# Unwittingly Uninstalled Wifi



## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

While removing some uneeded items on my Windows 10 PC I uninstalled my Wifi forgetting I need that to print. My computer is connected to my router by ethernet. How do I reinstall wifi? Thank you.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Do you have the drivers for wifi handy, if not then you should find them on your PC makers support pages for your model.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

How do I know if I have the drivers handy?


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

You most likely don't if you don't already know, but you have not given any info on your PC so I don't know if you have a desktop PC or laptop but they may have come with a disc with the drivers on it, if not then go to either the Laptop makers support page for your model or the motherboard makers. This can help you find more info on your pc https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy and post a snap shot here https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/speccy/using-speccy/publishing-a-speccy-profile-to-the-web


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

I have Dell desktop PC. I went to 'This PC', then uninstalled the wifi from the list of all items that show up. I forgot about my printer that needs wifi for me to print.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Follow the instructions here https://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1/?app=drivers


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## steve32mids (Jun 27, 2012)

If you are needing to print yo can use a usb printer cable, I have wifi printer after the first setup was okay now the printer take ages to connect to wifi, so I found it much easier to use the cable to print.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Press the *Windows* Key*+X *and choose _Device Manager_. Here, are there any devices with Yellow flags? If so, they need drivers installed. 
What is the Make and Model # of your Dell Computer?
As mentioned go to the Dell site https://www.dell.com/support/home/uk...1/?app=drivers and type in your _Service Tag_ # or browse for your Make and Model # here choose the Wifi adapter driver and and any other drivers you may need from the Device Manager Download and install it


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

joeten said:


> Follow the instructions here https://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukbsdt1/?app=drivers


I opened the link and downloaded Blue Tooth/Wifi applications. Now Bluetooth shows up (not used) but still no Wifi symbol in the little menu that pops up when I click the carat that shows what's available such as Blue Tooth, Intel Graphics, etc.

When I go to This PC and click on uninstall or change a program, Wifi now shows up along with Blue Tooth. That's where I uninstalled both.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

spunk.funk said:


> Press the *Windows* Key*+X *and choose _Device Manager_. Here, are there any devices with Yellow flags? If so, they need drivers installed.
> What is the Make and Model # of your Dell Computer?
> As mentioned go to the Dell site https://www.dell.com/support/home/uk...1/?app=drivers and type in your _Service Tag_ # or browse for your Make and Model # here choose the Wifi adapter driver and and any other drivers you may need from the Device Manager Download and install it


I saw no yellow flags when this was done.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Try the info here https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/10741/windows-fix-network-connection-issues and also look at the related topics.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

What is the Make and Model # of your Dell Computer?
All it says is Inspiron on the side. A tag says Intel inside. Another tag says JSD2 and the service tag is DZL5V12.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Why are you posting this now you have installed the driver already, please read through the info from my last post on how to set up and troubleshoot your issue. You may find that in order to have the wifi show up you will need to remove the ethernet cable.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

joeten said:


> Why are you posting this now you have installed the driver already, please read through the info from my last post on how to set up and troubleshoot your issue. You may find that in order to have the wifi show up you will need to remove the ethernet cable.


It has always shown up with the ethernet cable attached. It had worked properly for quite a number of years with E cable plugged in to back of PC. The only differences are that I uninstalled Bluetooth and Wifi and Microsoft installed updates that took quite some time to finish the installation.

I know the Wifi is working properly because wife's laptop uses it.

When I try to print something a window pops up entitled 'Save print Output As'. This never happened before.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Ok so we have established the wifi is there, the problem now is the lost connection to the printer, so try uninstalling the printer software and drivers then follow the process for reinstalling them.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

lacoppari said:


> When I try to print something a window pops up entitled 'Save print Output As'. This never happened before.


This happens when you have selected to *Print to file*. You may have accidentally ticked that option. It appears in the print dialog where you get to choose the target printer and set desired options. Untick that option and apply the changes before sending the print command.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

Stancestans said:


> This happens when you have selected to *Print to file*. You may have accidentally ticked that option. It appears in the print dialog where you get to choose the target printer and set desired options. Untick that option and apply the changes before sending the print command.


The option of print to file is not checked, yet it still asks me for a name. I also get another popup saying 'printing file.dat on Deskjet 2600 series on FILE'. Beneath that is a click box with word CANCEL inside. Never used to get any of this when it worked.


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## britechguy (Dec 6, 2019)

Screen shots of what you're doing, from first step to the message box, would be helpful.

Everything you describe is standard issue for "print to file."


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

lacoppari said:


> The option of print to file is not checked, yet it still asks me for a name. I also get another popup saying 'printing file.dat on Deskjet 2600 series on FILE'. Beneath that is a click box with word CANCEL inside. Never used to get any of this when it worked.


To make sure we're on the same page, is wifi connectivity restored and working as it should? This was the original problem and you haven't yet given feedback about it!


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

Stancestans said:


> To make sure we're on the same page, is wifi connectivity restored and working as it should? This was the original problem and you haven't yet given feedback about it!


Wifi works from wife's laptop that is in another room. I do not use Wifi on this PC unless I am trying to print something because printer is in another room. My connection with internet is ethernet so I am hardwired.

So to be perfectly frank, I do not know if Wifi is working as it should other than it works properly from wife's laptop. She can print from her laptop, and she is not hardwired to the printer. She uses Wifi to print as well as to get to internet.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

britechguy said:


> Screen shots of what you're doing, from first step to the message box, would be helpful.
> 
> Everything you describe is standard issue for "print to file."


Having trouble with Screenshot. To print a data file, I open the file, then go to 'file' in upper left hand corner and choose 'Quickprint'.

For other things like a pdf file there is a little printer icon that I would click on. Same result with it. No printing, just asks me for a name.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

https://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f195/how-to-post-a-screenshot-972361.html#post6153665


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

lacoppari said:


> Having trouble with Screenshot. To print a data file, I open the file, then go to 'file' in upper left hand corner and choose 'Quickprint'.
> 
> For other things like a pdf file there is a little printer icon that I would click on. Same result with it. No printing, just asks me for a name.


Printing to PDF requires you to specify a filename and location where the PDF file will be saved. This is normal behaviour for most pdf printers. If you're using the Microsoft Print to PDF printer, which is built into Windows 10, then you should expect this dialog every time you use it to print a file. Windows 10 by default automatically manages which printer it sets as the default, unless you manually specify a default one. Since your PC has lost connectivity to the printer, then Windows may have automatically switched to the inbuilt PDF printer as the default one. If you don't select a target printer in the print dialog, the default one will be used as the target.

Before you attempt to print to the wireless printer, make sure it is in fact ON and CONNECTED to your wifi network. Your PC doesn't have to be connected to the same wifi network to print wirelessly. As long as your PC is connected to the same local network (wired/wirelessly) as the printer, you're good to go. Go to https://support.hp.com/us-en/produc...ne-printer-series/12319824/document/c04608548 and keenly follow the procedure to connect/reconnect the printer to your wifi network (Step 1) and to reconfigure it on your PC (Step 2). You may have to uninstall and reinstall the printer driver/software on your PC to re-establish the connection and to print to it. Ask if you get stuck following the steps in that HP link.

In post #4 Joeten instructed you to post a snapshot of your system using Speccy. He kindly gave a link with the procedure on how to do it. I would like to see that snapshot in your next reply.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

Here is what I get every time I try to print.

"Printing to PDF requires you to specify a filename and location where the PDF file will be saved." I don't recall having been asked that before. Maybe it came along with the latest update from MS. Had not tried printing until I uninstalled BT and Wifi.

"Before you attempt to print to the wireless printer, make sure it is in fact ON and CONNECTED to your wifi network." It works from wife's laptop so it is in fact ON and CONNECTED. 

No one has answered my question why doesn't the wifi show up when I click on the arrow that shows hidden icons. That tells me my computer is not sensing wifi. When I reinstalled Bluetooth and supposedly wifi from Dell, the Bluetooth icon appeared but the wifi icon never did.


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## britechguy (Dec 6, 2019)

*Using Piriform’s Speccy to Collect Your Computer’s Hardware & Software Specifications*

1. Go to the Piriform Speccy Download Page and download the program.

2. Run the installer you’ve just downloaded.

a. Note: *The Speccy free installer may now come with Avast and the Google Chrome browser bundled with it (or something else, what’s bundled has changed over time). Make sure that you UNCHECK the options to install any bundled software when you see the checkboxes during the Speccy install sequence.* When you reach the end, uncheck the _View Release Notes_ checkbox, then activate the _Run Speccy_ button.
You will then be presented the Speccy Main Window:









3. From the File Menu, activate the “Publish Snapshot” item [or press ALT+F,B]:









4. You will now be presented with the Publish Snapshot Dialog:








You will, of course, activate the _Yes_ button.

5. Finally, you will be presented with the Snapshot URL Dialog:








on which you will activate the _Copy to Clipboard_ button so that you will have the snapshot web address to paste into your message.

*Note:* If you want to save your system specs to a text file, at step 3 choose the Save as Text File option at step 3. This can be handy if you need to e-mail your specs.


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## britechguy (Dec 6, 2019)

lacoppari said:


> No one has answered my question why doesn't the wifi show up when I click on the arrow that shows hidden icons. That tells me my computer is not sensing wifi. When I reinstalled Bluetooth and supposedly wifi from Dell, the Bluetooth icon appeared but the wifi icon never did.


You do not seem to realize, at all, that getting assistance is a TWO-WAY Street.

If you will not, and have not, supplied the information that potential assistants have asked for then you really should not expect said assistance. People ask for the information they need in order to provide ACCURATE assistance.

You just insist on talking past every potential helper, and that's on you.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

lacoppari said:


> No one has answered my question why doesn't the wifi show up when I click on the arrow that shows hidden icons. That tells me my computer is not sensing wifi. When I reinstalled Bluetooth and supposedly wifi from Dell, the Bluetooth icon appeared but the wifi icon never did.


What britechguy said, plus, the bluetooth driver package that you downloaded and installed may NOT contain the driver for your WiFi adapter. The wifi driver package is possibly a separate download, which you should get from the Dell site the same way you did the Bluetooth package and install it. We need to have a look at the device manager to see the status of the WiFi adapter. You may also have accidentally turned off the WiFi radio, so the driver may be in place as needed, but the radio is off, so no detection of any wireless networks. We have absolutely no idea what else may have accidentally happened. Open Device Manager, expand the network adapters section and post a screenshot of it so that we see what you see. Also, a screenshot of the print dialog, before you click the print button, will tell us more than you can describe in words.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

Specifically, if you can, advise me as to what information I have failed to supply.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

lacoppari said:


> Specifically, if you can, advise me as to what information I have failed to supply.


Speccy snapshot as advised in post #4, #24 and in my earlier response just a while ago. Don't forget those screenshots on my last reply.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

The driver is a wifi and bluetooth from 2016 found here https://www.dell.com/support/home/u...g/0-Y1N2SHlWalg3eFpDWnVROEIzQllwQT090/drivers since the op has no flags in device manager the driver should be installed.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

> No one has answered my question why doesn't the wifi show up when I click on the arrow that shows hidden icons


Press the *Windows* key*+R* in the Run Box type* ncpa.cpl* and press Enter. Here In the_ Network Connections_ is there a WiFi icon? If so, right click it and choose *Connect* a list of available Network Wifi connections will populate, choose your Network.
If there is _No_ Wifi icon here, and no Yellow flags in Device Manager, then your WiFi card or adapter is unplugged, or you never had WiFi to begin with.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

My wife got the printer's attention so my desk PC now activates it. She is not sure what she did but the printer now pays attention to my PC. When I do the Windows key +R and enter, there is a WiFi icon and it is connected with a full signal quality shown in the WiFi status. She can print from her laptop.


The problem that I still have with MY computer is that when I have it print something, the printer activates and the head goes back and forth but does not squirt any ink. But at least now I can activate it whereas before it totally ignored me.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

You need to put a new printer on your computer (leave the old one for now). You can try the current extraction from Dell, but my guess from having worked on similar problems is your printer won't work with the new drivers. You need to choose the add printer feature from Devices and Printers and then when finding your printer use the "Use TCP/IP address or Host Name. If you don't know the printer's IP address, just print a test page using your wife's computer and all the info to fill in the Host Name and Computer name is there. What you said concerning activation etc. is really a sign the drivers installed on your unit are wrong.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

Corday said:


> You need to put a new printer on your computer (leave the old one for now). You can try the current extraction from Dell, but my guess from having worked on similar problems is your printer won't work with the new drivers. You need to choose the add printer feature from Devices and Printers and then when finding your printer use the "Use TCP/IP address or Host Name. If you don't know the printer's IP address, just print a test page using your wife's computer and all the info to fill in the Host Name and Computer name is there. What you said concerning activation etc. is really a sign the drivers installed on your unit are wrong.


Thanks, I'll give it a try.


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## jdsmort (Jul 29, 2008)

I cannot understand why everyone is trying to get the wifi drivers restored to a PC that uses an ethernet connection, presumably to a Wifi router, which has working wifi..... The printer is connected to a Network via wifi... to the Wifi router... so the drivers on the pc are irrelevant. The problem seems NOT to be wifi, but seeing the printer on the network


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Try this: https://www.techbout.com/add-wireless-network-printer-in-windows-10-12868/


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

jdsmort said:


> I cannot understand why everyone is trying to get the wifi drivers restored to a PC that uses an ethernet connection, presumably to a Wifi router, which has working wifi..... The printer is connected to a Network via wifi... to the Wifi router... so the drivers on the pc are irrelevant. The problem seems NOT to be wifi, but seeing the printer on the network


Look at the thread title, it pretty much says it all, but if you still don't understand, it is the original problem for which this thread was started. The printer issue just came up later along the way. We don't avoid fixing a fixable problem just because there's a workaround to it. The ethernet connection could fail (bad cable, for example) and having WiFi as backup would be great.


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## jdsmort (Jul 29, 2008)

Stancestans said:


> Look at the thread title, it pretty much says it all, but if you still don't understand, it is the original problem for which this thread was started. The printer issue just came up later along the way. We don't avoid fixing a fixable problem just because there's a workaround to it. The ethernet connection could fail (bad cable, for example) and having WiFi as backup would be great.


Quote OP Post....
"While removing some uneeded items on my Windows 10 PC I uninstalled my Wifi forgetting I need that to print."

If it is connected by ethernet as stated next
"My computer is connected to my router by ethernet."
then surely even you realise that the wireless connection for the computer was actually NOT needed??? 

I DID read the original post, and also a later post where the OP stated connection to the printer had resumed.....

I looked at the whole, and still state the same..


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

jdsmort said:


> Quote OP Post....
> "While removing some uneeded items on my Windows 10 PC I uninstalled my Wifi forgetting I need that to print."
> 
> If it is connected by ethernet as stated next
> ...


OP's printer supports connectivity via wifi direct. If that is how it was setup originally, then the local network connection doesn't apply, so the ethernet connection wouldn't work. The fact that connectivity to the printer was lost after uninstalling wifi strongly suggests the printer was setup for WiFi direct connectivity instead of connecting it to the local network. If the printer was connected to the local network, then uninstalling WiFi would have had no consequence because the ethernet connection was in use.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

Nothing has worked. I'm buying another printer that is attached to my computer by wires.


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## britechguy (Dec 6, 2019)

lacoppari said:


> Nothing has worked. I'm buying another printer that is attached to my computer by wires.


Have you tried attaching your existing one by wire? That would make more sense to try first, if you haven't already.

All it takes is the correct USB-A to USB-B cable for any printer I've ever dealt with. WiFi capability does not have to be used. I'm sitting next to a printer that one computer connects to via USB and another by WiFi because they use separate networks. But the wired USB connection doesn't involve any network.


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## lacoppari (Apr 5, 2006)

My PC is in a desk with several plugins so it's too much trouble to take out and try. If I must print something now on that printer I can transfer it to my wife's laptop, then print it from there. For convenience I'll buy another printer and connect by USB here at my desk.

This thread should be closed.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

lacoppari said:


> My PC is in a desk with several plugins so it's too much trouble to take out and try. If I must print something now on that printer I can transfer it to my wife's laptop, then print it from there. For convenience I'll buy another printer and connect by USB here at my desk.
> 
> This thread should be closed.


You can mark this thread as solved by clicking on Thread Tools above these replies. You'll see that option there.


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