If your WiFi drops every few minutes, especially after your screen turns off or the laptop has been idle for a while, the cause is very often power management rather than anything wrong with your router or internet connection.
Fix 1: disable power management for your WiFi adapter (the most common fix)
Windows can switch off your WiFi adapter to save battery, which shows up as the connection dropping seemingly at random — particularly common on laptops:
- Right-click the Start button → Device Manager
- Expand Network adapters
- Right-click your WiFi adapter → Properties
- Go to the Power Management tab
- Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
- Click OK
Also worth setting your power plan to High Performance or Best Performance (Settings → System → Power & battery) if disconnects tend to happen after the PC has been idle.
Fix 2: forget and reconnect to the network
A stale or corrupted saved network profile can cause repeated drops on a specific network:
- Go to Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi → Manage known networks
- Find your network, click it, and select Forget
- Reconnect fresh, entering the password again
Fix 3: update your WiFi adapter driver
Outdated drivers are a very common cause of instability, especially after Windows Update installs a generic driver in place of a manufacturer-specific one:
- Visit your laptop manufacturer's website (or your WiFi adapter manufacturer's site directly, if you know the chipset — commonly Intel or Realtek) and download the latest driver specifically for your model
- Install it and restart
Fix 4: restart the WLAN AutoConfig service
- Press Windows key + R, type
services.msc, press Enter - Find WLAN AutoConfig in the list
- Right-click → Restart
- Try connecting again
Fix 5: network reset (resolves most remaining cases)
If the above doesn't help, a full network reset removes and reinstalls all network adapters and resets networking components to default, clearing any deeper corrupted configuration:
- Go to Settings → Network & internet → Advanced network settings → Network reset
- Confirm — this removes all saved WiFi networks and VPN configurations, so have your WiFi password ready, and your computer will restart
Router-side factors worth checking too
- WiFi channel congestion: for 2.4GHz, channels 1, 6, or 11 avoid overlap with neighboring networks; for 5GHz, most channels don't overlap and tend to be less congested generally.
- Router placement: physical obstructions and distance affect signal quality and stability — try moving closer to the router as a quick test.
If every device loses internet, not just this one computer
If other devices on the same network also lose connection at the same time, and your router's WAN/internet light shows no connection during the drop, the problem is more likely your modem, router, or ISP rather than anything on your computer. Document when the drops happen and contact your ISP with specifics if this is the case.