I got a new PC in September 2025 and had an older drive transferred into it so I could keep my artwork and other files. I used the PC at my mom's house for a while, then moved to my apartment, where I relied on a phone hotspot for about a month before switching to a wired Ethernet connection. I changed mobile carriers in March 2026 and never needed to use the new hotspot until now.
I'm currently staying at my mom's house again and brought the PC with me. Her Wi-Fi network appears with a full signal, but after I enter the correct password, Windows spends a while trying to connect and then reports "Unable to connect." Every other device in the house connects normally.
The strange part is that the PC connects immediately to my current phone hotspot and has no trouble using the internet through it, so I'm wondering whether the Wi-Fi adapter is actually the problem. Friends have suggested a few quick fixes, but nothing has worked so far. I'd rather avoid major changes because this is temporary and I'll be back to Ethernet at my apartment next month. What could cause a PC to reject one router's Wi-Fi while connecting normally to a phone hotspot?
1 Answer
Because the PC connects successfully to your phone’s hotspot, the Wi-Fi adapter is probably functioning normally. The problem is more likely a corrupted saved network profile or a compatibility issue between this PC and your mom’s router.
Try removing the network profile completely and reconnecting from scratch. In an administrator Command Prompt, run `netsh wlan delete profile name="YOUR WIFI NAME"`, replacing the placeholder with the exact Wi-Fi name. Then restart the PC and enter the password again. Even if the network does not appear under Windows’ normal list of known networks, the command can still remove a stored profile if one exists.
The network isn’t showing in my normal list of known networks. Would that command still be worth trying?