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Wifi Icon keeps disappearing from the taskbar after plugging out the computer from our docking station

Leo Sundlöf 0 Reputation points
2025-11-13T08:34:17.76+00:00

Hello,

Our company has for some time now had problem with users losing the Wifi icon when plugging out their computer out of our docking stations. We have noticed that this usually happends on docking stations with wired network.

The issue can be resolved by either preforming a hard restart or reinstalling the network adapters driver but it is causing some down time for our users because they either have to come to us at IT or restart the computer.
My wifi button disappeared on my laptop. : r/laptops
Does anyone know what is causing this?

Windows for business | Windows Server | Performance | Windows desktop and shell experience
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  1. Beatrix 2,160 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-11-13T10:06:18.9466667+00:00

    Hi Leo,

    Thank you for sharing the question.

    From what you are saying, I think the docking station's network adapter conflicting with the WiFi card during undocking caused the driver state failure.

    The seamless way you can try is to adjust the wireless adapter’s power management settings to prevent Windows from putting the wifi card to sleep which causes it to disappear upon undocking instead of using the workaround by performing the hard restart or reinstall the driver.

    Highly recommended to test the following steps on one of the affected machines first to see if the wifi icon remains available after undocking:

    Go to Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings.

    Then, expand Wireless Adapter Settings and Power Saving Mode

    Set On battery and Plugged in to Maximum Performance.

    Hope this helps! Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

    Best regards.

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