Enabling the airplane mode will bar all forms of wireless communication on your Windows 10 device. You won’t be able to use your WiFi or host a mobile hotspot when the mode has been enabled. It’s very similar to turning on airplane mode on your phone before a takeoff to ensure there aren’t any interferences. Following features will not work after airplane mode is turned on:
- WiFi
- Cellular Data (if you have a device with a Sim Card slot)
- Location Service and GPS
- Bluetooth (Yes, Beats won’t work)
- Near Field Communication (NFC)
Enabling Airplane Mode on Windows 10 is fairly simple if your device is functioning normally. There are 3 places where you can get this done.
- Settings
- Action Center
- Taskbar Icon for Network
Enable Airplane Mode on Windows 10 From Settings
Step 1: Bring up the ‘Start Menu’ and click on the ‘Cog’ icon to access your PC’s settings.
Step 2: Find the tab that says ‘Network and Internet’. Your current network connection status will be shown when you enter this tab.
Step 3: From that list on the left side of the screen, find the option of ‘Airplane Mode’ (usually 6th on the list).
Step 4: The very first switch will be grayed out by default. Turn it on to enable airplane mode. When the switch is blue, you have turned on airplane mode and everything wireless has been disabled. Within the ‘Airplane Mode’ tab, you can also control WiFi and Bluetooth.
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Enable Airplane Mode on Windows 10 from Taskbar Icon for Network
Find the taskbar icon for ‘Internet Access’. If you are using a LAN cable to connect to the internet, you should be looking for an icon of a ‘PC with a LAN Connector’. Connected via WiFi? Find the icon showing ‘WiFi Signal’ in the taskbar.
Clicking on these icons will pop up ‘Network and Internet Settings’. You can click on the airplane icon in this menu that came up to enable Airplane Mode. When turned on, the airplane tile turns blue.
Enable Airplane Mode from Action Center
Action Center, the icon for which is located in the lower right corner of your screen, is where all your app notifications and alerts are listed. Find the icon for ‘Action Center’, which looks like this.
Action Center will swipe in from the right side and you can see all your app notifications, system warnings, alarms, and update alerts here (if there are any). My Action Center is usually clear from such notifications because I like clicking on ‘Clear’ every once in a while (Wait! Do I have OCD?).
By default, there will be 4 tiles at the bottom of the Action Center. Click on expand to view more tiles, among which one will be having an ‘Airplane’ icon. Click on the tile to activate Airplane Mode. When the tile turns blue, airplane mode has been enabled.
If your tile is not turning blue, it’s probably the most recent update that has caused this error. Try uninstalling the latest cumulative update and see if the issue gets fixed.
You should also check out: Reset Windows 10 Without Losing Your Apps
