Wireless icon gone

I am having an issue with my win 7 system. I no longer get the wireless icon. I can still connect to all wireless networks just like before but my icon is the standard lan icon. I can no longer right click on the wireless network and select status. It's there but nothing happens. What happened to my wireless icon?

I've already uninstalled and reinstalled all network devices/drivers and downloaded new drivers.

Can someone help me?

As I am sure you know, the icon is supposed to represent whichever type of Network Adapter you are using. If it is showing the wired version, have you checked your network adapters and made sure the Wireless one was enabled?

You might try disabling the wired adapter and then disabling and re-enabling the wireless one.

If you still can't get it to work, perhaps a third party utility is related, or possibly some type of system corruption.

So make sure you have run the anti-virus scans, and open an Administrative command prompt, and use the SFC /scannow command to check your system files. If it reports any errors, let us know.

Well weird thing is there is no wireless adapter shown under network connections. All i have is a bluetooth one that i have disabled. There is no built in ethernet either. I can go to the device manger and it shows a broadcom wireless adapter and everything is fine. I ran system file scan and it come back fine. No viruses or third party utilities either.

Originally Posted by Saltgrass

As I am sure you know, the icon is supposed to represent whichever type of Network Adapter you are using. If it is showing the wired version, have you checked your network adapters and made sure the Wireless one was enabled?

You might try disabling the wired adapter and then disabling and re-enabling the wireless one.

If you still can't get it to work, perhaps a third party utility is related, or possibly some type of system corruption.

So make sure you have run the anti-virus scans, and open an Administrative command prompt, and use the SFC /scannow command to check your system files. If it reports any errors, let us know.

I really wouldn't mind but i manage a lot of wireless networks at my job and really need to get to the properties of the wireless adapter. I usually right click the wireless network, go to status, then properties. This doesn't come up any more since the icon changed. I'm confused i've tried everything and i hate to re install just because of this.

It is strange that you seem to have network connectivity, without any network adapters showing in the Network Connections (ncpa.cpl) panel.

Have you turned off any startup programs, or edited the registry lately?

What does the Network and Sharing Center show for a type of network. If it is a wireless one, there should be an option to manage wireless networks in the upper left of the window.

All I can suggest you do, is uninstall the wireless adapter from Device Management. When you do, also remove all drivers for it. Hopefully Windows will find it again, or you can load your driver.

Edit: There is a service responsible for the wireless configuration. You might check to see if it is running. Open the Services.msc panel and see if the WLAN AutoConfig (WLANSVC) service is running.

Nothing in the startup that is disabled relates to wireless networking (or networking in general)

I have the option to view and manage wireless networks.

I have already uninstalled reinstalled. even downloaded the drivers from the site with no luck.

That service was not running but I enabled in and set it to automatic. Still the same issue.

It's crazy bc it is working just fine. just the wrong icon and cannot get to the wireless adapters properties. And its missing under network adapters (when clicking change adapter settings, but it IS in the device manager)

This is driving me nuts!!

Originally Posted by Saltgrass

It is strange that you seem to have network connectivity, without any network adapters showing in the Network Connections (ncpa.cpl) panel.

Have you turned off any startup programs, or edited the registry lately?

What does the Network and Sharing Center show for a type of network. If it is a wireless one, there should be an option to manage wireless networks in the upper left of the window.

All I can suggest you do, is uninstall the wireless adapter from Device Management. When you do, also remove all drivers for it. Hopefully Windows will find it again, or you can load your driver.

Edit: There is a service responsible for the wireless configuration. You might check to see if it is running. Open the Services.msc panel and see if the WLAN AutoConfig (WLANSVC) service is running.

Have you tried opening the panel from the "Run" dialog? As Saltgrass suggested hit Start -> Run -> ncpa.cpl
Does anything open?

This opens the Network Connections Window. Only thing in there is a bluetooth connection that i have disabled.

Originally Posted by alberto

Have you tried opening the panel from the "Run" dialog? As Saltgrass suggested hit Start -> Run -> ncpa.cpl
Does anything open?

Uhm... How about an ipconfig /all from the command prompt? Does that give you anything on your wifi connection?
What kind of wifi card are you using?

ipconfig does give me the address, gateway, etc for the wireless connection. I'm using a Broadcom wireless adapter. This is in a Macbook Air that I'm using bootcamp with. Everything worked fine a week or so ago then i noticed this issue.

Originally Posted by alberto

Uhm... How about an ipconfig /all from the command prompt? Does that give you anything on your wifi connection?
What kind of wifi card are you using?