How to Fix Ethernet Not Working on Windows, Mac, and Linux

A wired Ethernet connection is supposed to “just work.” No passwords, no signal dropouts, no interference — just plug in and go. So when Ethernet stops working it’s especially baffling. Your PC shows “No Internet Access” or “Unidentified Network,” the cable looks fine, and switching to WiFi confirms the internet itself is up. The culprit is almost always one of five things: a bad cable, a disabled adapter, a stale driver, a misconfigured IP, or a hardware fault. This guide walks through every fix in order of likelihood, for all three major operating systems.

Step 1: Rule Out the Cable and Port

Before touching any software settings, confirm the hardware is healthy. It takes two minutes and eliminates the most common cause.

Check the LED indicators. Your router and your PC’s Ethernet port should both show a solid or blinking green light when a cable is connected. No light means no link — the cable or port is the problem.
Swap the cable. Cat5e and Cat6 cables look identical but fail constantly. Crimped connectors, bent pins, and internal wire breaks are invisible to the eye. Grab a known-good spare and test.
Try a different router port. A single port on your router or switch can die. Move the cable to another port and see if the link light comes on.
Test the cable on another device. If your laptop gets a connection with the same cable and same port, the problem is software on the original machine.

If swapping cables and ports doesn’t restore the link light, the Ethernet port on your PC may be physically damaged — jump to the hardware section at the end of this guide.

Fixing Ethernet Not Working on Windows

Check if the Adapter Is Disabled

Windows can silently disable your Ethernet adapter — this is more common than it sounds, especially after a Windows Update. Press Windows + X and select Network Connections (or go to Settings → Network & Internet → Advanced network settings). If your Ethernet adapter is grayed out with the label “Disabled,” right-click it and choose Enable. Your connection should restore within seconds.

Run the Network Troubleshooter

Open Settings → System → Troubleshoot → Other troubleshooters and run Internet Connections. Windows will check for common misconfigurations and attempt to fix them automatically. It catches roughly half of software-level Ethernet problems without manual intervention.

Update or Reinstall the Ethernet Driver

An outdated or corrupted driver is the leading software cause of Ethernet failures. Open Device Manager (search it in the Start menu), expand Network adapters, and find your Ethernet controller (typically listed as “Intel Ethernet Connection,” “Realtek PCIe GbE,” or similar). Right-click it and choose Update driver. If updating doesn’t help, choose Uninstall device, then restart your PC — Windows will automatically reinstall a fresh copy of the driver on reboot.

Disable Large Send Offload (LSO)

LSO is an adapter feature that offloads network segmentation to the hardware. After some Windows updates it causes the adapter to silently stop transmitting data even though it shows as connected. In Device Manager, right-click your Ethernet adapter → Properties → Advanced tab. Find “Large Send Offload V2 (IPv4)” and “Large Send Offload V2 (IPv6)” and set both to Disabled. This fix has a surprisingly high success rate on Windows 10 and 11.

Check Power Management Settings

In Device Manager → Ethernet adapter Properties → Power Management tab, uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power. Windows sometimes powers down the adapter to conserve energy and fails to wake it back up, particularly after the machine wakes from sleep.

Release and Renew Your IP Address

Open Command Prompt as administrator and run:

netsh winsock reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew

Restart your PC after running these commands. This clears corrupted Winsock data and forces your machine to request a fresh IP address from your router.

Network Reset (Last Resort)

Go to Settings → Network & Internet → Advanced network settings → Network reset. This reinstalls all network adapters and resets all network settings to default. It will also remove any saved VPN configurations and custom DNS settings, so note those down first.

Fixing Ethernet Not Working on Mac

Renew the DHCP Lease

Open System Settings → Network, select your Ethernet connection, click Details, then go to the TCP/IP tab and click Renew DHCP Lease. This is the quickest Mac fix and resolves most “connected but no internet” situations caused by a stale IP address.

Delete and Re-Add the Ethernet Service

If renewing the lease doesn’t help, try removing the Ethernet service entirely and adding it back. In System Settings → Network, click the three-dot menu next to Ethernet and choose Delete Service. Then click the + button to add a new Ethernet service. macOS will auto-configure it fresh.

Create a New Network Location

Corrupted network preferences can block Ethernet even when settings look correct. Go to System Settings → Network → click the Location menu at the top and choose Edit Locations…. Add a new location, switch to it, and let macOS build a clean set of network profiles. This fixes stubborn cases where deleting individual services didn’t work.

Check for a USB-C Adapter Issue

Modern Macs connect Ethernet through USB-C or Thunderbolt adapters. If you’re using a hub or dongle, test a direct USB-C-to-Ethernet adapter instead — multi-port hubs are a frequent point of failure. Also try a different USB-C port on the Mac; ports share controllers and one may be faulty.

Fixing Ethernet Not Working on Linux

Check if the Interface Is Up

Open a terminal and run ip link show. Your Ethernet interface will be listed as something like eth0, enp3s0, or eno1. If its state shows DOWN, bring it up with:

sudo ip link set enp3s0 up

Replace enp3s0 with your actual interface name. Then request an IP with sudo dhclient enp3s0.

Restart NetworkManager

Most desktop Linux distributions use NetworkManager to handle connections. A simple restart often clears temporary faults:

sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

After restarting, run ip addr show to confirm your Ethernet interface received an IP address.

Check for Driver Issues

Run sudo lshw -C network to list all network hardware. If your Ethernet adapter is shown but flagged with !-UNCLAIMED-!, the kernel has no driver for it. Realtek adapters — common in budget PCs and laptops — frequently need the r8168-dkms package on Ubuntu and Debian-based systems:

sudo apt-get install -y r8168-dkms

Reboot after installing. For Intel adapters, run sudo modprobe e1000e to manually load the driver and confirm it resolves the issue before making it permanent.

Check NetworkManager Configuration

On some Ubuntu installations, Ethernet interfaces are flagged as “unmanaged” in NetworkManager’s config. Check /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf — if you see managed=false under the [ifupdown] section, change it to managed=true and restart NetworkManager.

When It’s a Hardware Problem

If no software fix works and swapping cables and ports doesn’t help, the Ethernet controller itself may be damaged — often from a power surge, static discharge, or physical damage. Your options are:

USB-to-Ethernet adapter: A USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter costs $15–$25 and bypasses the built-in port entirely. This is the fastest path back to a wired connection.
PCIe network card: For desktop PCs, a PCIe Gigabit or 2.5G Ethernet card replaces the built-in controller for $20–$40.
Professional repair: For laptops where a bad Ethernet port is soldered to the motherboard, a repair shop can replace the port, though cost may approach or exceed replacement value on older machines.

Quick Diagnostic Checklist

Link light on? If not — swap cable, try different router port.
Adapter enabled? Check Network Connections / Device Manager.
Driver current? Update or reinstall from Device Manager / lshw.
IP address assigned? Run ipconfig (Windows), ifconfig (Mac/Linux), or ip addr (Linux).
Release/renew IP or restart NetworkManager.
Still nothing? Try a USB-to-Ethernet adapter to rule out hardware failure.

For more wired networking help, see our guide on fixing Double NAT and our comparison of Ethernet vs WiFi speeds.