How to Fix Red X/Red Cross on WiFi Icon in Windows 10

Jun. 24, 2022 / Updated by Daphne to Windows 10

How to fix a red X or red cross on WiFi icon in Windows 10? Many users complained that when turning on the PC, they were showing a “Red X”or a star over the network connection icon as if it was disconnected. Some also have the red X WiFi icon or icon with a star turning into a rectangular image of a monitor after installing some programs on the device. This issue makes the Mircosoft Edge not available, or result in the Google Chrome browser not working.

Top 5 Methods to Fix Red Cross on WiFi Icon in Windows 10

If you could not stand with such red X or white star icon any more, go to the workarounds below to fix the no WiFi problem on your Windows 10 computer right now.

Method 1: Check Settings Related to WiFi/Network Connection

Step 1. Make sure you’ve turn on the button of wireless which is often on the side of the laptop or notebook. Also, use the FN + (F1-F12) function keys to turn on the WiFi.

Step 2. Click on the WiFi icon on the notification area to see if the WiFi is highlighted.

Step 3. Clear all the old wireless networks:

1) Use Windows shortcut keysWin + I to launch Settings, and then choose Network & Internet.

2) Choose the WiFi tab and then scroll down to find Manage known networks. Click it.

3) You will see a list of old wireless networks. Choose each and click on the Forget button to delete all of them.

forget-wireless-networks-and-fix-red-cross-wifi-icon.png

Step 4. Go to the Network Connections and make sure your wireless adapter is enabled by right clicking and selecting enable.

Step 5. Make sure your WiFi router is working properly.

Step 6. Make sure there’s no network problem with your local area network.

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Method 2: Diagnose and Troubleshoot Red Cross on WiFi Icon via Windows 10

If there's no problem in the checking in Method 1, make Windows 10 detect, diagnose and troubleshoot the red X on WiFi icon issue automatically by the steps below.

Step 1. Right click on the network icon in the notification area and select Open Network and Sharing Center.

Step 2. Click the link Change adapter settings on the left-side pane.

Step 3. When the new box pops up, right click on the WLAN icon and select Diagnose.

diagnose-red-cross-wifi-icon.png

When diagnosing is completed, you can follow the on-screen instruction to fix the red x wireless icon issue. Besides, you can also select Troubleshoot problems when applying the right click on the network icon.

Read More:

Method 3: Reinstall Wireless Network Driver

To fix the no network connection caused by the red cross mark on WiFi icon, you can also have a look at the wireless driver on your computer. Usually, outdated, corrupted or incorrectly configured WiFi driver is the troublemaker of the red X problem. Besides, network issues such as 802.11n WLAN/WiFi adapter not working, “WiFi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration", Windows 10 unidentified network, Weak WiFi signal etc. are the result of the faulty network driver.

You can go to the Device Manger and uninstall the wireless driver manually, or use Driver Talent to uninstall and then reinstall the WiFi driver in a quick one click.

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Click on the button above to get it and fix the red X issue instantly by the steps:

Step 1. Launch Driver Talent and select Uninstall Drivers on the left-side pane. Choose the wireless adapter and click on the Uninstall button to remove the driver.

Step 2. Get to Driver Status. Locate the network adapter and select the driver version you like. Then click on the Download button. Driver Talent will download and reinstall the driver for you.

Step 3. Restart the computer to make the newly installed network driver take effect.

Note: It is better for you to back up drivers before any driver changes in case crashes occur.

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Method 4: Enable Services Related to WiFi

Sometimes, it is possible that some Windows services related to wireless network have been disabled. This will result in the red cross network or red X WiFi icon. So follow the steps below to enable the services.

Step 1. Open the Windows Services on your Windows 10. Navigate to the 5 network services listed below:

  1. Network Connections

  2. Network List Service

  3. Network Location Awareness

  4. Network Store Interface Service

  5. WLAN AutoConfig

  6. Step 2. Double-click on each and select the General tab.

    Step 3. Click on the Start button under the Service status if the services are disabled. Also, select Automatic from the drop down menu of the Startup type.

enable-network-service-and-fix-red-x-wifi-icon.png

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Method 5: Use System Restore to Fix "Red X" WiFi Icon Problem

If all of the methods above do not work, instead of the most frustrated system reinstall, restoring the system is your last choice to resolve the red cross on network icon issue. For more information about this, see How to Use System Restore to Fix Windows 10 Issues.

Hope at least some of these workarounds were helpful for you to fix the red X or red cross WiFi icon problem in Windows 10. If you still fail to fix the WiFi icon problem on your Windows 10 computer, don't be hesitate to leave comments below. If you have any other Windows 10-related issues, you can check the Windows 10 section on this site. That’s it for now. Thanks for visiting.

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