When you are using a Wi-Fi network and not able to access the Internet – you will end up troubleshooting to find the problem as -“Wifi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration”.
No matter whether you have Windows 8 or Window 10 installed. This is a common problem. If you are searching for a solution, we have you covered. In this article, we have mentioned the best possible methods to solve the issue.
1. The Easy Fix: Reset Network Adapter & TCP/IP
Most of the time, you just need to reset the network adapter or the TCP/IP to access the Internet. In order to do that, you will have to utilize the command prompt. Let us take a look at the steps you need to follow:
- Launch Command Prompt as an Administrator. To do this, you need type in “cmd” in the search bar (to the right of the start menu). Now, right-click on Command Prompt and select to Run it as Administrator.
- Once you have launched the command prompt, type in the following commands:
netsh winsock reset – This will reset the network adapter
netsh int ip reset – To reset TCP/IP
2. Release & Renew IP Address
If it is an IP-based issue or maybe an IP configuration problem, you can get rid of the old IP address and assign a new IP automatically. To do that, you need to type in the following commands:
ipconfig /release – Tells the DHCP server the old IP is available to be assigned
ipconfig /flushdns – Clears DNS cache
ipconfig /renew – Requests a new IP
3. Assign IP Manually
You need to manually assign an IP address to resolve any IP-based issue. For that, you can refer to our guide to help you manually assign a static IP address.
4. Check The Router’s Configuration
It is highly unlikely that you need to check your router’s configuration unless you have modified it recently. But, in case you did something, you should go through the manufacturer’s resource pages in order to check the settings. Let us help you with the links to the manual for some of the popular manufacturers:
5. Change The Number of DHCP Users
The routers are limited to a certain amount of users (Depending on what network equipment you have). If you have a lot of connections active through a router, you might want to check that.
Similar to how you utilize the user guide to check the configuration of your router, you need to look for the steps in order to change the number of DHCP users.
6. Disable Any Active VPN Services
A VPN service, usually when configured wrong, can also lead to this type of network problems. So, if you happen to use a VPN service, you should check whether that is what’s causing the issue in the first place. Stop using the VPN service for a moment and see if the issue gets resolved.
7. Re-install / Update Wireless Adapter Driver
If you like to keep things to up-to-date, you might want to update your driver. But, not unless you are really sure that the driver version is the issue behind the error.
If you recently installed the driver, you can try looking for an update (and upgrade it to the latest version available). Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the “Device Manager” by pressing Windows key + X as the keyboard shortcuts for a set of options.
- Next, scroll down and expand the network adapters that you have on your system. Right-click on the active network adapter and click “Update driver” (as shown in the image below).
However, if you had no trouble with the current driver and you are suddenly starting to encounter issues, you should simply uninstall it and then re-install the same by restarting the computer (or by scanning for a hardware change). Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the “Device Manager” by pressing Windows key + X as the keyboard shortcuts for a set of options.
- Next, scroll down and expand the network adapters that you have on your system. Right-click on the active network adapter and click “Uninstall device” (as shown in the image below).
- After uninstalling it, right-click on “Network adapters” to find an option “Scan for hardware changes” – just click on it. You will find the device driver re-installed. In case, you do not find it, restart your computer.
Wrapping Up
With all the solutions mentioned, you should be able to easily fix the error “WiFi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration”. Once, you have an active Internet connection, you can diagnose the network with the troubleshooter to verify if you still encounter the issue.
If you are still facing a problem with the error after trying all the methods above, let us know in the comments below.