Airplane Mode - Turn On or Off in Windows 8

How to Turn Airplane Mode On or Off in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

This will show you how to turn Airplane mode on or off to enable or disable all wireless radio devices (ex: Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, Bluetooth) at once in your Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, or Windows RT 8.1 PC or device.

You will only have the Airplane mode feature available on a mobile Windows 8 device (ex: laptop, tablet, mobile phone, etc...) that has a wireless network connection (ex: Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, Bluetooth).

   Note

Even if your PC has a hardware switch for airplane mode, it's recommended to use one of the following options below instead. Some hardware switches might turn off your wireless connection in a way that allows certain apps to turn the connection back on without telling you.

When airplane mode is turned on, you'll see an airplane icon in the taskbar notification area of your desktop.

After you tap or click the toggle to turn Airplane mode on or off, it can take your PC a few seconds to turn each wireless device on or off. If you toggle Airplane mode on and off too quickly, or if you turn on Airplane mode and then put your PC to sleep before your PC can turn your wireless devices on or off, your wireless device settings might get out of sync with the Airplane mode setting.

   Warning

If you use an app that can turn on wireless devices while Airplane mode is on, your wireless devices could be turned on without you being notified.

OPTION ONE

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from Taskbar

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1. Go to your Desktop.​

NOTE: You could do this by pressing the Windows :winkey: + D keys.​

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2. Click/tap on the Network icon in the taskbar system icons area at the far right. (see screenshot below)​

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3. At the top of the Charms bar under Airplane mode, move the sliders right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)​

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4. When finished, you could press the Windows :winkey: key to return to the Start screen if you like.​

OPTION TWO

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from Charms Bar

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1. Open the Charms bar, click on the Settings charm, and click/tap on your wireless network icon. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: You could also press the Windows :winkey: + I keys to directly open the Settings charm.​

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2. At the top of the Charms bar under Airplane mode, move the slider right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)​

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3. When finished, you could press the Windows :winkey: key to return to the Start screen if you like.​

OPTION THREE

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from Control Panel

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1. Open the Control Panel (category view), click on the Network and Sharing Center link, and click on the Connect to a network link. (see screenshot below)​

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2. At the top of the Charms bar under Airplane mode, move the slider right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)​

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3. When finished, you could close the Control Panel and press the Windows :winkey: key to return to the Start screen if you like.​

OPTION FOUR

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from PC Settings

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1. Open PC Settings, and do step 2 or 3 below for what Windows 8 you have.​

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2. In Windows 8 and Windows RT, click/tap on Wireless on the left side, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below step 4)​

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3. In Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1, click/tap on Network on the left side. (see screenshot below)​

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A) Click/tap on Airplane mode on the left side of Network, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)​

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4. In the right pane under Airplane mode, move the slider right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)​

NOTE: If you like, you could turn on or off individual Wireless devices here instead of all of them with Airplane mode.​

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5. When finished, you can close PC settings if you like.​

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Turn On or Off Wi-Fi in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Bluetooth in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Hide or Show Data Usage for Wireless Networks in Windows 8 and 8.1
• Turn On or Off "Download over Metered Connections" for Devices in Windows 8 and 8.1
• Turn On or Off "Metered Internet Connections" for Sync Settings in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off SkyDrive Usage Over Metered Connections in Windows 8.1
• Wireless Network - Set or Unset as Metered Connection in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Enable or Disable Networks UI on Sign in Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Connect To or Disconnect from a Wireless Network in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn On or Off Airplane Mode in Windows Phone 8

 

[Brink]

Keith,

Does your PC have a switch or button that turns off the wireless signal? If so, check it to make sure it's tuned on.

Does your router have a wireless feature?

If so, is it turned on?

If so, do you have MAC filtering turned on? If so, then you would need to add the USB wireless device's MAC address to the router's allowed to connect wirelessly list.

 

[kaybee327]

Shawn

In answer to above

No switch on pc

Yes router is Tenda W300n

Yes Wifi is enabled

No to my knowledge will check later today

just tried a netsh wlan show all on laptop

got this on pc adapter

SSID 3 : KB_Dongle
Network type : Infrastructure
Authentication : WPA2-Personal
Encryption : CCMP
BSSID 1 : c8:3a:35:1f:e3:31
Signal : 99%
Radio type : 802.11n
Channel : 11
Basic rates (Mbps) : 1 2 5.5 11
Other rates (Mbps) : 6 9 12 18 24 36 48 54

so it seems it is working OK just can't get PC to use it. May do a win 8 refresh later today or tomorrow depends when I have to see quack.

Keith

 

[Minininja8989]

I can't seem to turn airplane mode off. Not in network setting or in wi fi and internet settings this happened whilst I was playing planetside 2.... But I have been playing that game for a while now and this has never happened. I am using a Alienware laptop with windows 8 running system,

 

[Brink]

Hello Minininja, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Is the setting grayed out, missing, etc...?

Are you able to turn off wireless devices in the same location instead?

 

[Archimede]

Is there any tool/utility that toggles the WiFi on and off (I mean with just 1 click)?

In XP I had a very handy shortcut sitting in my quick launch bar that did just that (1 click = enable, the following click = disable). Win 8.1 does not support anything that easy?

Thanks for any creative suggestion

 

[Brink]

Hello Archimede,

If you like, you could use the shortcuts in the tutorial below to turn on/off airplane mode, that essentially also turns on/off wireless.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24541-airplane-mode-off-shortcuts-create-windows-8-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ibulletproof]

Well I would like to add a fact or a rumor which i heard that
"Charging while airplane mode enabled , increases the speed of charging up by 2 times"
Still not sure if its true

 

[Brink]

Hello ibulletproof,

Yes indeed with wireless turned off, it should speed up charging since wireless would not be draining the battery while charging. I'm not sure by how much it would speed up charging though.

 

[Archimede]

Hello Archimede,

If you like, you could use the shortcuts in the tutorial below to turn on/off airplane mode, that essentially also turns on/off wireless.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/24541-airplane-mode-off-shortcuts-create-windows-8-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Howdy Shawn and thanks for your kind suggestion.

I did try them but (warning "lazy mode" enabled - warning "lazy mode" enabled) what I was really looking for was a single icon to click (one click to turn on and the next click to turn off).

The reason why I am looking for that "toggle" utility is that I am using constantly the airplane mode on-off as I am not one of these guys that turns it off in the morning and on in the evening... I am actually mostly offline and I go online only when I have to send a mail or rapidly browse the Internet... I realize this behavior is most unusual.

I could use the shortcuts to turn on/off the airplane mode if there would be a way to hide/disable the fly out network pane (that "steals" me an extra click to close it)... If anybody knows a way to do that, then I would not mind if instead of one single icon I would need two to get the job done

Thanks.

 

[Brink]

I'll look to see what I can do. The shortcuts are basically just AutoIt scripts that use the send key command to automatically simulate pressing the keys to turn on and off Airplane mode for you.

 

[Archimede]

I'll look to see what I can do.

Thanks Shawn,

I really hope you'll manage to "invent" something cool... You being the resourceful person I know you are

 

[Brink]

Ok Archimede. All Finished. The shortcuts in the tutorial below will automatically turn on/off Airplane mode, wait a second so you can verify, and close the right pane.

 

[Archimede]

Ok Archimede. All Finished. The shortcuts in the tutorial below will automatically turn on/off Airplane mode, wait a second so you can verify, and close the right pane.

Shawn this is already MUCH MUCH better

If I may, I would rather do without the second of waiting since I can easily verify from the (plane or WiFi) tray icon that clearly shows which mode is currently on.

I will send you a PM now.

Thanks a bunch

 

[Brink]

Well, I have to have the second delay though while it waits on Wi-Fi to be turned on/off. If it's closed immediately, it may not have enough time to actually turn it on/off before closing.

 

[muzicman82]

Is there a way to HIDE the Airplane Mode toggle? It just takes up room. I never use it.

 

[Brink]

Hello muzicman,

If you mean in the Networks flyout, then not that I'm aware of.

 

[muzicman82]

Yes, that's what I am talking about. Would be great if you could ditch that.