I'm facing a frustrating issue with my PC that connects to WiFi without problems at first, but after a restart, shutdown, or sleep, it fails to reconnect. The error message I get is "Can't connect to this network," even though other devices like my phone connect just fine. The odd part is that when I change the WiFi SSID and password, my PC immediately connects again, but the issue comes back after another restart or sleep. I've tried a bunch of troubleshooting steps, including disabling power saving for the WiFi adapter, turning off Fast Startup, deleting all saved WiFi profiles, and even updating the WiFi drivers without success. I suspect the problem could have to do with WPA3 authentication issues, the router's mesh settings, or something else specific to my WiFi card. Has anyone experienced this problem where Windows refuses to reconnect unless the SSID is changed? What might be causing this?
1 Answer
It seems like your issue might be related to how Windows handles WiFi connectivity after sleep or restart. Disabling the power-saving features for your WiFi adapter is definitely a good step. That way, your system won’t try to save energy by turning off the adapter when it thinks it can. Also, ensuring Fast Startup is off can help with driver loading issues. As for your router settings, try lowering the network type to something like 'g' or 'n' temporarily and see if reconnecting works better before you switch back to higher speeds. Sometimes, compatibility quirks with specific WiFi cards arise, especially with newer routers.
Thanks for the suggestions! Although I tried those steps, I still ran into the same issue where I had to rename the network again to reconnect.