Hey folks, I recently had to reinstall Windows 11 on my Dell Inspiron 14 5425 after a blue screen crash. I managed to get Windows reinstalled but now I'm stuck at the network setup part. The setup insists I need an internet connection to proceed, and when I click the button to install a network adapter driver, it just opens the file explorer without any options.
I tried downloading the network driver onto a USB stick from another computer, but when I plug it into my laptop, it says the USB is empty. I also tried connecting my phone via USB for a tethered connection, but that doesn't show up on the laptop, either. I'm thinking about trying an Ethernet cable, but I'm not sure if that'll even help since I'm blocked on the setup page.
Any ideas on how to get past this? Thanks in advance!
2 Answers
Make sure you're downloading the right driver for your laptop. The Inspiron 14 5425 can come with different Wi-Fi cards like Realtek or Qualcomm, so check which one yours has. Also, when you download drivers, they should be unpacked so that the .inf files are visible. You might need to extract the .exe using a tool like 7zip if they're not showing up.
Have you tried tethering your phone's data connection to your laptop? Sometimes that can bypass the network setup issue and allow you to download the necessary drivers via Windows Update if you can trust your phone when you plug it in.
I’m not too familiar with tethering, but my iPhone should allow it when trusted. The problem is, I can't access the network settings on my laptop. I see the Windows settings box, but the WiFi and Bluetooth options are missing completely. I think it’s due to the missing network adapter driver.
Thanks! I checked the Dell website using my service tag, and it looks like the only Wi-Fi driver available is for the Mediatek card, which I've been trying to use. Just to clarify, if I use 7zip, I can select the .exe file and it should extract everything I need, right?