Laptop won't connect to Wi-Fi, but your phone connects fine

I had this happen on a work laptop while my phone, my partner's phone, and a tablet all sat connected to the exact same network without issue. Restarting the router did nothing, which made sense in hindsight the router wasn't the broken part.

"Forget" the network and reconnect

Sounds too simple, but it's the first thing worth trying because it fixes a surprising number of cases. The saved network profile on your laptop can get corrupted wrong password cached, outdated security settings, whatever and reconnecting from scratch clears it.

• Windows: Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi → Manage known networks, click the network, select Forget, then reconnect and type the password fresh
• Mac: System Settings → Wi-Fi → (i) next to the network → Forget This Network, then reconnect

If that doesn't work: reset the network adapter

This was the actual fix in my case. On Windows there's a built-in network reset that's more thorough than just forgetting a network it resets the adapter drivers and TCP/IP settings entirely.

Settings → Network & internet → Advanced network settings → Network reset. Heads up: it'll restart your laptop and you'll need to reconnect to every saved Wi-Fi network afterward, not just this one.

Check if it's a 5GHz-only problem

Older laptops sometimes can't see 5GHz networks, or have a flaky 5GHz radio while 2.4GHz works fine. If your router broadcasts both bands separately (look for two network names, often one ending in "5G"), try connecting to the 2.4GHz one specifically as a test. If that connects instantly, you've found your answer it's a hardware limitation, not a settings problem.

Driver update, last resort

If none of the above work, the Wi-Fi adapter driver itself might genuinely be broken or out of date. Device Manager → Network adapters, right-click your Wi-Fi adapter, choose Update driver. If Windows says it's already up to date but you suspect otherwise, go to the laptop manufacturer's support site and download the driver directly Windows Update isn't always current.

What actually worked for me

Network reset, second option above. Took about 5 minutes including the restart and reconnecting everything. If forgetting the network alone doesn't fix it, that's where I'd go next before assuming it's a hardware issue.