How To Do It?

How to Connect a Wireless Network to a Computer? – [3 Quick Steps]

Are you facing issues in connecting your computer with a wireless network? Do you want to know how to connect a wireless network to a computer in some quick and easy steps? If you have these questions in your mind, then I assure you that you’ll get the best answers to your questions in this blog post. All you have to do is to give it a read. I will try to explain the answer to your query precisely and concisely.

how to connect wireless network to computer

Wireless networks are very popular among professionals, mainly due to their features and ease of usage. In our homes, offices, and public places wireless networks are mostly preferred. Wired networks, on the other hand, can create a real mess of wires all around you especially if you have a number of computers inside a room. The most feasible and obvious solution is to use a wireless computer network facility. I think this is enough introduction for you people to get going. So, without wasting any time let us move on to step by step tutorial on how to connect a wireless network to a computer in Windows 7/8/10/11.

Connect your computer to a wireless network in Windows 10

In this tutorial, I will explain the step-by-step tutorial to connect your computer with a wireless network in Windows 10 operating systems. Here is the tutorial for you:

Turn your computer’s WiFi on – (Step 1)

Before connecting to a wireless computer network, you will need to switch the WiFi of your computer ON if it is OFF.  Otherwise, you can skip this step. For this, you’ll need to find out the status of WiFi.

Find out the status of your computer’s WiFi

To do this, simply click on the ‘world’ icon from the taskbar.

discover status of WiFi in Windows 10

This will open up a popup menu and by carefully looking at this popup menu you can decide whether the WiFi is ON or OFF. The following picture gives you a self-explanatory comparison that will help you to decide whether the WiFi of your computer is OFF or ON. If it is OFF then you will need to turn it ON.

comparison of WiFi status

If the popup menu appears like the one on the right side then you’re good to go because your computer’s WiFi is already ON. You simply don’t need to do anything and you can directly go to step 2.

In case the popup menu appears to be similar to the one on the left side, then there are three situations behind it:

  1. Both WiFi and airplane mode are OFF
  2. WiFi is OFF and airplane mode is ON
  3. Both WiFi and airplane mode are ON

Now, I will give you brief details on each of these situations and the way to handle these in order to connect your computer to a wireless network.

Both WiFi and airplane mode are OFF (Situation 1)

This is the most-faced situation and it is very easy to tackle. However, at first, you’ll need to find out if both the WiFi and airplane mode of your computer is OFF or not. The following picture shows a typical scenario of this situation:

reason 1 both WiFi and airplane mode are OFF

The buttons (Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, Mobile hotspot) located at the bottom of the popup are actually toggled buttons similar to smartphones. In the OFF state, these buttons are colored gray as shown in the picture. If any button is ON then it is highlighted with blue color. Clearly, both WiFi and airplane mode are OFF. Now the question is how will you turn WiFi ON?

How to turn WiFi ON in this situation?

You will not have to do many things. All you need to do is simply click on the Wi-Fi button to turn the WiFi ON. Once you click the WiFi button, it will turn blue and you’ll be able to see a list of wireless networks around you. After you see the list, you can go to step 2.

WiFi is OFF and airplane mode is ON (Situation 2)

This sort of situation requires a little effort from your side but trust me, it is not difficult to handle at all. You can think of this situation as a dual-restriction on your computer in connecting to the wireless network. To get more understanding, please see the picture:

reason 2 airplane mode is ON and WiFi is OFF

Clearly, you can see that the color of the Wi-Fi button is gray while airplane mode is blue. Also note down that the taskbar icon has turned into a plane, which clearly indicates that airplane mode is in the ON state. Now, let me tell you the process to handle this situation.

How to handle this situation?

As I said that handling this situation needs a little more effort. In order to turn the WiFi ON you’ll need to take the following two steps:

  1. Turn airplane mode OFF: Click on the Airplane mode toggle button and its color will change to gray
  2. Turn WiFi ON: Click on the Wi-Fi button and its color will change to blue, after which, you can go to the second step
Both WiFi and airplane mode are ON (Situation 3)

This situation is slightly confusing and differentiating between this situation and situation number 2 is slightly difficult. However, I will tell you the exact difference. Initially, you’ll not be able to find the difference until you take the first step to handle this situation. Take a look at the picture:

reason 3 both airplane mode and WiFi are ON

This picture is similar to the one given in situation 2. So, the picture presentations of both these situations are the same. Now, what’s the difference? The answer is that: if you turn the airplane mode OFF and the popup menu expands showing the names of wireless networks then this is situation 3.

How to handle this situation?

Handling this situation is extremely easy. Just click on the airplane mode button to turn it OFF. Once it gets OFF, the popup menu will start to show wireless networks. You’ll not need to turn WiFi ON explicitly as it will be already ON. You are welcome to go to the second step.

Identify the wireless network you want to connect – (Step 2)

Now that the WiFi is on, the next step is to connect to a suitable wireless network. Some wireless networks offer open access while others are password protected. I will surely post some useful content on it. For the moment, you just need to know one thing. An open-access wireless network doesn’t need any credentials to connect with.

On the other hand, a password-protected wireless network will ask for a user name and password to connect to it. Have a look at the following picture to get an understanding of a list of available networks:

list of wifi networks

For quick identification, just see the signal icon besides wireless networks. If the signal has a small lock icon too then the network is password-protected. To connect your computer to a wireless network, you’ll need to know the name of a wireless network. In some offices, wireless network names are pasted on notice boards. In restaurants, you can ask the waiters for it.

Connect to a network – (Step 3)

This is the last step. If you have figured out the name of the wireless network that you want to connect then go ahead and click on the name of the network. After clicking the name of the wireless network, you’ll be able to see a ‘Connect’ button.

connect to a wireless network

You can check ‘Connect automatically’ if you think that you’ll need to regularly use this network. This option is suitable for your home or office where you frequently use the internet. However, you can leave it unchecked if you’re at some restaurant. You can check or uncheck it according to your preference. Once you are done with this, go ahead and click on the button ‘Connect’ to get going.

If the wireless network is open-access then your computer will be connected to the network after a few seconds. In case the network is password-protected then the computer will ask for connection credentials from you. In most cases, you’ll need to enter a password which is often known as a ‘Security Key’. If this is the case, you’ll need the password too. You can ask any person for it. If you already have the key, you can use it.

enter credentials and connect

Enter the security key or password and click Next. After waiting for a couple of seconds, you’ll surely be connected to the wireless network if you have entered the correct security key.

Wrap up

Well, I have tried my level best to get you a detailed piece of content to understand how to connect a wireless network to a computer. I have given you a 3-step tutorial with pictures to follow the steps easily. In case you have confusion then you’re welcome to post queries.

 

 

 

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