how do i turn my wireless on it says inactive

not much to go on such as your home network, your neighbors, starbucks, etc. On an icon in the lower right hand corner of your desktop should you right click on each, one should be related to your network, select disconnect network. after disconnecting, choose an option of connect to network. If any network that is chosen has a password protection, you would need the password (lock icon). If there is no lock icon and you still cannot connect, the router may be configured not to accept your computer.
If can look at your ip settings (control panel->network->wireless adapter->TCP/IP properties) you may need to be set for DHCP. if this setting does not work, then you would need to configure your router or find out what ip address your router is expecting your computer to have.

there is also a physical switch on laptops that can get turned off, and laptop power settings that turn off network cards when laptop running on batteries only

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