Network and Sharing Center shows not connected, but computer is connected to wireless network

Anonymous
2009-11-06T21:59:55+00:00

When I open the Network and Sharing Center, or hold my mouse pointer over the internet connection icon on the bottom right of the taskbar, it shows that I am not connected to a network. However, I know I am connected to the internet. My internet and email are working fine. Also, when I click the option "Connect to a network," the list of available wireless networks come up, and it shows that I'm connected to my home network. How do I make Windows recognize everywhere that I'm connected to the internet, instead of just on the wireless-networks-available list?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2011-08-23T06:30:04+00:00

Had exactly the same issue running Windows 7 (win7). Connected to the Internet but status showing no connections and a red cross on the network icon. Problem also caused problems connecting to Lync and Office365 as well as VPN, which apparently uses the status to check if connectivity is available.

Found the solution here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/df17c593-e78f-4878-97b0-7569307934c5

Apparently some permissions gets wrong in the Registration Database and needs to be fixed using RegEdit. The solution is a step by step and might be solved just by deleting a cache folder using RegEdit and potentially setting some permissions.

Hope it helps.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-14T03:49:12+00:00

    Thank you.

    For months I have been searching for a solution to a similar problem and could not find it. Followed this advice, and it worked for me. Thanks again.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-07-23T13:43:49+00:00

    I resarted the Network Location service which also restarted the Network List service and the yellow triangle disappeared and red X in Network and Sharing disappeared.

    I still cannot ping microsoft.com so I'm not sure that is related as other poster(s) have thought.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-01T15:55:34+00:00

    Removing and redetecting  the network card from device manager fixed it for me.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-20T14:11:58+00:00

    From http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/df17c593-e78f-4878-97b0-7569307934c5/windows-7-states-im-not-connected-to-any-networks-when-in-fact-i-am-connected-to-my-wireless?forum=w7itpronetworking

    I monitored the processes running the NlaSvc and Netprofm services (using ProcMon), and noticed that both were denied read/write access to subkeys within the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList hierarchy.

    The processes were running as NetworkService and LocalService, respectively, so I tried adding full access for these service accounts to the entire subkey mentioned above.  Notice that permissions are not automatically inherited in the registry, so you may need to explicitly "replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object".

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