Wifi driver keeps disappearing

Question

Wifi driver keeps disappearing

ITHelpdesk SG 0

Wifi driver keeps disappearing and only reappears after restart. Happened twice now since yesterday. Already ran an update. What else can be done?

Model: Microsoft Surface pro 11th Edition

Akhil 15 Reputation points

2026-07-31T05:24:36.8966667+00:00
Hi,

Since the Wi‑Fi adapter is disappearing and only returns after a restart, this may be related to a driver, power management, or firmware issue. Could you please try the following steps and let us know the results?

Open Device Manager → Network Adapters → Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 → Properties → Power Management, and uncheck**"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."**

Go to Settings → System → Power & Battery and disable any battery saver settings that may be affecting the Wi‑Fi adapter.

In Device Manager, check whether the Qualcomm Wi‑Fi adapter is visible. If it is, try disabling and re‑enabling it, then restart the device.

Please ensure that the latest Surface Pro 11 drivers and firmware updates are installed.

Thanks!

2 answers

Your answer

Akhil 15 Reputation points

2026-07-31T05:24:36.8966667+00:00

Hi,

Since the Wi‑Fi adapter is disappearing and only returns after a restart, this may be related to a driver, power management, or firmware issue. Could you please try the following steps and let us know the results?

Open Device Manager → Network Adapters → Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 → Properties → Power Management, and uncheck**"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."**

Go to Settings → System → Power & Battery and disable any battery saver settings that may be affecting the Wi‑Fi adapter.

In Device Manager, check whether the Qualcomm Wi‑Fi adapter is visible. If it is, try disabling and re‑enabling it, then restart the device.

Please ensure that the latest Surface Pro 11 drivers and firmware updates are installed.

Thanks!

Answer 1

For a Surface Pro (11th Edition), start with these steps in order:

Run the Windows Network Troubleshooter:
- Select Start and type Settings.
- Go to Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other Troubleshooters.
- Run Network Adapter.
Verify the Wi-Fi adapter is present and enabled in Device Manager:
- Open Device Manager.
- Expand Network adapters.
- On Surface Pro (11th Edition), the adapter may appear as Qualcomm Wi‑Fi Network Adapter.
- Double-click the adapter, open the Driver tab, select Disable Device, confirm, then select Enable Device.
- Restart the Surface.
Install the latest Windows and Surface updates:
- If Wi‑Fi is available long enough, open Windows Update and install all available updates.
- If Wi‑Fi is not stable, use another PC to download the Surface driver package (MSI) to a USB drive, copy it to the Surface, and install it.
Do not uninstall the Wi‑Fi driver on this model.
- For Windows Arm-based devices such as Surface Pro (11th Edition), uninstalling drivers is specifically warned against.
- If drivers are uninstalled on these devices, the documented recovery path is a full system reset.

If the adapter is missing entirely in Device Manager, Windows is not detecting it. In that case, manually installing the latest driver package for the device is the supported next step.

References:

Answer 2

S.Sengupta 32,031 MVP Volunteer Moderator

Device Manager → Network Adapters → Qualcomm(R) FastConnect 7800 → Properties → Power Management tab

Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

Also check Settings → System → Power & battery → disable any aggressive "battery saver" wifi throttling

Go to the Surface app or Microsoft Update Catalog and grab the Surface Pro 11 (Snapdragon) driver/firmware bundle specifically

ITHelpdesk SG 0 Reputation points

2026-07-24T10:15:46.7933333+00:00

Power Management tab doesn't show up in the properties section.
S.Sengupta 32,031 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-25T01:37:58.29+00:00

Run PowerShell as Administrator:

Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName "FastConnect" | Select-Object Status, InstanceId

That confirms the exact device. Then check its power settings directly:

powercfg /devicequery wake_armed

If FastConnect 7800 shows up there, disable wake for it:

powercfg /devicedisablewake "Qualcomm(R) FastConnect 7800"