Nothing is as frustrating as WiFi without Internet. Oh yes, how many times have I seen topics on forums starting with WiFi connected but no Internet access! Please, help me solve the problem!
So many various phones, PCs, routers involved, so many possible reasons of the same problem and so many solutions that can help in one case but don’t work in another.
In this guide we collected all possible solutions that should help you fix the problem and get rid of Connected, no Internet, No internet access, Internet may not be available and similar errors on Windows PC, Android or Apple devices.
We must admit that there is no nuclear solution to fix the problem in one click. That is why you have to try all methods listed below. Hopefully, one of them will work in your case.
Do not skip steps and you will hopefully find out why you have WiFi connected but no Internet.
Jump Directly to Solutions:
Usually the issue looks like the following: you select your WiFi network, the authentication passes normally and then you see familiar Connected near you WiFi network name (SSID).
But the problem is that in a few seconds the notification No internet appears next to it. In such cases you can see:
Basically “No Internet” WiFi error means that your client device (such as an iPhone, Android phone or a computer running Windows) has successfully connected to your WiFi router, obtained a local IP address (for example, 192.168.0.101) but there is something that prevents it from connecting to Internet over WiFi (to WAN over the LAN in other words).
In most cases you can even gain access to other machines and devices on the local network, such as laptop, TV, NAS, watch films, view photos and listen to music from shared folders but you can’t open neither a website in a browser nor use apps like YouTube or Skype that require a permanent Internet link.
Many of you may say “haha! the gateway address is missing or incorrect! That’s why you have WiFi connected but no Internet access!”.
But the things are not that easy. In a few minutes after you begin troubleshooting you will convince yourself that your phone, Windows PC, router and even the Ethernet cables can be the culprit.
This doesn’t mean you should surrender and call the tech guy from your ISP to fix your trouble with Internet access.
We advise that you first read this article and try our tips before you call them. Maybe you will be able to restore your connection with the global web over WiFi by yourself.
Remember: “WiFi” is not “Internet”. Thus, if you successfully connected to a WiFi hotspot, it does NOT automatically mean that you have Internet connectivity. And there are many reasons for this.
We arranged our tips in a convenient order – from more frequent and easy to apply to more complicated and less frequently happening.
This should make all steps logical and help us first eliminate minor issues and then proceed to troubleshooting of more serious problems with the network access and Internet connection.
You should start troubleshooting with the investigating the problem. It is crucial to guess whether it is your router or your client device which is causing the error.
First things first, it is very important to understand whether you encounter the “No Internet” error when you connect to a specific network or any network. It will help in troubleshooting greatly.
Thus, if you have the error on connecting to any hotspot, this means that you are likely to have an issue in your client device (a phone, tablet, laptop or PC). And vice versa: if you face the problem with a specific WiFi network, you may pay more attention to your router settings.
Connect to the same network from another device and investigate whether or not you have the same problem. If you have the same error on two different devices, the router or its configuration may be the reason why your WiFi has no Internet access.
In such a way you can gather common information and consequently get an idea why you are actually suffering the lack of Internet connectivity over your WiFi. Well, let’s proceed to the next step.
WiFi Repeaters (range extenders) are no the best option when it comes to Wi-Fi stability. If you are currently using one, you should try temporarily excluding it. Turn off your repeater and test the wireless network with your router only.
If the problem persists, it means that it has nothing to do with the range extender.
If your client device work fine when operating directly with your wireless router, you’d better implement a mesh architecture instead.
Check whether or not the Internet cable is properly connected to WAN port of your router:
If the cable is not connected to Internet (WAN) port you will have working WiFi but no Internet access. Ensure your Ethernet cable is well-attached and the connector is not broken. Replace the patch cord is it is damaged.
By the way, the same issue emerges if you start the hotspot on your Android phone but forget to turn on mobile data:
As a result your laptop or PC connects to a WiFi hotspot but there is no Internet.
Also check: have you paid for your Internet? Log in to your client area at your ISP’s website and ensure you have enough money on your account. Contact ISP support if necessary.
This applies not only to devices without the Internet, but to your router as well.
Log in to the router’s web interface and reboot it to fix the accidental glitch.
Besides that, you can power cycle the router by its “Power” button or by simply disconnecting its power supply from the outlet. A simple reboot is often a good fix to many WiFi problems and weird glitches.
Read this guide if you cannot access your wireless router settings page. You will find a lot of tips how to find out the router IP and finally do it.
Reboot the client device where you have WiFi connected but no Internet, no matter whether it is a Windows PC, Android device, iPhone or iPad. This often helps to fix the Internet connection over WiFi.
This is yet another ridiculous but very common reason for the problem we’re discussing on this page. I have encountered it mostly on old Android devices but you should check it no matter on what device you faced the WiFi Connected, No Internet issue.
In most cases the “Use Network-Provided Time” option will be the best solution. If this doesn’t solve the problem and you see that the date and time are not correct, disable the “automatic” option and set the correct date and time manually.
On your Android go to Settings > System > Date & Time and enable the Use network-provided time:
If you have a Galaxy device, go to Settings > General Management > Date and time and enable Automatic date and time.
On iPhone / iPad go to Settings > General > Date & Time and enable the Set Automatically option:
From time to time antivirus programs turn out to be the reason of the notification Secured, No internet on Windows. Try to temporary disable protection and check if you have the Internet access. If the Internet works when you unload your Antivirus try the following solutions:
Disabling your antivirus is not a fix itself. But if the Internet connected after you turned your antivirus program you can now think how to cope with problem. For example, disable the firewall component.
We have never met such situations on Android, but you can also try to uninstall the anti-virus app on your mobile device to ensure it is not the culprit.
A corrupted DNS can be causing various errors related to Internet including “No Internet” under your WiFi hotspot name. That’s why we strongly recommend using Google DNS or Cloudflare DNS servers instead of such provided by your ISP. In most cases this will speed up your Internet.
We highly recommend you to try this solution especially if you encounter a problem when some of websites do not load and your browser returns an error like ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED, or a part of websites load much slower that others.
Note, that if you are using a Wi-Fi router, you’d better log into its configuration page and change DNS servers in the WAN settings.
If you encounter the “No Internet” error on your Windows PC or laptop you should try flushing the DNS cache. And this is a necessary step if you have just switched to different DNS servers in the previous step.
Perform the following steps:
This will flush the DNS cache on your Windows PC and often helps to fix the Internet connection and from now on the websites should load properly.
If you are using the MAC address filtering on your router, you might not be able to connect to the Internet unless the MAC address of your device is allowed to obtain an IP address. So, make sure that:
If you have your WiFi connected but not working well, the wireless interference can be the culprit. Neighbor networks working on the same channel may prevent your WiFi hotspot from functioning and here’s what to do.
Log in to your router’s web interface, find the advanced wireless settings and change the wireless channel. Use the Android app called WiFi Analyzer to find the best channel to fix the problem with your WiFi hotspot:
Sometimes incorrect region settings can cause issues with wireless network. In some cases you will have WiFi connected but no Internet connectivity. In other cases you can have unstable Internet connection with interruptions. Websites man not load and your browser may show “404”.
Ensure you have selected your country or region:
Take into account that if you select 802.11 n only mode on your router old client devices (like old laptops, smartphones and tablets which don’t support N standard) will discover but won’t connect to your WiFi hotspot.
In most cases it will be optimal to select 802.11 b/g/n mode (often it is called 11 bgn mixed):
The same applies to the 5 gigahertz range. Select a/n/ac/ax mixed mode and reconnect your client device.
Don’t forget to save settings!
The proxy is rarely used nowadays. In most cases you don’t need to specify proxy to gain access to the Internet. Very often malware sets up proxy to trick users into visiting fraudulent websites.
In this case you may experience the following problems with your Internet connection:
Turn off proxy server in Windows:
Disable proxy on your mobile:
Resetting the network settings can help in fixing common issues and glitches related to networking. That’s why you should try this as well no matter on what kind of device you get the ‘Connected but No Internet’ error.
To reset network settings:
These steps can often fix the network glitch on your Android device causing the frustrating situation when your phone is connected to WiFi but can’t reach the web.
Go to Settings > General > Reset and select Reset Network Settings
Confirm and wait for a couple of minutes. Than, connect to your WiFi network from a scratch and check if the No Internet error persists.
On your Windows 10 PC or tablet go to Settings > Network and Internet > Status > Network Reset and click / tap Reset now:
You should try to update your WiFi Adapter driver software. It is a high probability that it will fix problems with your wireless networking and you will hopefully make your PC connected to Internet over WiFi.
a) First of all, we advise to search for new driver on Microsoft Update servers:
Downloading a new driver for 802.11 WiFi adapter:
Finally you will see the message about the successful driver installation:
b) If this did not solve your problem with Internet connection, try to install a different driver compatible with your Wireless Network Adapter.
Click Browse my computer for driver software:
Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer and click Next:
Make sure that you set the checkbox Show compatible hardware.
Select the driver that you want to try.
Click Next to install the driver:
You may not believe me but a lot of network-related problems can emerge due to malware activity. Actually, malware is often the culprit of various unexplained problems that can manifest themselves in different ways.
All system settings can be totally okay, but your Windows PC will keep telling you Connected, No internet under your Wi-Fi network name.
Don’t skip this step even if you are 100% confident that your PC or phone is not infected. Malware can be the cause of the network problem that you still can’t fix. Use the best utilities to check your device for viruses, malware and adware and remove them.
If you have “No Internet” WiFi-related error on your mobile device you should also check your phone for malware using Malwarebytes Security app:
Visit the official site of your wireless router’s vendor, select the exact model and download the latest firmware if any available.
Then, log into your router settings, find the “Update Firmware” option and select the file you’ve previously downloaded.
Wait for the router to reboot and check whether or not the WiFi Connected, No Internet problem has been fixed.
Despite all WiFi settings are fine there can be a glitch on your router that prevents the wireless module from working properly. That’s why we recommend you to try a factory reset.
Hold down the Reset button until your router turns all its indicators on and off. Then, configure it from a scratch.
Perhaps, this option is the last resort to fix problems related to WiFi and “Connected, No Internet access” error in particular.
So, if you tried all of the above but there is still no Internet access you can resetting settings on your Android device or Windows PC to finally get rid of the issue.
For that purpose on Android you should go to Settings > System > Reset Options > Erase all data (factory reset) and tap on RESET PHONE:
On your iPhone go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings:
Than you need to tap Erase:
and confirm the operation by typing your passcode.
On Windows 10 you should launch the Settings app, then select Update & Security > Recovery and click on Get started in the Reset this PC area:
If nothing of the above helped you solve WiFi Connected, No Internet on your Android, iPhone or Windows, you have no more options except contacts the support of your ISP and ask for assistance.
You may be surprised but the problem of “no Internet access” can appear due to third-party programs installed on your PC, antiviruses in particular.
More than once we heard people complain Avast Antivirus has been seen in causing similar problems with wireless networking. Therefore, if you are currently using Avast or any other third-party antivirus or firewall program, try to:
VPN is a serious complication of your Internet connectivity map when you have literally a tunnel inside another tunnel. And, as you understand, the more complicated the network scheme is, the more probability that something may got broken and wreck your Internet access.
First try to disable your VPN app and look what’s going on. It may happen that your VPN data may simply run out and you may have your VPN connected but blocked.
Quite a lot of users report that removing the Turbo VPN and other VPN apps along with their TAP adapters helps to resolve ‘Connected, No Internet’ error and various similar Wi-Fi-related issues.
If your device is connected to Wi-Fi but you’re not able to access the internet, there are several steps you can take to try to fix the issue. Here are some things to try:
In the conclusion, we’d like to say the following. Unfortunately we can’t test out the troubleshooting guide on every phone or laptop model that ever existed. That’s why it is very important that you share your experience in the comments.
Please, tell us which solutions worked for you and fixed the problem with Internet access over WiFi connection on your particular device or wireless module. Maybe the method you describe will help somebody with the same piece of hardware. Thank you and good luck!
The article was first published in September 2016 but is constantly updated.
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After installing my Avg antivirus I was able to connect to the internet again.
I am sorry it should be uninstalling
If there's no internet access, how the hell are you supposed to update the drivers?
In many cases it is possible to use a wired connection - connect your laptop to a router using a patch cord.
I tried every ways and I even reset my phone but I still cannot connect to Internet , what can I do ??
I'm very surprised, guys. Resetting network settings seems to have fixed my problem on Android! Respect!
Thank you! At least one solution worked!
I managed to fix "Internet may not be available, Connect to another network" on my Galaxy S8! Thank you!
This problem is recurrent in my BLU mobile. I will discard it and start using my old Samsung again.
I tried all the options even did the factory data reset, still no luck. What are the other ways to solve this issue
hey did you find the solution?
Wifi was working but a router restart worked. Just a push of a button! Thanks
Very impressed with the way you give instruction!! Thank you for the directions, screen shots and overall layout, making a frustrating situation less aggervating!