Guides / Wi-Fi connected but no internet at work

Part of: Network, VPN and 'is it just me?' problems

Last reviewed 5 Oct 2026 · By Harry

Wi-Fi connected but no internet at work

Laptop shows Wi-Fi connected with no internet? Captive portal, DNS, proxy, DHCP and VLAN isolation — desk checks before you blame the ISP.

The tray icon says Connected. Chrome says No internet, or every site hangs. This is one of the commonest MSP tickets, and it is almost never "the internet is down". Association (you joined the SSID) and forwarding (packets leave the building) are different jobs. Treat them separately.

Sixty-second split

1. Can a colleague on the same SSID browse? If they can and you cannot, stay on your laptop. If nobody can, walk to the access point / switch / firewall — you have a LAN or upstream incident.
2. Phone on the same Wi-Fi. If the phone browses and the laptop does not, the laptop's IP, DNS or proxy is wrong. If both fail, the SSID has no path out.
3. Phone on LTE. If LTE works and office Wi-Fi does not for everyone, the office circuit or firewall is the incident. Check whether SaaS you care about has a separate outage on our status pages.

User checks (do these first)

1. Captive portal. Hotels, guest Wi-Fi and some office guest SSIDs need a browser page before traffic is allowed. Open a plain HTTP site such as http://example.com once. Corporate SSIDs usually skip this; guest SSIDs often do not.
2. Forget and rejoin the SSID. Stale credentials after a password rotation leave you "connected" with no DHCP or wrong VLAN.
3. Airplane mode toggle for ten seconds. Cheap, resets the radio stack on Windows and macOS.
4. VPN. Disconnect the company VPN and test again. A full-tunnel client that came up on a broken path can look exactly like "Wi-Fi but no internet". See VPN connected but no internet.
5. Proxy settings. Windows: Settings → Network & internet → Proxy. A leftover PAC URL or manual proxy from a previous job breaks browsing when you are on a network that does not expect it. macOS: System Settings → Network → Details → Proxies.
6. DNS flush. Windows: ipconfig /flushdns. macOS: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder. Then try again.

The tests IT will ask for

On Windows, open an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell:

• ipconfig /all — do you have an IPv4 address on the Wi-Fi adapter? Is the gateway blank? Are DNS servers the company resolvers or 0.0.0.0?
• ping 8.8.8.8 (or your company DNS IP) — if IP ping works and names fail, it is DNS. If IP ping fails, it is routing, firewall or no lease.
• nslookup microsoft.com — which server answered? A home router address on an office SSID means you never got corporate DHCP.
• Test-NetConnection outlook.office365.com -Port 443 — proves HTTPS reachability to a known host when ICMP is blocked.

On a Mac: ifconfig en0 (or the Wi-Fi interface), netstat -rn, scutil --dns, and ping / nc -vz host 443.

Admin-level causes

• DHCP exhausted or wrong scope. The laptop associates, gets a link-local address or nothing useful, and Windows still says Connected. Check the DHCP pool and whether the AP is on the right VLAN.
• VLAN / SSID mix-up. Corporate vs guest vs IoT SSIDs look similar. Landing on the IoT VLAN with no internet ACL is classic after someone "helped" by picking the strongest signal.
• DNS filter or sinkhole. Secure web gateways return NXDOMAIN or a block page for categories. One user with a broken PAC file looks like no internet when every HTTPS site stalls on TLS.
• Upstream circuit. When the whole site fails, check the firewall WAN and the ISP. A 4G failover router proves whether the vendor SaaS is up while the primary line is dead — see the backup-internet note on this page's affiliate slot when a live partner link exists.
• Certificate / SSL inspection. New laptops missing the corporate root CA show certificate errors that users describe as "no internet". That is a different ticket — see connection not private at work.
• IPv6 half-broken. Happy Eyeballs hides a dead IPv6 path until it does not. Test with IPv4-only as a diagnosis, do not leave dual-stack broken.

When to escalate

Escalate to network when several users on different devices fail on the same SSID, when DHCP is exhausted, or when the firewall shows the WAN down. Escalate to the ISP only with a WAN light and traceroute evidence. Do not open a Microsoft or Google outage ticket because one laptop has no default gateway — that wastes everyone's morning.

Related status pages

• Cloudflare
• Microsoft 365
• Microsoft Azure

Related guides

• How to tell if a service is down or it's just you
• VPN connected but no internet or can't reach internal sites
• Chrome ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT / DNS_PROBE at work

FAQ

Why does Wi-Fi say connected but nothing loads?

Connected only means you joined the SSID. No DHCP lease, wrong DNS, a captive portal, a broken proxy or a full-tunnel VPN on a dead path will leave you associated with no working internet.

How do I tell if it is just my laptop?

Ask a colleague on the same SSID, then try your phone on that Wi-Fi and on LTE. If only your laptop fails, fix IP, DNS or proxy on that device.

Should I change DNS to 8.8.8.8?

Only as a temporary test, and only if IT allows it. Corporate DNS often enforces filtering and internal names. Changing it permanently can break intranet sites.

Is this a Microsoft or Google outage?

Almost never. If every site fails, including ones outside those vendors, it is your path. Check our status pages only after local network tests pass.