Summary

Is the Ethernet connection not working on your Windows PC?

If so, your problem could be anything from your Internet Service to your PC’s ethernet card.

Below are some potential solutions you’re free to take a stab at sort this out.

Person connecting an Ethernet cable to the Netgear Nighthawk MK93S main router.

Jordan Gloor / How-To Geek

To run it, right-nudge the Start button and select “tweaks.”

From there, navigate to “Other Troubleshooters.”

Next, ensure your Ethernet cable is correctly plugged in.

Opening other troubleshooters settings on windows.

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

Also, confirm that the cable is connected to the correct port on your router.

Also, if you have a VPN connection enabled on your gear, turn it off.

in case you find issues connecting to Wi-Fi, it indicates an issue with your internet connection.

Running the network and internet troubleshooter in the Windows Settings app.

If neither of those are your issue,there are a variety of internet troubleshooting stepsyou should try.

Connect your Ethernet cable to a different equipment and see if the connection works properly.

Examine the cable thoroughly from end to end to ensure it’s not damaged.

Turning off the flight mode on Windows 11.

Then, try plugging the cable to a different port on your router.

If changing the ports does not deal with the issue, try the next fix.

Right-press the Start button and select “gear Manager.”

Ethernet cable plugged into an ethernet port on a router.

Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek

Then, expand the “web link Adapters” category.

Locate your Ethernet web connection adapter and verify if you see a small arrow pointing downward beside its name.

If you see this arrow, it means the Ethernet connection is disabled.

The back of a TP-Link Archer C6 router.

Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

To enable it, right-punch the connection adapter and choose “Enable rig.”

Update or Reinstall Ethernet Adapter Drivers

Outdated drivers can also cause problems with the Ethernet connection.

To ensure this isn’t the case, you should update the Ethernet adapter drivers.

Enabling the disabled ethernet connection adapter in device manager.

If you built your own PC, you should check your motherboard manufacturer’s website.

If the driver comes in an executable format, just run it to install it.

Otherwise, you must manually update the driver from gadget Manager.

Updating the ethernet driver in Device Manager.

To do this, right-hit the Start button and select “rig Manager.”

If updating the driver doesn’t fix the issue, uninstall the driver from equipment Manager.

Right-snag the driver and select “Uninstall rig.”

Clicking “Browse my computer for drivers” to manually install the drivers.

Then, follow the previous instructions to reinstall it manually.

If you’re using a proxy server, you should turn it off.

jot down “Internet Options” in the Windows Search bar and open it.

Uninstalling the ethernet driver in Device Manager.

Then, move to the “Connections” tab and poke the “LAN controls” button.

Opening the ‘Internet Options’ Settings.

Turning off the proxy server from LAN settings on Windows.