How to Completely Disable ‘Wi-Fi Sense’ (Shared Hotspots) in Windows 11

Windows includes an aggressively helpful networking feature originally called “Wi-Fi Sense” (now rebranded as Hotspot 2.0 and suggestive networking). If you walk into an airport, a coffee shop, or a shopping mall, your Windows 11 laptop will automatically detect open, public Wi-Fi networks and silently connect your machine to them in the background. It also attempts to crowd-source Wi-Fi passwords and automatically authenticate your device against networks that other Windows users have previously connected to.

While Microsoft designed this feature to save you from manually typing in passwords at Starbucks, it is a catastrophic security vulnerability for privacy-conscious users. Automatically connecting to unverified, unencrypted public Wi-Fi hotspots exposes your laptop to “Man-in-the-Middle” (MitM) attacks, rogue access points, and aggressive network scanning by malicious actors. If you want absolute control over when and where your computer broadcasts its MAC address and establishes a connection, you must completely disable these automated Wi-Fi features.

Disabling Automated Hotspot Connections via Settings

You can turn off the primary mechanism that allows Windows to automatically hook into suggested open networks directly from the modern Settings app.

1. Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press Windows Key + i).
2. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Network & internet.
3. In the main panel, click on the Wi-Fi section (do not click the toggle switch to turn off Wi-Fi; click the text to enter the menu).
4. Look for a toggle switch labelled Show suggested open networks and ensure it is turned Off.
5. Next, look for the section labelled Hotspot 2.0 networks.
6. Click the toggle switch to turn Off the setting labelled “Let me use Online Sign-Up to get connected.”
7. Finally, click on Manage known networks. Scroll through the list and click “Forget” on any public networks your laptop previously connected to without your explicit permission.

From this point forward, your Windows 11 laptop will behave like a dumb terminal when it comes to networking. It will perfectly remember your secure home and office networks, but it will never again proactively attempt to connect to a random, unverified hotspot in a public space without you manually clicking the “Connect” button.