In the modern, technology-driven society, you’ll find wireless networks almost everywhere. People commonly connect to wireless networks using tablets, smartphones, laptops, and even netbooks.
Although modern laptops feature built-in WiFi cards, older models lack wireless connectivity. Whether you own an older laptop model or just want to verify if your machine is a wireless device, read on to learn more.
Is a Laptop a Wireless Device?
A laptop with a WiFi card is a wireless device. Check yours as follows:
Verify the Model of Your PC
1) Flip Your Laptop to Check its Model – the model number of a laptop is usually printed on its bottom side. Turn your laptop upside down to read its model, a series of letters and numbers. Write the model number on a piece of paper or notebook. The battery case may also have the model number printed on it.
2) Search Online for Your Laptop’s Model Number – open a search engine like Google and type the specifications of your laptop in the search bar to find its model number and other specific details. It’ll also inform you if your machine has a WiFi card or not.
How to Check Wireless Adapter in Laptop Windows 7 or Earlier
1) Click on the Start menu at the bottom-left corner of your screen and open the “Control Panel” option.
2) Open Device Manager Under System and Security – navigate to the “System and Security” option once the Control Panel opens. Click on it and hit the “System” button. Locate Device Manager under the System folder and open it. If prompted for a password when opening the Device Manager, enter it and click on the “Open” button.
3) Click on wireless “Network Adapters” – in the window that opens up, click on the option “Network Adapters.” The Device Manager window showcases all devices installed on your PC. Locate a list of Ethernet, Bluetooth, or WiFi Adapters.
4) Find the WiFi Card installed in your laptop and locate the word “wireless,” “WiFi”, or 802.11. If the word “wireless” or WiFI” is missing in the list, then your laptop is not wireless because it lacks a wireless card.
How to Check Wi-Fi Card in Laptop Windows 8 or Later
1) Navigate to the top-right section of your computer screen and open the side menu. Hover your cursor around the top-right screen corner and swipe down to launch the menu on the side.
2) Locate the “Settings” option at the end of the menu list and click on it to open the window.
3) In the window that pops up, go through the first six icons at the end of the list and five tabs. The first icon in the list of six icons resembles five bars, from small to large. This icon shows that your computer has a WiFi card, meaning it’s wireless.
Check Your Mac Laptop with OSX Yosemite
1) Select the “About This Mac” option – Navigate to the top left corner on your computer screen and click on the Apple logo. In the drop-down menu that appears, click on “About This Mac.”
2) Click on the tab “System Report” – Locate the “Overview” tab within the top section of the “About This Mac” window. Find the “System Report” button and click on “Open.”
3) Check your laptop’s wireless information – Look out for the button “Network” at the bottom of the left panel and click on “Expand.” Select the option “Wi-Fi.”
4) Click on “Interfaces” to check your Wi-Fi card information – Your laptop’s wireless card appears under the “Interfaces” window. The information available include “Card Type” and card name such as “AirPort Extreme.” The error Wi-Fi: No hardware installed on your screen’s top right corner indicates that your computer has no Wi-Fi card. The window also shows the current date and day.
How to Connect Laptop to Internet Wireless/ WiFi Setup for PC
Are you wondering, “Why is my laptop not connecting to WiFi?” You can enable WI-FI in your laptop Windows 10 (could be an earlier, or later version) to make it wireless as follows:
1) Use Your Laptop’s Wi-Fi Button
- Many laptops come with a switch or an On/Off button above your keyboard or the front edge to enable Wi-Fi. Enable the switch – a blue illumination on the button or the switch on the “On” position keeps your laptop on wireless mode.
2) Use the Fn Laptop and Function Key
You can enable and disable Wi-Fi in your laptop using the function keys (F1 to F12) and the Fn key. Some laptops use F12 and Fn keys to enable and disable wireless connectivity. The F12 features an orange LED when disabled and blue button when enabled.
- Search the notification area of your Windows for the wireless or Wi-Fi connectivity icon. Move your cursor to the icon and right-click on it. Choose the turn off/ on Wi-Fi device under the menu that pops us to enable it.
- If you can’t find this option under the menu that pops up, find the “Open Network and Sharing Center” option. Select it and click on the “Change adapter setting” option. Right-click on the icon of your wireless network card once it’s visible to “Enable” it.
- You can also navigate to the Control Panel to enable your laptop’s wireless adapter. Click on the link “Change adapter settings” on the left pane under the option “Network and Sharing Center.” Right-click on the wireless adapter to “Enable” it.
3) Use the Windows Device Manager
- Right-click on the “Device Manager” under the “My Computer” icon either in the Windows Start menu or the shortcut on your desktop. In the menu that pops up, click on “Properties” and select the “Hardware” tab in the new window and click on the button “Device Manager.”
- Later versions of Windows from Vista don’t have the “Hardware” tab option. Instead, the “Device Manager” button is available under the System window.
- Go through the list of hardware devices to find your Wi-Fi adapter. Move the mouse to the name of your adapter and click on “Enable” under the menu that pops up. The message “the Wi-Fi adapter drivers aren’t installed indicate that your Device manager doesn’t have a Wi-Fi adapter.
4) Use the BIOS setup
- Another option is to use your laptop’s BIOS setup to enable its wireless connectivity. Uncheck the option to disable the card in the BIOS setup.
Conclusion
Laptops are wireless devices. Although older models lack Wi-Fi cards, newer models come with support for wireless connectivity. If you want to confirm whether your machine is wireless or not, this article provides various options for checking your machine’s Wi-Fi card and how to connect your computer to Wi-Fi without cable.
We hope that you found this article useful and it helped solve your problem or simply answered your question.
