This paper proposes an adaptive overall control strategy of the permanent magnet synchronous generator-based wind energy conversion system (WECS) in the whole wind speed range. For the machine side, the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation is realized by stator current and mechanical rotation speed control under below-rated wind speeds. Under above-rated wind speeds, the extracted wind power is limited via pitch control. For the grid side, the reactive and active power injected into grid is regulated by DC-Link voltage and grid current control loop. In addition, under grid voltage dips, the pitch control is employed for limiting grid current and maintaining the DC-Link voltage around its rated value. The fault ride-through capability (FRTC) can be enhanced. The overall control strategy is based on perturbation estimation technique. A designed observer is used for estimating the perturbation term including all system nonlinearities, uncertainties and disturbances, so as to compensate the real perturbation. Then, an adaptive control for the original nonlinear system can be realized. The effectiveness of the proposed overall control strategy is verified by applying the strategy to a 2-MW WECS in MATLAB/Simulink. The results show that, compared with the feedback linearizing control (FLC) strategy and conventional vector control (VC) strategy, the proposed perturbation observer based adaptive control (PO-AC) strategy realizes the control objectives without knowing full state information and accurate system model, and improves the robustness of the WECS parameter uncertainties and FRTC.