Forget WiFi Network in Windows 11 & 10 (Updated)

To forget a WiFi network in Windows 11 or Windows 10, open Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks, click the network you no longer want, and press Forget. That deletes the saved password along with it — which is exactly why the setting exists, and exactly why most people never touch it: your PC will happily reconnect, on its own, to any nearby network broadcasting the same name as the one you meant to forget, even if it isn't the one you're thinking of. That's not a bug. It's how Windows decides which networks it trusts, and it's the reason "just forget it and reconnect" fixes more WiFi problems than any driver update ever will.

Jake's shop hands out its own guest network to anyone dropping off a phone for repair. Every laptop that comes through the door for a diagnostic connects to it once, and every one of them remembers it forever — unless someone forgets it before the machine goes back to its owner. That's not a hypothetical: a customer once called him convinced her laptop had been "hacked" because it auto-joined a WiFi network she'd never typed a password into. It hadn't been hacked. It had been in Jake's shop three weeks earlier for a screen replacement, and nobody had cleaned up after the repair.

Forget a WiFi network in Windows 11

Press Win + I to open Settings directly — that's the Windows key next to your spacebar, held together with the letter I. It skips the Start menu entirely, which matters if your taskbar is acting up, which is usually the reason you're here in the first place.

Through Settings (the reliable way)

Once Settings opens, click Network & Internet in the left-hand list, then Wi-Fi. Scroll down and you'll see Manage known networks — it sits below your saved networks summary and above the Wi-Fi hardware properties link, and it's easy to scroll straight past on a first look. Click it, and every network your PC has ever joined shows up in one list, most recent first. Click the one you want gone, and a Forget button appears directly under its name. Click it once. There's no confirmation dialog, no "are you sure" — it's gone immediately, password and all.

Through Quick Settings (faster, if you're already connected)

If the network you want to forget is the one you're currently on, there's a shortcut: click the network icon in the system tray (bottom-right, near the clock) to open Quick Settings, then click the arrow next to Wi-Fi to expand the list of nearby networks. Right-click won't do anything useful here — Windows 11 moved most of that functionality into Settings on purpose, which trips up a lot of people who remember right-clicking the network icon in Windows 7 or 8. For forgetting a network you're not currently connected to, Manage known networks above is still the direct route and the one worth remembering.

Forget a WiFi network in Windows 10

These steps are the same as Windows 11 in spirit and almost identical in wording, which is unusual — Microsoft rewrote most of the Network & Internet settings pages for Windows 11, but this particular corner survived mostly untouched.

Press Win + I to open Settings, click Network & Internet, then select the Wi-Fi tab on the left. On the right side, click Manage known networks — it's positioned just below the Hardware properties link and above Wi-Fi Sense settings, the same spot it's occupied for years. The list that opens shows every WiFi network you've connected to. Click the one you want to remove, click Forget, and close the window. That's the whole process, and it hasn't meaningfully changed since this guide was first written.

One honest note if you're still on Windows 10: it still boots, still connects to WiFi, and Manage known networks still works exactly as described above. But without ESU enrollment, it no longer gets security patches, and a WiFi stack with unpatched vulnerabilities is a genuinely worse place to be forgetting and rejoining networks — especially public ones. Consumer ESU enrollment is still open as of this writing, runs through October 2027 for enrolled devices, and costs either nothing (if you sync settings through Windows Backup), 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or a one-time roughly $30. It's under Settings > Windows Update > Enroll now, and it requires a Microsoft account rather than a local one.

Forget a network with a command, not a mouse

There's a second way to do this that the Settings app doesn't advertise, and it matters more than it looks: it's the only method that works when a network profile exists but doesn't show up in Manage known networks at all — which happens more often than you'd expect.

Open Command Prompt (type cmd into the Start menu search box, or press Win + R to open the Run box — a small text-entry window for launching programs by name — and type cmd there). You don't need to run it as administrator just to view profiles, but you do need admin rights to delete one. Type:

netsh wlan show profiles

This lists every WiFi network profile stored on the machine, including ones that never appear in the Settings list because they were set up by a script, a group policy, or a previous Windows install that was upgraded in place. Find the exact name (it's case-sensitive and must match exactly, spaces included), then run:

netsh wlan delete profile name="NetworkNameHere"

Windows confirms the profile was deleted, and unlike the Settings app, this command works identically on Windows 11 and Windows 10 — it's older than both, and it's one of the few WiFi-related commands Microsoft has left completely alone for years.

"So forgetting it doesn't actually change the WiFi password on the router," Jake said, half to himself, after his third customer of the week asked him to "reset" a network that turned out to just need forgetting on one laptop. "I've been telling people the wrong thing this whole time."

"Most shops do," Ethan said. "It's the single most common misunderstanding about that button, and it's the button's fault, not yours — 'Forget' sounds bigger than what it does. It's local, it's per-account, and it only ever touches the one PC you clicked it on. I'd rather explain that up front than have a customer come back in a week convinced their router's been reset when it hasn't."

When forgetting a network doesn't actually fix anything

Most people land on this page for one of two reasons: a saved WiFi password that no longer works, or a connection problem they're hoping forgetting and rejoining will fix. Both are valid reasons to do this, but forgetting a network doesn't fix everything, and knowing which symptom you're dealing with saves you a lot of clicking in circles.

The network reconnects on its own right after you forget it

This is almost always the duplicate-name problem from Jake's story above. Two access points broadcasting the same SSID (the network's public name) look identical to Windows, and it connects to whichever has the stronger signal at that moment — it has no way to know you specifically meant the weaker one. Mesh WiFi systems and range extenders are common causes here, since they often rebroadcast the main router's name unchanged. Rename one of the two, or forget the profile through the command line where the exact BSSID history is easier to isolate, and check that you haven't just forgotten one of two identical entries.

The network you want to forget isn't in the list at all

Manage known networks only shows profiles the current Windows user account has saved. If a network was set up with the "share this network with other people who use this PC" option unchecked, other user accounts on the same machine won't see it in their own list — even though the PC still connects to it automatically under theirs. Sign in to the account that originally set it up, or use the netsh wlan show profiles command above, which is system-wide and shows every profile regardless of which account created it.

Forget is grayed out, or clicking it does nothing

On a work or school machine managed by IT, WiFi profiles can be pushed and locked by group policy or mobile device management, and a locked profile simply won't respond to Forget from a standard user account — the button may be present but non-functional, or absent entirely depending on the policy. This isn't a Windows bug to troubleshoot around; it's the machine's administrator deliberately preventing changes. If you don't manage the device, you're not getting it removed, and that's by design, not a fault in your steps.

Why you'd want to forget a network at all

There are three genuinely different reasons people end up here, and the fix is the same for all three, but it's worth naming them because two of them are more urgent than "the WiFi is acting up."

The router's password changed. Windows keeps trying the old, saved password and fails silently — the network shows as available but never connects, or connects then immediately drops. Forgetting it forces Windows to ask for the new password on the next attempt instead of quietly failing with the old one.

The connection is unstable for no obvious reason. A corrupted saved profile — wrong security type stored, a stale IP configuration, or channel settings left over from an old router — can cause exactly the kind of intermittent drop-and-reconnect behavior that looks like a hardware fault but isn't. Forgetting and rejoining rebuilds the profile from scratch, which resolves this more often than people expect for something so simple.

Privacy, not troubleshooting. This is the one people underestimate. Every WiFi network your PC has ever joined sits in that list indefinitely by default — the guest network from a hotel three years ago, a client's office, a friend's apartment. None of it causes a problem until the laptop changes hands. A saved network profile lets a machine auto-connect without asking, silently, to any access point using that name in range — which is precisely how a hotel guest network or a coffee shop hotspot with a spoofed, identically-named access point (an "evil twin," in the security world) can pick up an unattended connection from a device that thinks it already trusts that name. Public and semi-public networks are the ones most worth forgetting once you're done with them, not the ones you'll be back on next week.

Hidden networks behave slightly differently

A hidden network — one with SSID broadcast turned off in the router settings, so it never appears in the visible networks list — still gets a saved profile once you've connected to it manually. It shows up in Manage known networks the same as any visible network, and Forget removes it the same way. The only difference is on the way back in: since Windows can't see a hidden network broadcasting, you reconnect to one through "Add a network" rather than clicking a name in the list, and you'll need to re-enter the exact network name yourself, since there's nothing for Windows to detect and offer.

Windows picks between saved networks by priority, not just signal strength

When two saved networks are both in range — your home WiFi and a neighbor's guest network you connected to once, say — Windows doesn't just grab whichever answers first. Every saved profile carries a priority order, set automatically based on connection history, and Windows works down that list before falling back to signal strength as a tiebreaker. This is worth knowing because it explains a specific, confusing symptom: you forget the network you think is causing trouble, and the PC immediately jumps to a different saved network you'd forgotten you'd ever connected to, rather than to the one you actually wanted. If that happens, check Manage known networks again — the "new" network it jumped to was there the whole time, just lower down the list, and forgetting it too is usually the fastest way to force Windows back onto the one you actually want.

VPN profiles set to auto-connect can complicate the picture

If a VPN app is configured to launch automatically on untrusted networks — a setting worth having on for anything public, since it's exactly the evil-twin scenario covered above that a VPN is meant to protect against — forgetting and rejoining a network can trigger that VPN connection before you've finished troubleshooting, which sometimes gets mistaken for the WiFi problem itself. If your internet looks "connected but nothing loads" right after rejoining a network, check whether a VPN client also just kicked in before assuming the WiFi fix failed.

Metered connections don't carry over

If you'd marked a network as metered — the toggle that tells Windows to limit background downloads and updates to save data, useful on a mobile hotspot — that setting lives on the same saved profile and disappears with it. Rejoining after forgetting means you'll want to flip metered back on if it mattered, since Windows treats the rebuilt profile as brand new and defaults it to unmetered.

Tablets, shared PCs, and other edge cases

No physical keyboard

On a Windows 11 or 10 tablet with no keyboard attached, everything above works with touch exactly as written — Settings, Manage known networks, and the Forget button are all tap targets, not click-only controls. The one thing that requires a keyboard is the netsh command method, since Command Prompt has no touch equivalent; stick to Settings on a keyboard-free device.

A PC shared by more than one person

WiFi profiles are saved per Windows user account by default, so if your household or office shares one login, everyone sees and can forget the same list. If each person has their own account, each account keeps a separate list, and forgetting a network under your account won't remove it from someone else's — even on the same PC, connected to the same router.

Enterprise networks with certificates (802.1X)

Some office and campus networks don't just ask for a password — they authenticate with a certificate or a domain login through a protocol called 802.1X, which is common on corporate WiFi. Forgetting one of these removes the saved authentication settings along with any locally cached certificate reference, and reconnecting may need IT to reissue or re-push the certificate rather than you simply retyping a password. If a work network stops connecting after you forget it and typing the password again doesn't bring it back, that's the likely reason, and it's worth a message to IT before assuming the WiFi itself is broken.

Remote Desktop and virtual machines

If you're connected to another PC over Remote Desktop, the WiFi settings that open belong to the machine you're controlling, not the one physically in front of you — forgetting a network there does nothing to your own connection. Virtual machines without a dedicated WiFi adapter passed through won't show a Wi-Fi tab in Settings at all; they inherit whatever connection the host provides, and there's no separate WiFi profile to forget.

What to do right after you forget a network

The adjacent task nearly everyone needs thirty seconds later is reconnecting — click the network name in Quick Settings, type the password when prompted, and this time toggle Connect automatically on before you click Connect if you want Windows to rejoin it without asking in future. That checkbox is what created the saved profile in the first place; leave it off on a public network you don't want remembered, and the whole cycle you just went through won't repeat itself next visit.

If you're troubleshooting rather than just tidying up, and forgetting-and-rejoining didn't fix the connection, the next reasonable step isn't reinstalling Windows — it's updating the WiFi adapter driver from Device Manager, or if the machine is old enough that the driver hasn't been touched in years, that's usually a sign the hardware itself, or the router, is the actual bottleneck rather than anything a saved profile could cause.

Clearing WiFi profiles across several PCs at once

The netsh command above works one machine at a time, which is fine for a single laptop but slow if you're wiping WiFi history on a batch of returned devices — trade-ins, loaner units, or the shop's own demo stock. The command itself can be dropped into a plain text file with a .bat extension and run on each machine without retyping it, or triggered remotely if the devices are already joined to the same management tool you use for anything else on the fleet. There's no bulk GUI equivalent in Settings — Manage known networks is strictly one PC, one account, one click at a time — so for more than a couple of machines, the command line stops being the "power user" option and becomes the only practical one.

Do you need third-party software for this?

No, and it's worth saying plainly: WiFi profile "cleaner" utilities exist, and none of them do anything the built-in Settings app or the netsh command above doesn't already do for free, without installing anything that needs its own updates and its own trust decisions. The one place third-party tools earn their keep is on a machine you're preparing to sell or hand off entirely — a proper wipe-and-reinstall of Windows removes every saved network along with everything else, which is the right move for a full handoff rather than clearing networks one at a time.

Frequently asked questions

Does forgetting a WiFi network delete the password from the router too?

No. It only removes the saved copy on your PC. The router's actual WiFi password is unchanged, and any other device that already knows it can still connect.

Will forgetting a network disconnect other devices on it?

No. Forgetting only affects your Windows account on the one PC you did it on. Your phone, other computers, and anyone else on the network stay connected exactly as before.

Can I forget a network I'm not currently near?

Yes. Manage known networks lists every saved profile regardless of whether that network is currently in range, since Windows just keeps the saved credentials on file. You can forget a hotel or airport network from your living room.

I forgot the network and now it's not showing up to reconnect. Where did it go?

It's still there — forgetting a profile doesn't hide the network itself from the available-networks list, it only removes the saved password. Click the network name again, and Windows will prompt for the password as if joining for the first time.

Why does my laptop keep reconnecting to a network I already forgot?

Almost always a second access point broadcasting the same network name, covered above under duplicate-name reconnects. Confirm the exact SSID and, if you manage the router, consider giving each access point a distinct name to avoid the ambiguity entirely.

Does forgetting a network remove it from my Microsoft account?

No, WiFi profiles are stored locally on the device, not synced to your Microsoft account or cloud backup. Forgetting one on your laptop has no effect on any other device signed in with the same account.

Is there a way to see the saved password before I forget the network?

Yes, though not from Manage known networks directly. Open the older Network and Sharing Center path (search "View network connections" from the Start menu), open the connection's Wireless Properties, go to the Security tab, and check "Show characters" next to the password field — this requires administrator rights.

Can I forget a network without an internet connection?

Yes. Forgetting a network is a purely local action — Settings, Manage known networks, and the netsh command all work completely offline, since there's nothing to check with a server.

Why is Forget grayed out on my work laptop?

Covered above under managed profiles: IT-controlled devices can lock WiFi profiles via group policy or MDM, and a locked profile won't respond to a standard user forgetting it. That's intentional, not a fault.

Does forgetting a network fix "limited connectivity" or "no internet, secured" errors?

Sometimes, if the underlying cause is a corrupted saved profile with wrong IP or security settings. If forgetting and rejoining doesn't clear it, the issue is more likely the router, the ISP connection, or an outdated network adapter driver rather than anything a WiFi profile controls.

Should I forget public WiFi networks after I'm done using them?

It's a reasonable habit for networks you won't return to, mainly to avoid silent auto-reconnects to a spoofed access point using the same name later. For a network you use regularly, like a workplace or a coffee shop you visit weekly, there's no real benefit to forgetting it each time.

Can I forget every saved network at once instead of one at a time?

netsh wlan delete profile name="*" in an administrator Command Prompt removes every saved profile in one command, which is faster than clicking Forget individually when you're clearing a machine entirely.

Will I need to forget my WiFi network again after a Windows update?

Not normally. Saved WiFi profiles survive routine Windows updates. A major feature update or a full reinstall is the exception — that does clear saved networks, since it's effectively a fresh Windows configuration.

I don't see a Wi-Fi option in Network & Internet settings at all — why?

That means Windows hasn't detected a WiFi adapter, either because the PC is desktop-style with a wired-only network card, the WiFi adapter's driver isn't installed, or (on a laptop) WiFi has been disabled in the BIOS/UEFI firmware. Check Device Manager for a network adapter listed as disabled or missing a driver before assuming there's nothing to fix.

Revision note. Originally published November 28, 2016. Rewritten August 13, 2026 for Windows 11 and Windows 10, and expanded well past the original steps to cover the command-line method, the duplicate-network reconnect problem, and the privacy reasons this matters more than it did in 2016. Windows 10 has since reached the end of free support, which doesn't change these steps but is worth knowing if you're still on it. If you're here at midnight fighting a WiFi connection that won't behave, we hope this got you back online faster than it took to read.