Repair a Network Adapter That Disappears After Sleep

The adapter's presence changes with the power state. Capturing both states separates a driver problem from a hardware dropout.

Get-NetAdapter -IncludeHidden | Select-Object Name,InterfaceDescription,Status,LinkSpeed
Get-PnpDevice -Class Net | Select-Object FriendlyName,Status,Problem
Get-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name 'Wi-Fi' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Format-List

A sleep cycle of 30 seconds is enough. After waking, the adapter that reports **Not Present** in Device Manager is the one to work on.

rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0
Start-Sleep -Seconds 20
Get-NetAdapter -IncludeHidden | Select-Object Name,Status,MediaConnectionState
Get-PnpDevice -Class Net | Select-Object FriendlyName,Status,Problem

**Disable-NetAdapterPowerManagement** removes the checkbox that allows Windows to switch the adapter off. The setting is per adapter and survives reboots.

Disable-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name 'Wi-Fi' -NoRestart
Get-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name 'Wi-Fi' | Select-Object AllowComputerToTurnOffDevice
Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty -Name 'Wi-Fi' | Where-Object DisplayName -match 'Power|Wake' | Select-Object DisplayName,DisplayValue

On some laptops the adapter is switched off at the PCIe link level, below the driver. **SelectiveSuspend** and the per-device power settings control that layer.

Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\*' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object PSChildName,PnPCapabilities
powercfg /devicequery wake_armed
powercfg /devicedisablewake 'Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz' 2>$null

A driver that fails to reinitialize after resume needs reinstalling, not disabling. Remove the device with its driver, then scan for hardware changes.

Get-NetAdapter -Name 'Wi-Fi' | Select-Object DriverVersion,DriverDate,DriverFileName
pnputil /enum-drivers | Select-String -Pattern 'netwtw|Netwtw' -Context 0,3
# Device Manager > adapter > Uninstall device > tick Delete the driver software > Scan for hardware changes

One successful resume means little. Three cycles, each with a working connection and a valid address, is the evidence that the change held.

for ($i=1; $i -le 3; $i++) { rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0; Start-Sleep -Seconds 25; Get-NetAdapter -Name 'Wi-Fi' | Select-Object Status,LinkSpeed; Get-NetIPAddress -InterfaceAlias 'Wi-Fi' -AddressFamily IPv4 | Select-Object IPAddress }