Laptop won’t connect to iPhone’s hotspot [Windows 10 Guide]

More trouble for Apple as iPhone users, especially those that have iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s, can’t connect their WiFi hotspots to Windows 10 laptops.

Many users have been complaining that they can’t manage to connect their Windows 10 laptops to the WiFi hotspots they have created on their iPhones.

People tend to use their iPhones to create wireless hotspots, but sometimes issues with wireless hotspots can occur. Since this is such a common problem, we’re going to cover the following issues:

• Windows 10 can’t connect to iPhone hotspot – This is a relatively common problem with Windows 10, but you should be able to fix it using one of our solutions.
• Laptop won’t connect to iPhone 6, 7 hotspot – This issue affects both laptop and desktop PCs and both iPhone 6 and 7.
• Windows 10 iPhone hotspot Can’t connect to this network – We already covered how to fix Windows 10 Can’t connect to this network message in one of our older articles, so be sure to check it out.
• Windows 10 iPhone WiFi won’t stay connected, turns off, randomly disconnects – If your Wi-Fi frequently disconnects on Windows you can experience many problems.
• Windows 10 iPhone WiFi yellow triangle, exclamation mark – To fix this problem, check out our article on how to fix Wi-Fi exclamation mark on Windows 10.
• Windows 10 iPhone WiFi hotspot not working –  We already wrote a guide on what to do if your mobile hotspot isn’t working on Windows 10.

As you can see, this has happened in Windows Vista as well, and also with an iPhone 4.

First of all, to make sure that the Windows 10 computer is the culprit, try and connect another device to the WiFi hotspot that you created using your iPhone.

If the problem persists, here’s what you can do.

What can I do if I can’t connect to the iPhone’s WiFi hotspot?

1. Troubleshoot the Personal hotspot problems

1. Confirm that your iOS device, computer, and wireless plan all meet the system requirements for Personal Hotspot.
2. Verify that Personal Hotspot is enabled by tapping Settings > General > Cellular > Personal Hotspot.
3. Verify the Internet connection on your iOS device by tapping Safari and loading a new webpage.
4. If one connection type doesn’t work, try another (for example, instead of connecting using Wi-Fi, try using USB or Bluetooth).
5. Try disabling and reenabling Personal Hotspot from Settings > Personal Hotspot or Settings > General > Cellular > Personal Hotspot.
6. Install the latest version of iOS. Tap Settings > General > Software Update.
7. Reset network settings by tapping Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
8. If none of the previous steps resolves your issue, restore the iPhone.

2. Troubleshoot the WiFi hotspot problems

1. Turn the Personal Hotspot off.
2. Verify if the Wi-Fi is ON in Settings > Wi-Fi.
3. Turn the Personal Hotspot back on.
4. If another device is unable to join your Wi-Fi network, ensure that the user enters the Wi-Fi password correctly.
5. If the device cannot see your Wi-Fi network, verify your device name (Windows may not properly display a device name that uses non-ASCII characters).
6. Verify how many devices are currently using your Personal Hotspot. Depending on your wireless carrier and, the maximum number of Wi-Fi connections may be limited to three at one time.
7. If the other device still cannot connect, try turning the Wi-Fi off and on again on the device. Verify that your device can see other Wi-Fi networks.

3. Update network drivers

This connection issue with your iPhone’s hotspot might be also caused by old network drivers, so the best solution is to use DriverFix, the perfect third-party updater software for this job.

That’s right, we recommend this software as it’s really easy to use, fast, and reliable.

The most important thing about a driver updater is to have access to 0 days drivers from the manufacturers and DriverFix has an impressive library of drivers on the market.

And even if you don’t need a new driver or no new driver is available, this awesome piece of software detects and repairs broken or missing ones in the process.

You don’t need to believe our words because you can try DriverFix for free.

DriverFix

Update your network drivers quickly with DriverFix and enjoy the Wi-Fi connection with your iPhone again.

4. Change the name of your iPhone

1. Go to Settings > General > About > Name.
2. Now click on X icon to remove your current name.
3. Enter a new name and you’re good to go.

Note: A few users reported that removing extra spaces from the hotspot name fixed the problem for them, so be sure to try that as well.

Once you change the hotspot name, your PC will be able to connect to the iPhone WiFi hotspot again.

5. Use the Forget option for the WiFi hotspot

1. Click the Wi-Fi icon in the bottom right corner.
2. Now locate your Wi-Fi hotspot, right-click it, and choose to Forget from the menu.

Try to connect to it again and you’ll be asked to enter a password. After doing that, the Wi-Fi network will start working.

Using this option, you will stop your device to connect automatically to the same hotspot source. This way, your iPhone will forget your PC Wi-fi address, so you can try and reconnect to the iPhone hotspot.

6. Change the iPhone’s hotspot password

According to users, if Windows doesn’t connect to the iPhone WiFi hotspot, the issue might be your hotspot’s password. However, you can fix this problem simply by changing your hotspot’s password.

This process should be done fast and without much technical knowledge. So the little thing to do is press the change password button and introduce your old and new password to quickly reset it.

The problem should be resolved and you’ll be able to connect to the iPhone’s hotspot again.

7. Uninstall the Intel Proset wireless software

1. Open the Settings app and go to Apps section.
   
2. Select Intel Proset wireless software from the list and click on Uninstall button.
   
3. Follow the instructions on the screen to remove it.

Once you remove the software, restart your PC.

Note: If you don’t use Intel Proset software, be sure to remove your wireless software and check if that helps.

Let us know if this has done the trick for you. If not, maybe you can share with us your detailed problem and we’ll try to find a solution together.

Also, if you did manage to resolve this issue, do share it with us to help those in need.

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