What to do if the Wi-Fi icon disappears from the taskbar

There are times when this network icon disappears, sometimes completely and sometimes an ethernet icon is displayed instead, an error that can lead to confusion. That is why if the Wi-Fi icon disappears and the ethernet icon is shown instead, we will see different ways we have to solve it.

Why does the Wi-Fi icon disappear?

By default, the Wi-Fi icon always appears in the system tray , which makes it easy for us to check the status of our Internet connection. It is even possible to press this icon to access other network settings.

If we are using Windows 10 or Windows 11 and we cannot see the Wi-Fi icon on our desktop taskbar even when we have a good Internet connection, we should know that we are not alone. This specific fact can appear on certain occasions without an apparent cause or any error message that helps us detect the problem.

The causes for this can be several, from the fact that we have inadvertently hidden it or that there are problems with its drivers , through File Explorer errors . Since there is no fixed reason, we must try different alternatives that help us solve it.

How to fix this Windows error

Next, we are going to see different actions that we can carry out various options to recover the Wi-Fi icon in the system bar. These measurements are valid in both Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Restart File Explorer

First of all, we can try to restart the Windows File Explorer, since this action is capable of solving different problems related to the taskbar of the operating system on many occasions. To do this we must access the Task Manager, for which we press the key combination “Ctrl + Alt + Del”.

Once we have accessed, click on the Processes tab and right-click on the “Windows Explorer” entry. From the context menu we click on “Restart” .

Turn Wi-Fi off and on

Another action that we can try to solve the problem is to turn off and then turn on the Wi-Fi connection of the operating system again. To do this we access the Configuration menu by pressing the keyboard shortcut “Windows + I”. Later we access the “Network and Internet” and “Wi-Fi” section.

Here, we turn off wireless by moving the slider to the off position . We wait a few seconds and turn it on again and check if this fixes the problem and the icon reappears again.

Reactivate the icon in the Taskbar

Another possible solution to this annoying problem is to add its icon again, something we can do from the “Settings” section of Windows 10. From here, click on the “Personalization” and “Taskbar” option. Once here, in the “Notification area” section, we click on the option “Select the icons that will appear on the taskbar” and then disable the one corresponding to the system network. We keep it off for a few seconds and then turn it on again.

In addition, this same access can be of great help to us in the event that, suddenly, the network icon we are referring to disappears from the taskbar, just as it can happen with any other that we usually see in this section.

Check that it is not hidden

Another possible alternative that we can make use of if we encounter this problem in which the Wi-Fi network icon disappears is that it is hidden in the drop-down list within the taskbar itself. This list is represented by an arrow pointing to the at sign where we can find several icons that we can drag to the mentioned bar so that they are always visible and accessible.

Reboot or reinstall network drivers

This issue can also be caused by faulty network drivers. In this case we can try to restart or reinstall them to solve it.

To restart the network drivers we must access the Device Manager by pressing the keyboard shortcut “Windows + X”. Later we double click on “Network Adapters” and expand it. We right click on our network adapter and select “Disable device”. Next, we right-click on the network controller again, this time selecting “Enable Device” . Once this is done, we restart the PC and check if this solves the problem.

In case the problem persists, we try to reinstall the drivers. To do this, we go back to the Network Adapters section, right-click on the network adapter of our PC and select “Uninstall device” . Next, we click on the “Action” tab and click on “Scan for hardware changes”. Lastly, we restart the system and this should fix the problem.

Restore the Wi-Fi icon from the Policy Editor

Policy Editor is a tool that we can find in the Pro, Enterprise and Ultimate versions of Windows 10 as well as in Windows 11, which we can also use to recover the missing Wi-Fi icon.

To do this, we press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + R”, which will launch the “Run” command. Here we write gpedit.msc and press Enter or the OK button. Later we access the “User configuration” and “Administrative templates” section.

Now in the right side menu we double click on the “Start Menu and taskbar” folder. In the list we look for the option “Remove network connections from the Start menu” . We double click on it and a new window will appear where we must check the “Disabled” or “Not configured” box. Click on Apply and Accept to save the changes and restart the PC.

Use the network adapter troubleshooter

If we continue with the problem, we can try to use another tool integrated into Windows to solve problems related to the operating system. For this we can choose to try the Network Adapter Troubleshooter, so that we can recover the missing Wi-Fi icon.

In Windows 10 we press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + I” to access the “Settings” menu, then we click on “Update and Security” and “Troubleshoot”. Next, in the right panel we select “Additional troubleshooters” . In the right panel we click on the “Network adapter” section and “Run the troubleshooter”.

In Windows 11 we access the “Settings” menu by pressing “Windows + I”. Then click on “System”, then on “Troubleshoot” and “Other troubleshooters”. Here we find the “Network adapter” section. Click on “Run” and follow the steps of the wizard.