14 Fixes For “Wi-Fi Doesn't Have A Valid IP Configuration” Error (2023)

Not being able to connect to the internet can be frustrating because, in today’s world, we depend on the internet for almost anything and everything. So, if you attempt to connect to the Internet and receive an error message that says “Wi-Fi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration.”

WiFi lowdowns can ruin your work productivity and set you back. There could be one too many reasons why you are getting the error message – Wifi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration. You generally receive this error while you troubleshoot your internet connection after not being able to connect to the internet.

wi-fi doesn't have a valid IP configuration error

The Windows Troubleshooter will only list down the problem but not provide any solution. Not to worry because we got you covered! This error can be fixed by resetting your TCP/IP protocol or changing the wireless SSID and password. Keep reading to find all the ways to fix the “Wi-Fi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error.

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Causes Behind Wi-Fi Doesn’t Have A Valid IP Configuration Error

Needless to say, you won’t be able to connect your system to the wireless internet if your Wifi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration. Generally, the problem is caused due to driver problems. But there could be many other causes as well. Find them listed below:

TCP/IP stack issues
Faulty network connection
Incorrect Network Settings
Hardware Problems
Network operator issues
Windows network services are being disabled, and so on.

14 Ways To Fix WiFi Doesn’t Have A Valid IP Configuration Error

Uninstalling Wireless Adapter Driver
Change Your Wireless SSID And Password
Set the Channel Width to Auto
Set Your Computer’s IP Address Manually
Remove your Antivirus Software
Change the number of DHCP users
Perform a Clean boot
Make sure that DHCP is turned on
Make sure that the security type matches
Update/ Rollback/Uninstall The Drivers
Restore Windows Firewall to Default Settings
Releasing and Renewing IP Address
Reset TCP/IP Stack
Run Antivirus on Your Windows PC

1. Uninstalling Wireless Adapter Driver

If you have a faulty network driver, you might receive the WiFi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration error. This can be fixed by uninstalling the wireless adapter driver. Then, your Windows 10 OS will try to reinstall it automatically when you start your computer.

Click on the Windows icon in the system tray and type Device Manager in the search box. Click the result that says, Device Manager.

Now, the Device Manager window will open up, look for the option that says “Network adapters.” Expand it and then right-click on the device name of your wireless device.

right click on your wireless network adapter

Click on “Uninstall” from the drop-down menu. Click on “Confirm” to confirm the uninstallation procedure.

click on uninstall to uninstall the network adapter

Now, click on OK and then click on the checkbox next to Delete the driver software for this device to delete it.
Then, click on Action and then on Scan for hardware changes. Restart your system for the changes to take effect.

2. Change Your Wireless SSID And Password

Some users have also reported that the “Wi-Fi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error can be fixed by accessing the wireless modem. Then, change the wireless SSID along with its password. For this, you need to connect the PC to the modem via the Ethernet cable and then access the wireless modem. Once accessed, you will be able to change the wireless SSID and its password.

Press and hold the Windows key + R key to open the Run dialog box.
Type in cmd and press the Enter key
Now, type ipconfig and copy the IP address that comes up under the Default Gateway field.
Open the browser and paste the IP address in your address bar. This will open the login page of your router.
The login password for the router will be placed on the back of the router. Else, you could also try typing in the default password, i.e. admin.
Once you have logged in, go to SSID and password settings and change both.

3. Set The Channel Width To Auto

Press the Windows key + X to choose Network Connections from the menu that comes up.
Find the name of your wireless connection and right-click on it. Then, choose Properties from the menu that comes up.
Click on the configure button and navigate to its Advanced tab
Look for 802.11n Channel Width for the 2.4 band. Then, set it to Auto.
Now, click on OK to save the changes

4. Set Your Computer’s IP Address Manually

Press the Windows key + X and choose the option that says Network Connections.
Right-click on the name of your wireless network and choose the Properties from the dropdown menu.

Click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and select the Properties option.

double click on internet protocol version 4

Now, click on Use the following IP address. You can enter the IP address along with the subnet mask and the default gateway here. In the field for the subnet mask, enter 255.255.0 and then, type in 192.168.1.1 in the field for the Default gateway. You can find these details by entering the command ipconfig in the command prompt.

find the preferred ipv4 address subnet mask and default gateway from ipconfig command

Mark the checkbox beside Use the following DNS server addresses and in the field for Preferred DNS server, type in 8.8.8.8. And in the field for an alternate DNS server, enter 8.8.4.4.

Click on the Validate button > OK > OK. Then, Windows Network Diagnostics will detect problems. Then, you will see the following window:

no problems detected by network diagnostics

Click on “Cancel” if no problems are detected and close the previous window.

5. Remove Your Antivirus Software

It is seen that the antivirus software can often interfere with your wifi network which might lead to the “WiFi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” problem. This is mostly reported to happen in HP and Lenovo laptops. If that is the case, then you can disable or even uninstall the third-party antivirus software on your system to resolve the error. Follow the steps given below to do so:

Navigate to the system tray of your system’s desktop and click on the Show hidden icons button located in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Now, look for the antivirus icon and right-click on it.
Click on Disable from the drop-down menu to disable the antivirus software.

Else, you could also open the antivirus software and look for the disable option. Then, click on it.

If you are comfortable with uninstalling the antivirus software, follow the steps given below:

Press and hold the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
Then, type appwiz.cpl in the field and hit the Enter key.
Look for your antivirus from the list and then hit the Enter key.
Click the Uninstall option and follow the on-screen instructions.

6. Change the number of DHCP users

“Wifi does not have a valid IP configuration” problem can be addressed by increasing the number of users that are using DHCP. Typically, routers have a maximum of 50 DHCP clients. Because there are more than 50 users on the network, this error may occur.

The only method to remedy this problem is to access your router and change the DHCP number for each user. As a possible solution, you may choose to increase the maximum number of wireless users. Consult your router’s instructions if you want to change the number of DHCP clients manually.

7. Perform a Clean boot

When you install or update an application, you may encounter software conflicts that need to be resolved by doing a clean boot. When executing an application in Windows, you may run into problems with software conflicts. Third-party programs and services may be interfering with your WiFi connection, so you should disable them.

A clean boot starts the Windows OS with the least set of drivers and startup programs. To execute a clean boot,

Type in “system configuration” in the Search box and open the app that shows up in the search result. Else, you can type msconfig in the Run dialog box and click OK.

Once the System Configuration window opens up, click on Selective startup to make changes and then unmark the Load startup items.

unmark load startup items in system configuration window

Now, go to the Services tab and mark the checkbox that says Hide all Microsoft services. This hides all Microsoft apps and services.
Click on Disable all button

click on hide all microsoft services and then click on disable all

Now, go to the Startup tab. Click on Open Task Manager, this allows you to manage the startup items via Task Manager.

In the Task Manager window, you will get a list of startup applications. Right-click on every enabled application and then disable it. You can also click on the Disable button located at the bottom-right corner.
Once you have disabled all the startup applications, you can close the Task Manager and click on Apply, and then OK.

Restart your computer to see if the changes have taken effect and if the error has been resolved.

8. Make sure that DHCP is turned on

You might have turned off the DHCP earlier. You can turn it on from your router settings. First, let’s check if the DHCP is turned on or not:

Click on the Windows icon located on the system tray and type in Network connections in the search box.
From the search results, click on the option that says View Network Connections.
Find your network adapter and right-click on it. From the drop-down menu, click on Diagnose.
The scan will begin. Wait for it to finish to know if your router’s DHCP is on or not.

9. Make sure that the security type matches

It is seen that sometimes, the Wifi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration problem that arises due to security type mismatch with the router. You need to ensure that the security type of the PC matches the security type of your router. Here’s how you can do so:

Visit your router settings page and go to the wireless section.
Here, check out the type of security being used. Then, make sure that your wireless adapter uses the same type of security.

10. Update/ Rollback/Uninstall The Drivers

If the “Wifi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error comes up just after updating the drivers, that means the driver updates might have triggered something in the system.

Not to worry, because you can roll back them to a previous point in time when the error was not there.

However, if you are getting the error time and again, it might be because you haven’t updated your drivers for a long time.

Press and hold the Windows key + R that opens the Run dialog box
Type in devmgmt.msc or hdwwiz.cpl and then press the Enter key
Look for your Network Adapter. Double click on it to open it.
Locate the Network Card and then, double-click on it.
Visit the Driver tab and click on Update Driver.
Now, click on Search automatically which looks for updated driver software. Follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the drivers.

11. Restore Windows Firewall to Default Settings

Press and hold the Windows key + R to open the Run command.
Type in “firewall.cpl” and press the Enter button
Click on Restore Firewalls to Default. In the Restore Default Settings window, click on the Restore Defaults option.

If you are asked for permission, click on Yes.

give permission to restore firewalls to default

12. Releasing and Renewing IP Address

Press the Windows key and in the search box type “cmd.” You could also search for Powershell to type in “cmd” in there.
Right-click on the command prompt and click on Run as administrator.
Now, type in the following commands, and after each command hit the Enter key:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
exit

Check your wifi connection now.

13. Reset TCP/IP Stack

Press the Windows key and go to your search box.
Type in cmd or search Powershell and then type in cmd in there
Now, right-click on the command prompt option.
Then, click on Run as administrator
Type netsh winsock reset catalog and press the Enter key. This resets your Winsock entries.
Then, type the following commands and press the Enter button after each of them.

netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log
netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

The above two commands will rewrite registry keys that are used by the TCP/IP. Then, restart your system to check if the error has been resolved or not.

14. Run Antivirus on Your Windows PC

The “Wifi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error can also show up if your system is under a virus attack. To tackle this with antivirus software, follow the steps given below:

Download and install a good antivirus program.
Launch the antivirus software and then, click on Scan.
Allow it to scan your system and the antivirus will notify you if any virus or other malware is found.
If a virus is found, you’ll be asked to heal or clean your PC. Allow the cleaning procedure and wait for it to finish.
Once done, restart the system and connect to the WiFi again to check if the error has been resolved.

Wrapping Up

You can easily resolve the “WiFi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error. It surely is very annoying but if you follow the above-mentioned guide, then you’ll get it fixed in no time. If the wi-fi error persists, then you’ll have to call in an expert or a technician who can fix the router and check your system as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I fix the “Wifi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error?

Uninstalling and reinstalling the adapter driver, changing the wifi SSID and password, and so on can resolve the “Wifi doesn’t have a proper IP configuration” problem. Resetting the TCP/IP stack and manually setting your IP address are two more options. To learn more about these techniques, see the aforementioned article.

How do I give my WIFI a valid IP configuration?

Releasing and renewing your Internet Protocol (IP) address and manually adjusting the IP address are two options that you may attempt in order to have a working WiFi configuration. In order to repair this mistake, there are many remedies that you may attempt one at a time as outlined in this article.

How do I reset my WiFi IP?

Go to Network Connections > Right-click your network’s name > Properties > Internet Protocol Version 4 > Properties > Fill up the fields under “Use the following IP address.” Check out the section “Set Your Computer’s IP Address Manually” in the above article to get a better understanding and a detailed overview of the topic.

Why does my WiFi say no IP address?

There are a number of probable explanations for the “No IP address” error on your Wifi, including problems with the IP, DNS, proxy, or Ethernet. Alternatively, it is conceivable that your system’s automatically-detected location does not accurately reflect your current position. Remove the previously saved WiFi networks, connect to another WiFi network, and move locations may help cure this problem, which is more common on Macs.