sleep mode, the same problem will happen. These conditions cause the Ethernet adapter or the WIFI adapter not working .
Solutions:
Solution 1: Show hidden devices
Before doing all things maybe you need to check it from device manager and make sure it is not hidden. Go into device manager and choose Show hidden devices on the menu See .
After all the devices are hidden, you can see if the network adapters show up in Device Manager. So how to fix network adapter not found in device manager? There are several solutions that you can try.
Solution 2: Network troubleshooting
Using the troubleshooting way to check network device error status and resolve network adapter not working error will be an easy way as all the things will be done automatically.
1. Write solution from problems in the search box and enter the search window. problem solving .
2. In the Troubleshoot tab, look for the option Network adapter displaying the vertical scroll bar.
3. Click Run the solver from problems to identify the network adapter problem.
4. After that, the troubleshooting will diagnose the network adapter missing problem and help to fix it automatically.
After using troubleshooting to fix the problem, the network adapter will appear in device manager again. And you can access the network as you like.
Solution 3 – Update your network adapter drivers
Due to the disappearance of the network adapter, if you know the name of the Ethernet adapter or the name of the wireless adapter, you can try to download the driver package from the official site. After downloading it, you can install it manually to update it. Then restart the computer to see if the network adapter shows up in Device Manager.
But essentially, due to the missing network adapter in Windows 10, it is impossible to download the latest network driver. Or, if you don’t know the wireless device type or the Ethernet device type, you can use driver booster to help you find, download and update network driver to fix network adapter not working issue. It is worth noting that even if there is no network adapter or the network adapter is not installed in Windows 10, Driver Booster first will fix network failure and then it will update the network adapter driver automatically.
one. driver booster install and run Driver Booster on your PC.
2. Click Scan to start searching for the missing, outdated, or faulty driver.
Here Driver Booster will help you to get the missing network adapter. In this way, you will find that the network adapter appears in Device Manager.
3. Then locate the network adapters Y update your network driver.
Driver Booster will help download and install the network adapter driver for you.
Tips: Use Driver Booster to fix network failure
You are entitled to take advantage of the network repair functionality of Driver Booster to gain network access with the network adapter.
After scanning Driver Booster, on the left pane, press Tools and then choose Repair network failure .
If the Fixed Wireless Adapter Driver Booster does not appear in Windows 10, it is available for you to update the network driver manually from the manufacturer’s site.
Solution 4: Network adapter power settings
Your power settings can cause this problem. And there is another condition if your Ethernet adapter or wireless adapter shows up intermittently as it shows normal sometimes, but it disappeared later and shows up again. Try the following steps.
If you’re using the laptop, try fully charging the battery and restarting the computer to see if the network adapter shows up in device manager. If not, reboot again until the network adapter (Ethernet adapter or WIFI adapter) appears.
Then right click on the network adapter, choose Properties > power management .
in the tab power management uncheck the option: Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power .
Therefore, uncheck this option to make the computer run Ethernet devices and WIFI devices without considering the power saving problem of the computer. This time you can see the network adapter not found in Windows 10 disappeared.
Related view: Fix Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power grayed out
Solution 5 – Check for Windows 10 updates
If you find that the network adapter is completely missing from device manager, it may be helpful to update the version of Windows 10. New Windows updates include security updates, updates to Windows Defender and driver updates. For driver updates, it will automatically scan all devices and install drivers for them. And here is the solution you need: how to check for updates for windows 10 .
Solution 6 – Use an external USB WIFI adapter
Well, using an external USB wireless adapter will be a simple and straightforward way. Although it requires another USB WIFI adapter or you need to buy one if you don’t have one, it is an effective solution. You can connect the USB wireless receiver to the computer’s USB port to see if the wireless adapter shows up in device manager.
So, there are 6 ways that you can solve the problem of network adapter missing from device manager. I wish this post can help you.