We require technology in each and every aspect of our daily routine work. So, when there occurs some issue with the Network, we often end up searching for them online. The “Network discovery is turned off” error is one such issue which when occurs, your device won’t find the available network.
In this post, we will discuss what possibly could cause this problem and five fixes that might resolve it on our devices. So, if you are facing trouble accessing other network-enabled devices on your WiFi, follow this post till the end.
Fix “Network discovery is turned off” on Windows PC
If you have found the Network Discover turned off on your Windows PC, attempt the below fixes and get this problem resolved.
1] Configure Advanced Sharing Settings
There is a possibility that you have disabled the network discovery on your device at some point back in the past. If that’s the case, you need to re-enable the Advanced Sharing Settings by following the below steps –
- Launch Control Panel and click on “Network and Internet“.
- Go to Network and Sharing Center next and locate “Change advanced sharing settings”.
- You may find this feature on the left navigation. When found, click on it.
- The system will redirect you to the Settings app.
- Click to expand Private networks, and enable the toggle switch available right of “Network discovery“.
Note: On Windows 11, make sure to tick the checkbox that reads “Set up network connected devices automatically”. Similarly, Windows 10 users need to enable the checkbox – “Turn On automatic set up of network-connected devices”.
- Scroll a bit further and enable the toggle switch available right of “File and Printing Sharing“.
- In case you are using some Public networks, make sure to repeat the above steps inside the Public networks as well. If you are a bit worried about data misuse on public networks, don’t enable the above settings on your computer. Or, you may turn it On for some time and once your work completes, turn Off this feature.
- After you have followed and applied the above suggestions successfully, close Settings and restart your PC.
When Windows 11/10 reloads, check if your device can now discover available networks.
2] Modify Windows Services
The network gets turned off even when the related service gets disabled somehow. Follow the below steps to re-enable the Network discovery service and solve this problem.
- Use the Win + R shortcut to launch the Run dialog.
- Type “
services.msc” on it and hit OK. - When the Services window launches, scroll down to the service – “Function Discovery Resource Publication“.
- Once found, double-click on it to open its Properties window.
- Use the drop-down menu next to the Startup type and change this one to “Automatic“.
- Click on Apply then OK to confirm the recent changes.
Note: Repeat the above steps to re-enable the following services on your computer. Make sure to change their Startup types to “Automatic” as well.
- DNS Client
- SSDP Discovery
If you do find any service already running on your PC, right-click on it and hit Restart. Log out of your current account and sign back into your device again. Check if your device can discover nearby networks or still not.
3] Turn On Windows Defender Firewall
Your device might block discovering available nearby networks when this feature has been disabled on your PC. Launch Windows Defender Firewall via Control Panel, and re-enable it under both Private as well as Public networks.
In case the Firewall was indeed blocking the network discovery on your computer, you should be able to find the nearby networks and connect to them using the correct passkey.
4] Reset your Network
If none of the above fixes help to overcome this issue, you must reset the network settings on your Windows PC. To do so, follow these easy steps –
- Open Settings (Win + I), and navigate to the below path –
Network and Internet > Advanced Network Settings > Network reset
- Scroll down to More settings, and click on Network reset.
After resetting the network to its default values, don’t forget to restart your PC. This is done to get rid of any leftover or residual files on your computer.
5] Reset Network using CMD
One may reset his or her network using Command Prompt as well. For this, you need to launch CMD as administrator and run the below codes one after another. Make sure to press the Enter key after each command –
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew
netsh int ip reset
netsh winsock reset
After these codes run successfully, reboot your PC. From the next login, I hope the “Network discovery is turned off” error resolve on its own.
