Is it possible to "refresh wireless networks" in Windows 8

True Colors

New Member
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In prior versions of Windows before W8, it was very easy to refresh your network list. This would allow you to see ALL of wireless networks in your area that your WiFi card could detect.

My Windows 8 only allows me to see the wireless networks that it wants me to see.

How do I see all Windows 8 networks within range? I have searched but I cannot find anything.

TC
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64 bit
    CPU
    i7 quad core
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thanks for the quick response, Brink.

However..... I am still not sure that this answers my question.

When I go into the settings, Windows 8 does not show me all of the networks. It only shows me the two wireless networks that it wants me to see.

My router broadcasts on 2.4 and 5.0 Ghz channels. Previously, my computer could see both of those. Now I can only see the 2.4 band.

On a side note, for what it's worth...... there are several networks in our neighborhood that are within range. I do not actually use them(they are all password protected anyway), but for good measure, I would like to be able to see them.

Before Windows 8 it was really, really, really, really easy to click on "refresh." Evidently we cannot do that any more?

TC
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64 bit
    CPU
    i7 quad core
TC,

This automatically refreshes and checks for and lists any available wireless network that broadcasts it's SSID name each time you open it.

If your router does not broadcast it's wireless SSID name, which is recommend to not broadcast it, then you'll need to click on the Hidden network option to manually setup the wireless connection first. Afterwards, it should always be listed here.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Do you think that the issue could possibly be a weak antenna on my PC? Perhaps it is so weak that it is just not seeing much.

I just bought this computer from Dell not long ago..... it is supposed to be very good..... it is an XPS 8500 with a quad core i7 processor and lots of goodies.

I wonder what the feasibility would be for me to remove the existing internal Wifi card and install a different one? Over the years I have changed out video cards, sound cards, memory, internal hard drives, etc. etc.

TC
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64 bit
    CPU
    i7 quad core
TC,

The wireless network would need to be within range for your PC to see it. Unless you are far off, it should be. I wouldn't think it's your antenna since you are able to see some of the other wireless networks in the area.

However, the problem is that you're wireless adapter on your PC doesn't support 5.0 Ghz, so it will only see the 2.4 Ghz as Rob posted below.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thanks for the quick response, Brink.

However..... I am still not sure that this answers my question.

When I go into the settings, Windows 8 does not show me all of the networks. It only shows me the two wireless networks that it wants me to see.

My router broadcasts on 2.4 and 5.0 Ghz channels. Previously, my computer could see both of those. Now I can only see the 2.4 band.

On a side note, for what it's worth...... there are several networks in our neighborhood that are within range. I do not actually use them(they are all password protected anyway), but for good measure, I would like to be able to see them.

Before Windows 8 it was really, really, really, really easy to click on "refresh." Evidently we cannot do that any more?

TC

The wireless NIC included with your Dell PC doesn't include a dual band NIC, because of this you will only be able to see the 2.4Ghz connections around you.

There should be no need to refresh anything in order to see the 2.4Ghz connections in your area, this should all be automatic, if you can't see them then they aren't in range. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
TC,

This automatically refreshes and checks for and lists any available wireless network that broadcasts it's SSID name each time you open it.

If your router does not broadcast it's wireless SSID name, which is recommend to not broadcast it, then you'll need to click on the Hidden network option to manually setup the wireless connection first. Afterwards, it should always be listed here.

Unfortunately, the original question is *still* not answered. Please answer the following question:

In Windows 8, is there a way to manually refresh the list of available wireless networks?

If the only possible way to refresh your list of available wireless networks is through automatic refreshing, is there a way to go in and change the frequency it checks? I don't like waiting 15 minutes or so for Windows 8 to look for a router I powercycled 20 minutes ago. (I can verify by my iphone that the powercycle took just under 2 minutes before the router started broadcasting.) The only other option is to disable and re-enable the wifi just to get it to rescan, and that is very inconvenient.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Hello Koah, and welcome to Eight Forums.

It automatically refreshes the list when you open it. If you want to manually refresh it, then you could close and reopen it. :)

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/10190-networks-flyout-shortcut-create-windows-8-a.html

That was not something I was aware of. I'll have to run some tests in the future. Thank you for the reply, Brink. It was appreciated. I'll have to visit these forums more often and pick more of your brains. I mean, Windows 8 is nice, but it's sometimes hard to find where everything is.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
You're most welcome Koah. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
In Windows 8.1 the refresh button is at the top right of the network page..... It looks like a refresh arrow on a web browser...
To the right it says Search Network....... Or tap the F5 key......
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel Core 3
    Memory
    6GB
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
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