How to Forget a Network on Windows 11

Whenever you connect to a new WiFi connection, your Windows PC remembers the credentials to connect to it automatically whenever it is in range for your ease of convenience.

However, there can be scenarios where you are facing some issues with a specific network where it is either not able to connect to the saved network anymore, or you just simply do not wish to connect to that network anymore.

Fortunately, many issues can be resolved by simply forgetting the network and connecting to it back again. Moreover, the process to forget a network is as plain-sailing as it gets.

Method 1: Forget the WiFi Right from the Control Center

If you wish to forget a currently connected or a network that is in range, you can quickly forget the network right from the Control Centre. In case you wish to remove a network that is not currently in the range, hop on to the next section.

To do so, click on the ‘WiFi’ icon present on the extreme right of the taskbar to reveal the Control Centre.

After that, on the Control Centre window, click on the ‘chevron’ (sideways arrow) present right next to the WiFi logo to proceed.

Next, right-click on the WiFi name from the list (only connected and in range WiFi SSIDs will be displayed here) to reveal the context menu. Then, click on the ‘Forget’ option to remove the network from the list of saved networks on your system.

Now in case, the network you wish to remove is not currently in the range, you will have to head to the Settings app on your Windows PC.

Method 2: Forget an Out of Range WiFi Network from the Settings App

A complete list of all the saved networks is present in the Settings app, if you wish to forget a network that you previously connected with, you can easily find it and remove the credentials from your system.

To forget a WiFi network this way, first, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ tile present under the ‘Pinned apps’ section to proceed. Otherwise, type Settings in the menu to perform a search for it.

Next, click on the ‘Network & internet’ tab present on the left sidebar of the Settings window to continue.

After that, from the right section of the ‘Network & internet’ page, locate and click on the ‘WiFi’ tile to proceed to the next screen.

On the next screen, locate and click on the ‘Manage known networks’ tile to head to the list of all the saved networks present on your system.

On the next screen, you can either locate a saved network manually by scrolling down the list, or you can use the search bar present under the ‘Known networks’ label present on the topmost section of the page.

Once you have located the desired network, click on the ‘Forget’ button present on the individual tile of each saved network listing, and it will be immediately removed from the system.

Method 3: Forget All the Saved Netoworks Using the Command Prompt

In case you are experiencing issues when connecting to saved networks on your Windows device, while every other device connecting to it works perfectly, you can remove all the saved networks and them add again as and when needed.

To delete all the saved WiFi networks from your system, first, head to the Start Menu and type ‘Command Prompt’ to perform a search for it. Then, from the search results, right-click on the ‘Command Prompt’ tile and click to select the ‘Run as administrator’ option.

Now, a UAC (User Account Control) window will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button to proceed.

Then, on the Command Prompt screen, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned command and hit Enter on your keyboard. This will immediately purge all the saved networks from your system.

netsh wlan delete profile name=* i=*

Method 4: Remove Saved Networks Using the Registry Editor

One more way to remove all the saved WiFi profiles from your system is using the Registry editor. In case you are not able to remove the saved profiles using any of the above method mentioned above, this is definietly going to be a sure shot to do so.

To remove saved networks this way, first, head to the Start Menu and type Registry Editor to perform a search for it. Then, from the search results, click on the ‘Registry Editor’ tile to proceed.

After that, a UAC (User Account Control) screen will appear on your screen. In case you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentails for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button to proceed.

Next, on the Registry Editor window, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned address in the address bar and hit Enter on your keyboard to navigate to the directory.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles

Now, on the left section of the window, under the Profiles key, you will be able to spot multiple subkeys, these are all the saved network profiles. Now, to identify the profiles, click on the each subkey.

Then, after selecting a single subkey, on the right section of the window, locate the ‘ProfileName’ DWORD file and the value column for the file to realize the actual name of the WiFi network.

Once you have identified the profile you wish to delete, right-click on the individual subkey and click to select the ‘Delete’ option to proceed. This will bring an overlay alert to your screen.

Now, from the overlay alert window, click on the ‘Yes’ button to confirm the deletion of the key.

Next, restart your PC from the Start Menu and saved profile should be purged from your system.

How To Reconnect to a WiFi Network

Well, once you have removed the desired network profile from your system, you might wish to again add it to the list of saved networks or just reconnect to it. Though the process has stayed almost identical across Windows iteration, a quick refresher cannot hurt.

To join a WiFi connection, click on the ‘WiFi’ logo present on the bottom right section of the taskbar to reveal the Control Center.

Once the Control Center is visible on the screen, click on the chevron (sideways arrow) icon present right next to the WiFi icon to proceed.

Then, you should be able to see the list of all available and in range WiFi networks. Click on its tile that you wish to connect to, and then click on the ‘Connect’ button.

After that, you will need to provide passwrod if the WiFi network is secured with a password. Once entered, hit Enter on your keyboard to join the network or click on the ‘Next’ button and it will be automatically saved in the system. In case the WiFi network is not secured with a password, you will be connected instantaneously.