Windows – 2017 MacBook Pro Bootcamp Windows 10 WiFi crashes system

bootcampdriverNetworkwifiwindows

I have installed Windows 10 (version 1709 build 16299.309) on my MacBook Pro 2017 model through Bootcamp.

After Bootcamp installed its drivers, I am unable to connect to my Wi-Fi router most of the time. Whenever I try to connect to the network, it will fail 95% of the time with the unhelpful message "Can't connect to this network".

When Windows is trying to connect to the network, the network sort of "resets" (icon goes red momentarily in the taskbar and the Wi-Fi connection in Network Connections goes disabled momentarily) just prior to it failing (almost as if the network driver crashed or something).

When it does manage to finally connect (after attempting numerous times), the end result could be any of the following:

  • Loading a page in Edge or attempting to access the Internet in any way will crash the system. Sometimes it will blue screen, other times it will just freeze for 20s then restart.
  • The Wi-Fi icon in the taskbar shows "Internet access" but trying to load a page in Edge will fail. I can't even access my router's admin panel by accessing the gateway IP directly.
  • Accessing the Internet works.

The driver version for "Broadcom 802.11ac Network Adapter" is 7.35.118.68 and has no updates. Apple software update also has no driver updates. There are no Windows updates either.

Surely there are other people experiencing this exact issue? Is there another driver I can install? The Broadcom driver installed through Bootcamp is required though, the default driver included with Windows does not work. I have also tried connecting to another network (my iPhone hotspot) but the result is the same.

Update 2018/5/25 My WiFi connects more frequently now, but can still suffer from the same issues above randomly. Most of the time it manages to connect successfully on startup, and if it doesn't then attempting to connect manually from the flyout won't usually work (unless I try like 100 times).

Best Answer

I do not have specific experience with this exact error however there are a few basic (Windows) troubleshooting steps to take.

  1. Go into Windows Device Manager, click on the WiFi adapter and get the full make and model number of the WiFi hardware. Write it down.
  2. Right click on that device and select Remove. If it prompts you to uninstall the driver, do so. Then reboot into macOS.
  3. Download the latest Bootcamp from Apple.com. If you have the Bootcamp installer still verify it is the latest at apple.com.
  4. Right-click on the bootcamp.app and "show package contents."
  5. Inside the bootcamp.app package (look for it in the folders there) there will be an .exe file that holds all of the Windows drivers. Copy that out to the desktop and then onto your bootcamp partition. You can likely do that booted into Windows, if you prefer, it doesn't matter how you do it, just get that .exe to the Windows side.
  6. Boot into Windows and run the .exe file. It should extract the drivers (make a note of where) and then start an installer. You can exit out of the installer as all you need are WiFi drivers.
  7. When you booted into Windows it may have tried to automatically install the WiFi drivers (Windows plug-n-play). Cancel out of that and open Device Manager.
  8. Find the WiFi hardware, it could be under network or unknown devices. Right-Click and select Update Driver. If you are given the option to let Windows search for a driver or installing manually, cloose the latter and point it to the folder that step 6 created, that contains the WiFi driver.
  9. Windows should install that driver and though it is not strictly necessary I would go ahead and reboot.

At this point if WiFi is still acting squirrely, remove the WiFi driver again and Google the WiFi device that Device Manager identified. It should lead you to the chipset manufacturer's website. Look for their drivers for your version of Windows and (following the directions outlined above) install those drivers instead of the ones that Apple provides with bootcamp.

Usually this procedure will fix Windows Bootcamp driver issues. If that does not do it there is likely something deeper going on either with Windows or the WiFi hardware in your Mac.

Related Question