Over the past few days, I had to turn on the Airplane mode in Windows 10 a couple of times. As you likely know, the Airplane mode can be turned on or off quickly by clicking the Action Center icon in the system tray and then clicking Airplane tile.
What’s Airplane or flight mode?
The Airplane mode in Windows was first introduced with Windows 8. The Airplane mode does nothing but simultaneously turns off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. On a mobile phone, the Airplane or flight mode disables Wi-Fi, mobile network, FM radio, and Bluetooth connections simultaneously.
Although the Airplane mode is a handy feature available in Windows 10, the problem with this feature is that, at times, it’s hard to turn off the Airplane mode. Yes, when the Airplane is turned on, clicking the Airplane tile on the Action Center should turn off the mode, but that doesn’t always happen on Windows 10.
The other problem with this feature is that the Airplane icon continues to appear in the system tray on the taskbar even after disabling the Airplane mode. In other words, the Airplane icon, which appears once you turn on the Airplane mode, refuses to go away even after turning off the mode.
If you’re unable to turn off or disable Airplane/flight mode in Windows 10, here is how to turn it off and connect to your Wi-Fi connection.
Method 1 – turn off Airplane mode under Settings
Method 2 – turn on Wi-Fi when Airplane mode is on
Method 3 – Get rid of the Airplane mode icon from the system tray
Method 1 of 3
Turn off the Airplane mode via Settings
If you have tried this method already, please scroll down to see Method 2.
Step 1: Open the Settings app by clicking or tapping the Settings icon in the left pane of the Start menu. Settings can also be launched using the Windows logo + I hotkey.
Step 2: Once Settings launched, click or tap Network & Internet.
Step 3: Click or tap Airplane mode. Change the toggle button position under Turn this on to stop all wireless communication, such as Wi-Fi, cellular, and Bluetooth. Once the Airplane mode is turned off, make sure that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switches under the Wireless devices section are turned on.
Method 2 of 3
Turn on Wi-Fi under Settings to turn off the Airplane mode
If you are unable to turn off the Airplane mode from Action Center or Settings (by following instructions in Method 1) and want to connect to a Wi-Fi connection right away, you can do so by following given below directions.
Step 1: When the Airplane mode is refusing to go off, open the Settings app by clicking or tapping the Settings icon on the left side of the Start menu, as shown in the picture below.
Step 2: Once the Settings app is launched, click or tap Network and Internet.
Step 3: Click or tap Wi-Fi. Turn on the Wi-Fi by changing toggle switch to On position to automatically connect to the default Wi-Fi network. If not connected, click on the Show available networks link (present on the same page) to see the network flyout and then click on the Wi-Fi network that you want your PC to connect to.
Method 3 of 3
Remove Airplane mode icon from the system tray
As mentioned before, the Airplane mode doesn’t go away even after turning off the mode. If you want to get rid of the icon, follow given below directions.
Step 1: Open Windows Explorer (any folder), if it’s not already running.
Step 2: Right-click on the empty area of the taskbar and then click Task Manager to open the same. Alternatively, you can use Ctrl + Shift + Esc hotkey to open the Task Manager quickly.
Step 3: If the taskbar is opened with limited details view (refer to the picture below), click More details button go the full view.
Step 4: Under the Processes tab, right-click on the Windows Explorer entry, and then click Restart option to restart the File Explorer, including the taskbar.
Restarting Windows Explorer will refresh icons on the taskbar. The Airplane mode icon should go away now.
Don’t forget to check out Jeff’s solution mentioned in the comments below. His answer seems to be working for many.