"Wi-Fi" doesn't have a valid IP configuration......

[chrisinth]

This is the message I received on my home computer two nights ago after not being able to connect and running the troubleshooter. Router was working OK as the wife was connected on her computer via LAN cable. I thought this was isolated to my computer, but the next morning I was asked to rectify two work laptops that had the same problem (one WiFi and the other ethernet). I had initially thought the problem was with 3BB as the home connection is fibre and the office is running on a fibre business package, but am now leaning towards the possibility of a windows 10 update being responsible.

 

There are many things that we can check to rectify this problem, but what worked for me (in all 3 cases) was resetting the windows socket catalog. I am giving this information in case anybody else has been affected by this problem; it is the first time (s) I have come across this particular issue in the last 19 years working with computers in Thailand.

 

OK, open the Command Prompt at an elevated level (right click on the start button and click on Command Prompt (Admin) or Winkey + x and select the same). Type in (without the abbreviation marks):

 

'netsh winsock reset' followed by enter. This will reset the windows socket catalog and will tell you that it has been successful and a reboot is required. Type in 'exit' to get out of the cmd window and reboot your computer.

 

As said earlier there are many reasons why this message (Wi-Fi" doesn't have a valid IP configuration) can appear, but in this case the winsock reset worked. Possibly a 3BB problem or caused by the latest W10 updates, not sure. Certainly not all the computers I look after had the problem.

 

If there are others out there who also have this problem, hope this helps.........................

 

 

[Crossy]

Had a similar issue some time back, we had lots of transient WiFi clients (they were actually buses, but that matters not), the WiFi routers were running out of DHCP leases due to the default lease time being too long.

 

Resetting the lease to hours rather than days solved the issue.

[Pib]

I had this problem just two days ago....got the same error message as you did for either an etheret or Wifi connection on my laptop.    I could not make a Wifi connection to any of three router/access points in my home....I'm on AIS Fibre.  I even rebooted all the routers and even tried connecting to a hotspot on my phone using DTAC 3G.  Always got the same error message.  And when trying an ethernet connection I got the same error except the word Wifi was replaced with ethernet.  In all of my years of computering I have never experienced a problem/error message like this.

 

It's a Lenovo laptop only 13 months old running Win 10 Pro....it's my secondary/backup computer I basically just turn on every  week or so to check for software updates.  I was working absolutely fine when I last used it about a week ago...and there have been no Win 10 updates since 10 Nov.   My primary Lenovo laptop also running Win 10 Pro (also no updates since 10 Nov) was working fine.

 

I started googling....came up with some of the possible fixes like in the OP's post...none of them helped.    I even did a sfc /scannow command to ensure no core Windows files were corrupted...none were.

 

I then decided to turn off Fast Boot in Windows and reboot as it well documented that  Fast Boot can cause strange problems sometimes on some computers..  When you turn off Fast Boot and then restart the computer all of the Fast Boot temporary files are deleted.    Normally a reboot after turning off Fast Boot only takes a minute or so, but this time it took a good 15 minutes and even told me not to turn off the computer as it did it's thing.  When the reboot finished the error was gone...I could now connected via Wifi and ethernet....error message gone.

 

I then turned back on Fast Boot, rebooted which recreates Fast Boot files, reboot only took about a minute, Wifi and ethernet still working.  And I have checked the computer several times over the last few days (to include just an hour ago) to ensure it's still working fine/normal and it is.

 

Summary: in my case turning off Fast Boot and rebooting fixed the problem...I then re-enabled Fast Boot.  I have found disabling Fast Boot, rebooting, and then re-enabling i a good period maintenance activity as Fast Boot files can get corrupted and cause really strange problems.   Doing this has also fixed two other strange problems I won't bore you with over the last few years.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2016 by Pib

[chrisinth]

^^^

Yep, if connected by cable, i got the ethernet instead of wifi message from the troubleshooter.

 

I also had to google it, and as briefly mentioned in the OP, there are several reasons and suggested fixes for this problem.

 

And as with you, it was the first time i have come across this. When it happened 3 times on 3 different computers within a 24 hour period, i guessed it was either a change by the ISP or the effects of a windows update as all 3 machines were running W10 Pro.

 

And again, as stated earlier, the winsock reset worked for me this particular time.......................

[Pib]

But there have been no Win 10 updates since 9 Nov 16 for build 1607 which I run on both my laptops and none since 14 Nov for build 1511.   And if running the original Win 10, no updates since 8 Nov 16.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12387/windows-10-update-history

 

The one of two laptops of mine that suddenly developed the problem when powering on two days ago has been turned on/used several times since 9 Nov.   And the other laptop which didn't have the problem is used daily.  And I have practically the same software, to include Nortion 360, on both computers as I try to keep them pretty much identical core software-wise.

 

  

[chrisinth]

Yep, agree with the updates, all 3 machines (1 x Lenovo desktop and 2 x Dell laptops) are on build 1607. As said, it was only a guess as i had no idea why it happened. Funny that your problem was at the same time as mine, through different ISPs.

 

Also tried hot-spotting my phone with the home computer but with no joy.

[Pib]

Take a look at this thread....seems to be happening to a lot of people over the last few days.  And it appears shutting down your computer in a certain way can fix the problem.  Maybe like how I did the Fast Boot deactivate and then reactivate.   Expect there are several different ways to fix the problem.  I might watch this for another week to see if someone finds a smoking gun on why the sudden uptick of the problem although googling shows this problem has been around for a long time for various versions of Windows.

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking/wi-fi-doesnt-have-a-valid-ip-configuration/995d0ff7-5b42-4172-827b-c88ea4587bfe

 

Edited December 8, 2016 by Pib

[chrisinth]

Hi Pib, according to you link this does appear to be a global issue with W10. According to the thread, the latest entries say that the issue is now officially under investigation by Microsoft.

 

It seems that you may have something with the fast boot issue, but i don't think this has been confirmed as the root cause yet.

 

A lot of people are reporting that holding the shift key down when shutting down is working for them. (this causes your system to do a clean (re)start afterwards. This means it bypasses the fast startup feature on boot)

 

Since my initial problems, everything seems to have settled down, no repeats seen.

[Pib]

Yea,  a couple of those posts in the thread sounded pretty credible about pointing the finger at  fast boot based on how they were able to resolve the problem.   

 

Fast boot is well known to create very strange problems on some computers sometimes and over the years in using Win 8.1 and now Win 10 turning off fast boot and then rebooting has fixed several very strange and came out-of-the-blue problems for me.  Then I turn fast boot back on and everything continues to work fine.    One of my computer maintenance rules now is every few months is to turn off fast boot, reboot, and they turn it back on....that process deletes old, possibly corrupted, fast boot files which are temporary in nature and creates new ones.

[Pib]

On 12/8/2016 at 6:22 PM, Pib said:

Take a look at this thread....seems to be happening to a lot of people over the last few days.  And it appears shutting down your computer in a certain way can fix the problem.  Maybe like how I did the Fast Boot deactivate and then reactivate.   Expect there are several different ways to fix the problem.  I might watch this for another week to see if someone finds a smoking gun on why the sudden uptick of the problem although googling shows this problem has been around for a long time for various versions of Windows.

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking/wi-fi-doesnt-have-a-valid-ip-configuration/995d0ff7-5b42-4172-827b-c88ea4587bfe

 

 

From following above thread and looking at 9 Dec posts it appears Microsoft is now recognizing the problem.  And turning off, rebooting, and then turning back-on Fast Boot....and/or doing a Shutdown in a certain way is fixing the problem for many people.   Some other fixes are also working for other folks.  You'll also see several IT Tech support reps saying they are getting "lots" of calls on this problem....started just a couple a days ago and seems to be focused on Win 10.

 

Got an update for Win 10 today...got it on both my laptops....this was the first update (KB3201845) for Win 10 since around 10 Nov when the last cumulative update came out.  

Cut and Paste from My Update Info Area

Quote

 

Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB3201845)

 

 

 

 

But some googling shows this update was released to the Windows Insiders Program folks in late Nov...supposedly just some minor bug fixes (but probably not this bug which just appeared over the last few days) versus any new features.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2016 by Pib

[KhunBENQ]

Too late. Just this morning I read the news about another W10 update problem in a German online source and remembered this thread title

Manually assigning an IP address seems the only solution currently.

Just noticed that all (my two) W10 computers are on LAN with fixed IPs

[Pib]

The problem is apparently wide spread....below article with some partial quotes gives some more info.  It also talks about the latest KB that came out a day or two ago which I mentioned above, but that update was really finished and also being distributed to people on the Windows Insider Program the last few days of November,   The latest KB is not the cause nor the fix to the problem; it just happen to be coming out about the same time this IP Configuration problem raised it's ugly head for some people.   The article below seems to be pointing at the Fast Startup/Boot feature as possibly causing the problem.

 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3148845/microsoft-windows/windows-10-anniversary-update-bug-drops-wi-fi-connections.html

Quote

If your Windows 10 Anniversary Update PCs (version 1607) are suddenly dropping their Wi-Fi connections and the Network Diagnostics troubleshooter is spouting "Wi-Fi doesn't have a valid IP configuration" nonsense, you're not alone.

 

Speculation at this point says the disconnect results when a machine performs a fast startup, setting the machine's IP address to 169.x.x.x. It's an old problem, but somehow it's come back in spades in the past two days. 

 

[chrisinth]

Article today in the ThaiTech sub forum relating to this:

 

http://tech.thaivisa.com/is-your-windows-10-pc-losing-wifi-connection-heres-why-and-how-you-can-fix-it/18979/ 

 

The gist of the article is:

 

Recommendation 1: Microsoft says the problem could be fixed by simply performing a clean restart.

You can do this by holding down the Shift key then clicking on Start > power icon > shut down. Make sure you don’t let go of the Shift key until your PC has completely shut down.

 

Recommendation 2: Is to perform a roll back to the previous version of Windows 10.

You can do this by clicking on Start > Settings > Update & security > Recovery > Get Started > Go back to an earlier build.

This will uninstall your current version of Windows 10 and go back to the build you were previously using.

 

Recommendation 3: As reported in The Register, is maybe a little more complicated, but is likely to fix the problem without having to roll back to an older build of Windows 10.

In the Task Bar type Command prompt and enter the following commands in the order below:

netsh winsock reset catalog

netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

If this fix doesn’t work then Microsoft also has an official help guide which offers a range of solutions to standard connection issues.

 

Recommendation 4: Microsoft has said it is aware of the problem and is working on a fix so you could just wait until that is available.

When i see recommends as in No. 2, it must be a pretty serious F.U. to suggest actually rolling back, and making it the 2nd option.............

 

[Pib]

I see Microsoft realized some new updates today...just finished installing on my two laptops.  One update, KB3206632, fixes several things and one thing it fixes and to partially quote from the update.  Below fancy words I think is saying the update hopefully fixes the Invalid IP Address problem (i.e., can't make an internet connection) many people were hit with...to include me on one of my laptops but I got fixed before this update came out today.    Of course if a person is still having this problem they can't get an internet connection to download the KB fix.  A Catch 22.

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4004227/windows-10-update-kb3206632

• Quote

  Addressed a service crash in CDPSVC that in some situations could lead to the machine not being able to acquire an IP address.

   

[chrisinth]

^^^^^^

 

I have just installed the latest updates and restarted both work laptop & workstation and as you say, hope this has been resolved..

 

Spookily enough, when i got into work this morning i had this error (ethernet doesn't have a valid ip config) on 4 workstations (out of 24), my own included. All 4 responded to "netsh winsock reset" and a reboot. All the workstations (in the LAN) are identical Dell machines.

 

When i discovered the error on my machine, i rebooted the Cisco but not sure if that actually did anything. Laptop (Lenovo) has not been affected throughout.

[Pib]

See full article on this problem at below link.  But the good news is the mentioned KB released two days ago supposedly fixed the invalid IP connection issue.   But of course you need an internet connection to download the KB....possibly a Catch 22 for some folks.

 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3150003/microsoft-windows/windows-10-1607-patch-kb-3206632-solves-dropped-internet-connection-bug.html

 

Quote

 

Windows 10 1607 patch KB 3206632 solves ‘dropped internet connection’ bug

Microsoft releases a fix for last week’s mysterious 'Wi-Fi doesn’t have a valid IP configuration' bug, but other problems persist