Windows 10 Can't Connect to Hidden Network on Boot

I'm having an issue with an HP laptop that I just purchased. The network adapter is the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265.

The issue I'm having is that when I boot the computer, the network adapter does not automatically connect to my home network that is not broadcasting its SSID. If I display the SSID, everything works as it should; however, I need to have the SSID hidden. With the SSID hidden, if I boot the computer and do not have a connection, I can close the laptop lid, reopen it, and I will have a connection to the network.

Currently, I am running the latest driver offered by HP (Intel Wireless LAN Drivers v19.1.0.4 Rev.P, 205.1 MB, Aug 1, 2016). Since I was having issues with the driver that was included with the laptop, I decided to upgrade to this one, but that obviously didn't solve the problem. I also tried the driver offered by Intel, which also didn't work, so I decided to stick with the HP driver as I've heard that network connectivity issues tend get solved with HP's own drivers.

I am open to suggestions with trying different solutions to get it work as it should. However, if that's not possible, I was hoping someone could help me out with a temporary fix. Is there a shell command(s) that can be run that does to the network adapter whatever closing and opening the lid does? I was thinking I could make a script out of that and have it run automatically on startup.

EDIT: As I do more troubleshooting, I realize that the wireless connection does not work when I reboot the laptop, regardless of whether or not it was working when I rebooted. If I "Shut Down" and then turn on the laptop, the wireless connection works.

3 Answers

Like it was mentioned earlier - the problem is connected with Fast Startup service working in Windows 10. When you "Shut down" your computer, in fact it hibernates and save your current settings. But when you reboot, Windows initialize a fresh start instance.

I have got similiar problem with my USB Wi-Fi adapter. But I had to reinstall drivers each time when I reboot it from 0, by skipping Fast Startup.

Since it may alleviate the problem, the steps necessary to disable the Fast Startup function within Windows 10 are relatively simple:

1. Press WinKey + X
2. Select Power Options
   
3. Select Choose what the power buttons do on the upper-left
   
4. Select Change settings that are currently unavailable
   
5. Scroll to the bottom of the window and uncheck the box associated with Turn on fast startup
   
6. Click the button to Save changes
7. Reboot your system

(Source)

I updated Windows 10 and then my hidden Wifi won't connect automatically to the hidden Wireless Network. None of the above solutions worked for me and I had to manually connect to "Hidden network" every time I turned on my computer. I found a "hack" for your Hidden Network to connect automatically, but the process is a little tricky.

This solution has two parts:

Part 1:

First, you have to create a shortcut of dos command to connect to Wifi network. When you double click on the shortcut, you will be connected to the Wifi network instantly. Create A Shortcut That Opens The Command Prompt & Runs A Command:

Steps:

1. Right click on some empty space in Explorer, and in the context menu go to "New/Shortcut".
2. When prompted to enter a location put:

"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c netsh wlan connect ssid=YOURSSID name=YOURPROFILE" This will run the command and the close (/c) the command prompt.

For example:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c netsh wlan connect ssid=PTCL-Wifi name=PTCL-Wifi

"Note: PTCL-Wifi is the name of the "saved" Wifi which we want to connect to."

"Note: In order for this to work, you must have saved this profile once, before with correct ssid and password. Confirm this in "Manage known networks" in Wifi tab in Network and Internet Settings."

Now once you double click on this shortcut, you will be connected to your Hidden Wifi network.

Part 2:

Now we need to add this shortcut to our startup folder to automatically connect to this network on Windows startup. Startup folder in Windows 10 is usually in the below locations:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Copy the shortcut to the above locations and you will be connected to your hidden wifi network automatically on startup.