How to update a wifi driver on Windows 10
We live in an interconnected world where we're used to being online 24/7. Panic can set in when we lose wifi for even a few minutes! How will we speak to our friends, watch the latest Netflix series, keep up with the news, and look at funny memes?! If you are having trouble with your internet we're here to help.
Often, internet problems and connecting your PC are down to issues with your wifi driver. In fact, recent analysis by Microsoft found that 70% of all blue screens and PC crashes are caused by device drivers. The good news is that updating drivers is a simple process and will keep your connection running smoothly (from your end at least!).
What are wifi drivers?
In order to connect to a network, your computer needs a network adaptor. These hardware devices can't talk to your computer automatically though and require a wifi driver so that they work together. A wifi driver is what fixes this issue and lets them communicate, keeping you connected and streaming the latest shows.
If you find that you're all of a sudden offline this could be because you have outdated drivers installed. It could also occur if you change operating systems because every driver is specific to each one. If you recently installed Windows 10 or performed an update and your wifi has stopped working, we'll tell you what to do. This is also for you if you were previously running Windows 10 and the internet has just decided to switch off. It could be that the manufacturer of your network adaptor has made an update on their end so you need to upgrade to the latest version.
Before you uninstall your driver and install a new one there are other troubleshooting steps you may want to try first:
- Make sure that your wifi is turned on and that airplane mode is turned off
- Run the "Network Troubleshooter" to see if it can find and suggest any connectivity issues
If you've tested the other issues and you want to update your wifi driver, we're going to tell you how to update your driver manually and then show you how to install new drivers for all of your devices at once...the automatic and fast way.
How to update wifi driver on Windows 10
If you can't connect to the internet this is going to involve additional steps, which we'll show you. The easiest way to make sure this doesn't happen in the future is to use a driver updater tool which can update all your drivers at once so you don't face these types of issues (unless your network provider has gone down etc.). If you're looking for the easy and safer way, try a tool like CCleaner which can update drivers for you. If you prefer the manual way (only recommended if you're pretty technical), here's how:
- On your Windows 10 machine, head to the search box on the taskbar and type "Device Manager".
- Select "Device Manager" from the options displayed.
- Expand "Network Adaptors" and find and select the network adaptor for your computer.
- Then choose "Uninstall device", then "Delete the driver software for this device" check box, and "Uninstall".
- Now, restart your machine. On relaunch, Windows will automatically search for the network adaptor driver and install it if available.
- If it hasn't been able to, try to install a downloaded version.
- Make sure you have a download of the latest network adaptor driver. If your PC can't connect you'll need to head to the PC manufacturer's website and download the latest driver onto a different PC and then to a USB flash drive.
- Now, install the version on the USB flash drive onto your Windows 10 PC.
How to update all your drivers using a tool
As we mentioned earlier, the safest and easiest way to make sure your wifi driver keeps working is to use a tool which will scan all your drivers and update them in one go. It could save you from running into internet connection issues again in the future.
Device drivers don't just support your internet connectivity but also your sound, images, videos, and other peripheral hardware such as speakers and webcams. Every device is connected to your computer by driver software and when these are outdated or corrupted things can start to go downhill fast. That once precious PC you adored which did everything you needed and quickly is going to start to complain.
Why not stay one step ahead of it and run regular checks to keep it running at its best? We created an updater tool that will find out-of-date drivers and update these automatically for you. It has over 25 million drivers on its database so it can check all of these at once for you taking the guesswork and hard slog out of manually updating.
The driver updater tool comes as part of CCleaner Professional, which you can try for free. You also can take advantage of its full suite of cleaning and optimization tools which will help make your machine run as smooth and as quickly as possible.