You have a new PC in front of you that you never connected to the internet. Then you have a question like ‘Does my PC have Wi-Fi?’ Well, it is an obvious thing to find whether your PC or motherboard has built-in Wi-Fi or not.
Here the PC and the motherboard are not different because every PC must have a motherboard in it. If a motherboard has built-in Wi-Fi, we can say ‘The motherboard has built-in Wi-Fi’ and ‘The PC came with the built-in Wi-Fi feature.’
Now the question is, how to find a motherboard with a Wi-Fi connecting feature or not?
>>Buy a WiFi adapter for your PC
Ways To Find Built-in Wi-Fi On Your Motherboard/PC
Here I’m gonna show you the list of options we have so that you can choose and find the built-in Wi-Fi feature on your motherboard as per your requirement. Here is a guide for you to find out whether your PC/motherboard has Bluetooth or not.
Check for the Wi-Fi Adapter on the CPU
This is a simple and easy thing to find whether your motherboard has this feature or not.
In the above image, you can see the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters on my computer. Why did I add them to my computer? Because my motherboard or PC doesn’t have in-built Wi-Fi.
If you see any adapters on the CPU in front of you, then you can conclude the PC requires an additional device like a Wi-Fi adapter to connect to the internet. You need to check both the front panel ports and the motherboard ports on the rear side.
The Wi-Fi adapter working is the same irrespective of its insertion place.
Click on the Internet Access icon and Find the Wi-Fi Symbol
This is a simple way to find the built-in Wi-Fi feature in a system. Just follow the steps listed below.
- Click on the internet access icon – You can find this option at the bottom right on your Windows PC.
- Turn ON the Wi-Fi to display the available networks – A few seconds after you turn on the Wi-Fi, Windows will display the list of available networks to your PC.
- Make sure the Wi-Fi signal is in range to your PC – You need to have at least one good network signal that is in range.
If there are no internet signals available on your PC, then it will show a blank pop-up.
You can do all these things only when your PC supports Wi-Fi without an external adapter.
And what happens if there is no built-in Wi-Fi on your PC – Your PC won’t show the Wi-Fi symbol after you click on the internet access icon.
The Network Adapter is There in the Device Manager
Along with all the other components information you can find the network adapter information in the device manager.
To open the device manager, you need to right-click on the Windows start button and then select Computer Management.
Then the computer management tab will open. On the left panel, you can find the device manager, click on it. After that, the list of available devices on your PC will be displayed. Among all these, select network adapters. Here you can find the network adapters that exist on your PC.
Here you can find the adapter names with Wi-Fi, WAN, or WLAN which means they are the active network adapters on your PC.
Quick navigation: Start >> Computer Management >>Device Manager >> Network Adapters
Find About the Wi-Fi in the Windows Settings
On the Windows settings page, you can find a lot about your computer status. Follow the steps to find built-in Wi-Fi on your PC or not.
- Open settings
- Select Network & Internet
- Select the Wi-Fi option from the left panel if it exists – If your PC shows a Wi-Fi option without an external adapter, then it means the computer or motherboard has built-in Wi-Fi otherwise it doesn’t.
Under Network Connection in the Control Panel
The Control panel is another important place where we can customize our PC. Here you can find a lot of features and information.
Now, we need to know about the Wi-Fi feature in a PC using the control panel. For that, you need to open the control panel.
Type ‘control panel’ in the search bar at the bottom left and click on the suggested control panel app.
Among the list of options, click on the ‘Network and Internet.’
Then select ‘view network status and tasks.’ If your PC is connected to a network then it will show you the type of connection. Here is a screenshot to find what it looks like before and after the connection.
Wait, the image will only tell you the type of connection but you need to know about the Wi-Fi connectivity feature.
Here my network type is Wi-Fi and I’m connected to the APFIBER network. And now I click on this to find out more about this.
After my click, the Wi-Fi status pop-up will display like this.
Here also I can’t find the required information. So, now I’m gonna click on the ‘Details’ button. Again, the new tab will pop up with the name ‘Network connection details.’
Here we go, the Wi-Fi adapter I have on my PC. Here my PC doesn’t support a Wi-Fi connection without an external adapter. That’s why I’m using it on my PC.
If your PC has built-in Wi-Fi, then you can see here the internal Wi-Fi adapter you have on your PC.
However, finding a Wi-Fi adapter’s existence and its information on a PC is important.
From the Motherboard Manual
A motherboard manual is a powerful tool you have to find out about your motherboard information. The best thing here is you can find accurate information in less or no time.
We have two types of motherboard manuals, one is a physical book format, and another one is in PDF format.
Finding the motherboard model is important in order to find its manual.
From the Device Packing or Covering
Most brands highlight the best features they have in their product. The motherboard manufacturers are not excluded from this.
If you purchase a branded motherboard like ASUS, MSI, Acer, etc., they must highlight the feature ‘built-in Wi-Fi’ on their product cover. Remember, they mention this feature only if the product has otherwise they don’t.
A bad device/ motherboard packing leads to damage or dead motherboard.
Search For Your Motherboard Model on the Web
It is easy to find whether your computer has built-in Wi-Fi or not when you know the motherboard model on your PC.
Just type the motherboard model on Google or YouTube. You’ll find the best results and reviews related to your motherboard. So that you can easily find the Wi-Fi connectivity feature on your PC or not.
Here I explained multiple ways to find the motherboard model on your PC.
Conclusion
Hope the information on this page helps you to find whether the motherboard or PC came with the built-in Wi-Fi feature or not. When you want to upgrade your motherboard, don’t select the motherboard just because of this Wi-Fi feature.
>>Buy a Wi-Fi adapter for your PC
An easy and efficient solution is adding an external Wi-Fi adapter to your computer when your PC doesn’t have an inbuilt-Wi-Fi