Installing network drivers without internet

[pbubs]

My HP Pavillion laptop can't connect to the internet because it doesn't have the correct drivers. It's supposed to have the network adapter called "Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160 MHz" but that isn't showing in the Device Manager. So I went on separate laptop to download this adapter from the Intel website on a flashdrive to transfer it, however the network adapter won't install because "this installation requires Windows 10.017763 or newer," which I think is the equivalent of version 1809. My laptop is Windows 10 version 1803. I also tried to download the Windows 10 version 1809 update to my flashdrive, but it requires a network connection to do so. Basically I'm stuck in a loophole of not having a connection. Is there anything I can do to get an internet connection?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

This is the oldest driver I could find for that model Wifi adapter.

It has an April 2020 release date.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp103501-104000/sp103641.exe 

If that driver doesn't work, the only suggestion I can offer would be to use a USB Wi-Fi adapter, since your notebook doesn't have an ethernet adapter.

How did the notebook end up having W10 v1803 installed?

It should have come with a much newer version that that from HP.

[pbubs]

Hello and thank you for your suggestion. I'll try it. 
What ended up happening was I upgraded to Windows 11 but a couple weeks after I experienced issues, like not being able to connect to the internet, not being able to adjust the brightness (still always stuck at max brightness), and the sound output is all wonky, so I handed off my laptop to a friend and asked him to revert it back to Windows 10, which I now horribly regret. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, your friend did not do you any favors there.

There were probably two ways you could have reinstalled W10, which you can still do if you want.

1.  By using the HP cloud recovery tool if your notebook was supported.  That would have had you create a bootable USB recovery drive that would have reinstalled W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with your notebook.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility.  You will need a 32 GB USB flash drive for this, and you can use another PC running W7 64 bit or newer to create the recovery media with.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Customer Support

2. By creating a bootable W10 installation flash drive with the media creation tool from the link below, which will install the latest build of W10.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

[pbubs]

Hi sorry to bother you again, but my Wi-Fi adapter finally came in last night and I was able to update my laptop to Windows 11, hoping it would recover the missing drivers/adapters, but sadly that didn't happen.

I also tried downloading the drivers from the HP site by letting the site detect my laptop drivers and downloading those but my laptop still cannot connect to the internet without the Wi-Fi adapter. Running the troubleshooter for Wi-Fi/network adapters just tells me there are missing drivers. 

Is there a way to fix this, or like is there something I'm doing wrong?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

If you are still referencing the Intel AX 200 and you upgraded to W11, then use the latest driver directly from the Intel site.

Windows® 10 and Windows 11* Wi-Fi Drivers for Intel® Wireless Adapters

If that doesn't work, unfortunately I won't be able to help you any further.