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How to Fix “WiFi Doesn’t Have a Valid IP Configuration” in Windows

Have you been getting this error? It is typically shown when you can’t connect to the internet on your Windows PC, and you run the automatic troubleshooter.

I know how frustrated it can be when you need to access the internet, sometimes Windows wants to play with you with weird errors. Don’t worry, we have you covered with some solution to this error.

Here’s how to fix WiFi Doesn’t Have a Valid IP Configuration

If you do get this type of error message, it is because your Windows PC isn’t assigning an IP address to your router automatically. This might be because another program or service is blocking this assignment, or because you have been messing around with the wrong settings on your computer.

There are a number of different ways to solve this issue.

Check If You Have Bonjour On Your Computer

  1. Go to your Start Menu
  2. Navigate to Control Panel

You can also open “My Computer” from the desktop and select “Control Panel” from the menu bar on the top of the window.

  1. Open the Windows Firewall menu
  2. Select Allow A Program Or Feature
  3. Remove “Bonjour”
  4. Restart your computer

If you don’t have the option to remove Bonjour, don’t fret. There are other solutions below:

Renew Your Computer’s IP Address

  1. Press the Windows key (Flag key) and X, and select “Command Prompt (admin)” from the menu that pops up.
  2. Type in ipconfig/release and Press Enter
  3. Type ipconfig/renew and press Enter
  4. Type Exit Press Enter

This effectively flushes all the older IP configuration settings from your PC and renews it to default settings.

Change Your Band To Automatic

  1. Right click on the wireless network icon on your taskbar
  2. Open the Network And Sharing Center
  3. Left click on the WiFi network giving you problems
  4. Click on Properties > Configure
  5. Right click on the value “802.11n” channel with bandwidth 2.4GHz
  6. Right click on Value
  7. Change the value to Automatic
  8. Click on OK

Manually Assign An IP Address

  1. Navigate to the Control Panel through the Start menu or My Computer
  2. Open the Network And Sharing Center
  3. Open your WiFi connection by clicking on it
  4. Click on Properties
  5. Click IPv4 or Internet Protocol Version 4 and click on Properties
  6. Set the IP Address field to 192.168.1.x where x is any number you want
  7. Set the Subnet Mask field to 255.255.255.0
  8. Set the IP Gateway field to 192.168.1.1
  9. Choose DNS Servers as Open DNS (208.67.222.222 and 67.220.220)

Make sure you follow these precisely and don’t mess around with any other settings unless you know what you are doing.

Reset Your Network Configurations And Registry

  1. Hit the Windows+X keys, and open a Command Prompt (admin)
  2. Type the following

netsh winsock reset catalog

Hit enter

netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

Hit enter

netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

Hit enter

  1. Restart your computer

Disable Your IP Helper Service

  1. Hold the Windows key down and press R.
  2. Type in msc and press Enter
  3. Scroll down the list of services till you find IP Helper Service
  4. Right click on this and select Properties
  5. Look for a dropdown box that says either Automatic or Manual
  6. Change the value to Disabled
  7. Click on Apply
  8. Click on Stop so you don’t have to restart your PC
  9. Click Ok

Don’t panic and make sure you try every single solution before you do something drastic like a hard reset of your Windows.

Some solutions may only work for specific users, but it is almost a guarantee that one of them will work for you. This isn’t a major problem, and it is quite easy to fix.

Note: Never tweak your network configurations without experience in Network Engineering or a similar field.

Good luck, and happy browsing! If you have additional solutions that worked for you, be sure to tell us all about it.

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