Wi-Fi (Internet) disconnects after sleep or hibernation on Windows 10/11 Ranjan.info

I’ve noticed a strange thing: my new Lenovo laptop loses internet connection on the Wi-Fi adapter after waking it from sleep or hibernation. “Shows” the network connection statusinternet is not available” either “Limited“After waking up. For some reason, the wireless adapter cannot automatically connect to my home Wi-Fi access point, and the list of available wireless networks is empty. If I restart Windows correctly shutdown -f –r -t 0 command, Windows automatically connects to my Wi-Fi network and I can access the Internet as usual. The problem is quite annoying as I have to restart the laptop several times a day

In this post, I will show you how I managed to fix the problem of losing Wi-Fi connection in Windows 10 or 11 after resuming from sleep or hibernation.

Update or Roll Back Wi-Fi Adapter Drivers

Before moving on to the next method, try downloading and installing the latest version of a driver for your Wi-Fi adapter drivers from the vendors website. If the Wi-Fi disconnection issue suddenly appeared on your Windows device, Windows probably automatically updated your wireless adapter driver recently. Therefore, you should try to use an older version of a driver that resides in the local driver repository on your computer (see this driver rollback example).

If you have found a suitable driver and have not lost the Wi-Fi connection with it, it is recommended to prevent Windows from automatically updating the driver for this device.

Disable Power Saving Mode for Wireless Adapter in Windows

By default, power saving mode is enabled in Windows for most classes of hardware. Windows can automatically turn off devices to save laptop battery power. Try disabling power-saving mode for your wireless network adapter. Your wireless NIC adapter may not resume after waking from sleep mode, possibly due to incorrect firmware or drivers.

1. Open Device Manager (devmgmt.msc,
2. expand the network adapter section and find your Wi-Fi adapter (usually it is in wireless either 802.11 in its name), then open its properties;
3. go to power management tab and uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power, Save the changes by clicking OK.

If your computer/laptop has multiple network adapters including Ethernet NIC (for example, Realtek PCI-E controller), you need to disable power saving mode in their properties as well.

It is also recommended to change the power saving options. Go to Control Panel -> power options , change plan settings , Change advanced power settings , wireless adapter settings , power saving mode -> set maximum performance,

You can change the power saving mode using the command:

• on battery: Maximum Performance: powercfg /SETDCVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 19cbb8fa-5279-450e-9fac-8a3d5fedd0c1 12bbebe6-58d6-4636-95bb-3217ef867c1a 0
• Planted: Maximum Performance: powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 19cbb8fa-5279-450e-9fac-8a3d5fedd0c1 12bbebe6-58d6-4636-95bb-3217ef867c1a 0

Disable and Enable Wi-Fi Adapter in Windows

In some cases, disabling and enabling the Wi-Fi adapter in Device Manager can help solve the problem.

1. Open the Device Manager console;
2. Find your Wi-Fi network card in the Network adapters section;
3. right-click on it and choose disable device,
4. then click again and select enable device,

If Internet connection is restored after re-enabling the wireless NIC, try restarting your Wi-Fi adapter’s network interface using PowerShell. List available network adapters using PowerShell:

Get-NetAdapter

Find the name of your Wi-Fi adapter, and use it in the following command to restart the wireless network interface:

Restart-NetAdapter -Name your_wi-fi_adaptername -Confirm:$false

You can create a text file with *.bat extension and code on desktop:

powershell.exe -noprofile -executionpolicy bypass –Command "Restart-NetAdapter -Name your_wi-fi_adaptername -Confirm:$false"

Now, after waking up from sleep mode, all you have to do is click on your restart-wifi.bat file and run it as administrator. This will restart your wireless network connection.

Restart WLAN AutoConfig Service on Windows

In my case, all the methods discussed above did not help. As it turned out, the problem was related to the WLAN AutoConfig service.

WLAN Auto Config The service is used to manage wireless connections (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) on Windows. It is WlanSvc that is responsible for detecting, connecting and disconnecting wireless networks. Also, it allows to create software access points (hotspots) on Windows. If you stop the service, Windows will not be able to see wireless networks and connect to them.

After waking up from sleep, open the list of services on your computer (Win+R , services.msc) and find “WLAN AutoConfig” in the list. Make sure it is configured to start automatically. Try restarting it. In my case, I could not do this. While trying to start/restart the service, the following message appeared:

Windows could not start the WLAN AutoConfig service on Local Computer.

WlanSvc starts successfully only when the computer is restarted. I found out that the svchost.exe process of WlanSvc hangs after hibernation and sleep. it is C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalSystemNetworkRestricted –p (You can see this path in service properties).

Try ending the process with Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc). Get Service Host: Local Service , WLAN Auto Config In the Processes tab, select Description End the process by clicking More in the context menu final task, You should then be able to start the WlanSvc service from the Services Management Console or by using PowerShell:

Start-Service -Name WlanSvc -PassThru

I wrote a simple powershell script to run as administrator when Windows wakes up from hibernation or sleep. restarts the script WLAN Auto Config Service:

$WLANProc = Get-CimInstance Win32_Process | Where-Object {$_.CommandLine -eq "c:\windows\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalSystemNetworkRestricted -p"}
Stop-Process -Id $WLANProc.ProcessId -Force
Start-Service WlanSvc

You may need to reseat your Wi-Fi adapter:

restart-netadapter -InterfaceDescription 'your_wireless_adapter_name' -Confirm:$false

It is the last method that helped me fix the problem with the loss of Wi-Fi network after waking from sleep on Windows 10.

If your laptop loses Internet (Wi-Fi) connection after sleeping, you can try additional solutions

• Use the network troubleshooter on Windows to fix network adapter/stack issues. run command msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsNetworkAdapter and follow the instructions of the wizard;
• Reset network and TCP/IP stack settings on Windows ( ms-settings:network , network reset , reset now,
• Disable Fast Startup on Windows 10/11: powercfg.cpl , Choose what the power buttons do -> Change settings that are currently unavailabledisable option Turn on fast startup (recommended),
• Open the Local Group Policy Editor console (gpedit.msc) and navigate Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Power Management -> Sleep Settings, Enable the following GPO options:

  Allow network connectivity during connected-standby (plugged in)
  Allow network connectivity during connected-standby (on battery)

  This will allow the laptop to maintain an active network connection even in sleep mode.

• If your computer has both a wireless (Wi-Fi) connection and a wired connection active at the same time, check to see if Wi-Fi is automatically turned off when an Ethernet LAN cable is connected.