The Wi‑Fi icon has been missing from the taskbar for more than a month. I've already tried reinstalling the Intel Wi‑Fi 6E AX211 drivers and reinstalling Windows, but nothing fixed it. The adapter still appears in Device Manager, although it has an error icon next to it, and Wi‑Fi no longer appears in the usual taskbar network menu. HP support suggested using its cloud recovery tool, but it repeatedly failed to create a bootable USB drive. I also tried the Windows Media Creation Tool without success. Has anyone dealt with this driver issue or found a way to restore the adapter?
2 Answers
The missing icon alone doesn’t identify the problem. Since the adapter is still listed under Network Adapters in Device Manager, check the exact error code and message shown in its Properties. The yellow warning symbol usually points to a driver or device-startup problem, which is more useful to troubleshoot than the taskbar icon itself.
Some HP laptops can toggle wireless on or off with Fn+F12, so it’s worth trying that shortcut once. However, if the adapter already has a warning symbol in Device Manager, the shortcut probably isn’t the main cause and the device error or driver installation needs to be addressed.
It doesn’t seem to be turned off with the keyboard shortcut. The adapter is detected, but the driver error remains in Device Manager.
The adapter is present, but Device Manager shows an error symbol. It has disappeared only from the normal taskbar network menu, so it looks like a driver issue rather than the adapter being disabled.