Question

How to found wifi network sharing not working?

Answer 1

You can first try to release and renew the IP address in case it’s simply a problem with the IP address. You can do this in one of two ways. You can try to simply restart the computer or you can run a few commands from the command prompt. Or you can try both.

To run the commands, click on Start and then type in CMD into the search box. Press Enter and you’ll get the command prompt dialog. Now simply type these two commands:

ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew

You should see something like what I have above in the screenshot, but instead of saying Ethernet adapter, it’ll say Wireless network adapter. If you get some kind of error when trying to release or renew related to DHCP server, then there may be an issue with the wireless router, which is the second thing to try.

Restart Wireless Router

The second thing to try is to restart the wireless router, if you can access it. If you’re trying to connect to someone else’s wireless router or a hotspot at an airport, for example, then you obviously won’t be able to do this and the issue could still be with your computer. You can skip this part and read on if this is your scenario.

Otherwise, go ahead and turn off the router completely and then wait about 30 seconds and turn it back on. Wireless routers are notorious for having all kinds of strange connection issues and most of the time the problem can be fixed by simply restarting.

Disable Security on Wireless Router

Depending on what kind of wireless card you have and the security settings for the wireless router, it could be that you simply cannot connect because the security encryption on the router is too advanced and your network card does not support it.

In order to test this, try to turn off or disable the security on the wireless router temporarily to see if you are able to connect. You’ll have to log into your router and go to the wireless settings page and choose either None or Disable.

If you are able to connect, then it’s basically a problem with the security settings. You may have to upgrade the drivers on your network card or you may even have to upgrade to your OS to the latest service pack. For example, make sure you are running Windows XP SP3 in order to connect to the latest wireless routers.

Update Network Card Drivers

Also, if there is a security problem between the two devices, you should upgrade the drivers for your network card. The latest drivers may support the higher encryption on the wireless router and therefore allow you to connect.

Even if you bought a computer recently, it’s always a good idea to go directly to the network card manufacture’s website and download the driver from there. You can see the exact model of your network card by going to Start, Control Panel, System and clicking on Device Manager in the left menu.

Expand Network adapters and you’ll get a list of all the network adapters on the computer. It should have the company and the model number in the list itself. Make sure you install the correct version depending on what operation system you are running.

Turn on Network Discovery

There are occasions when somehow settings get changed on your computer and you have no idea how. One of those could be Network Discovery, which lets Windows talk and connect to other computers and network devices. To make sure it’s turned on, go to Control Panel and click on Network and Sharing Center. In the left pane, click on Change advanced sharing settings.

Now make sure that the radio button for Turn on network discovery is selected.

If it was turned off for any reason, that could have been causing the issue where you could not connect to a wireless network or even an issue where you could not see the wireless network at all in the list.