Any Computer Experts Out There?

[buseng]

As the title says, are there any computer buffs out there? I have just started having a problem with my PC with the networking situation. It happens randomly after a boot-up for no apparent reason. What it is the networking icon goes to a globe pattern with an alert symbol in the right hand corner & says "no internet access". However I do have internet access using a browser & can go online but the Windows Store apps do not have internet access & won't work properly. Running network troubleshooter does not find anything & only suggests resetting the network settings which does not work.
It's nothing to to with my router or isp connection as all other devices work ok including another Windows 10 laptop. It's also the same whatever network I use (ethernet or wireless). It should show an ethernet or wireless icon in the taskbar. I got it to work by restoring a backup of my system , but it has gone again. Trying restoring the old backup again did not work again. The only thing I have done recently is to install the latest (May 2020) Windows feature update (v2004). The problem started about 10 days after doing this. Said laptop (above) still has the previous Windows version (1909).
Thanks in advance, I know it's a bit long winded.

[Fed-up]

Are you still with PlusNet bus?

IIRC checking internet access involves checking certain IPs/URLs so it may be a routing problem or firewall problem.

Have you tried speaking to support at your ISP?

[buseng]

Are you still with PlusNet bus?

IIRC checking internet access involves checking certain IPs/URLs so it may be a routing problem or firewall problem.

Have you tried speaking to support at your ISP?

Thanks, yes I an still with PN. However as I said I can actually access the internet but my windows 10 desktop thinks it can't. Basically a false positive glitch in the networking service on my computer. Also as I said all other devices in the house using the same router including another Win 10 laptop are ok. No AV or firewall settings have been changed.

[Fed-up]

It looks like you are not alone with this problem. For example, see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 6b2bd8560c

Looking at the end solution it may be worth disabling and reenabling the network adapters, or if you have a spare router trying that.

[buseng]

It looks like you are not alone with this problem. For example, see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 6b2bd8560c

Looking at the end solution it may be worth disabling and reenabling the network adapters, or if you have a spare router trying that.

I might of found a partial solution, it seems that Windows checks for an active internet connection every time it boots up during the lock/sign in screen by accessing one of it's servers & read a text file. The network icon is determined on the final result of this. This feature can be enabled or disabled in the registry. Looking at my registry it was disabled (don't know why). Anyway I enabled it & rebooted, now it seems ok. Whether it will happen again is anyone's guess.
Thanks anyway.

[Fed-up]

Brilliant news. One of those to chalk up to "I haven't a clue how it got into that position but glad it seems to be fixed".

[buseng]

Brilliant news. One of those to chalk up to "I haven't a clue how it got into that position but glad it seems to be fixed".

Yeah, until the next boot up

[Souwester]

I might of found a partial solution, it seems that Windows checks for an active internet connection every time it boots up during the lock/sign in screen by accessing one of it's servers & read a text file. The network icon is determined on the final result of this. This feature can be enabled or disabled in the registry. Looking at my registry it was disabled (don't know why). Anyway I enabled it & rebooted, now it seems ok. Whether it will happen again is anyone's guess.
Thanks anyway.

I have the same problem on a machine. Firefox/Chrome work fine with the internet, but nothing Microsoft-related. What exactly did you change in the registry?

[buseng]

I might of found a partial solution, it seems that Windows checks for an active internet connection every time it boots up during the lock/sign in screen by accessing one of it's servers & read a text file. The network icon is determined on the final result of this. This feature can be enabled or disabled in the registry. Looking at my registry it was disabled (don't know why). Anyway I enabled it & rebooted, now it seems ok. Whether it will happen again is anyone's guess.
Thanks anyway.

I have the same problem on a machine. Firefox/Chrome work fine with the internet, but nothing Microsoft-related. What exactly did you change in the registry?

Will try & post the details tomorrow. Only just seen this.

[h3mp]

are you running a 3rd party antivirus? if so i'd recommend uninstalling it to see if that helps (Windows 10 has AV built in, so this is not a security risk)
Mark

[buseng]

I might of found a partial solution, it seems that Windows checks for an active internet connection every time it boots up during the lock/sign in screen by accessing one of it's servers & read a text file. The network icon is determined on the final result of this. This feature can be enabled or disabled in the registry. Looking at my registry it was disabled (don't know why). Anyway I enabled it & rebooted, now it seems ok. Whether it will happen again is anyone's guess.
Thanks anyway.

I have the same problem on a machine. Firefox/Chrome work fine with the internet, but nothing Microsoft-related. What exactly did you change in the registry?

Will try & post the details tomorrow. Only just seen this.

This is what I done,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesNlaSvcParametersInternet
Under the Internet key, double-click EnableActiveProbing, and then in Value data, type: 0.The default for this value is 1. Setting the value to 0 prevents NCSI from connecting to a site on the Internet during checks for connectivity.

URL
http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt
131.107.255.255

Make sure it is 1 & not 0

[h3mp]

I have the same problem on a machine. Firefox/Chrome work fine with the internet, but nothing Microsoft-related. What exactly did you change in the registry?

Will try & post the details tomorrow. Only just seen this.

This is what I done,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesNlaSvcParametersInternet
Under the Internet key, double-click EnableActiveProbing, and then in Value data, type: 0.The default for this value is 1. Setting the value to 0 prevents NCSI from connecting to a site on the Internet during checks for connectivity.

URL
http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt
131.107.255.255

Make sure it is 1 & not 0

Bus - this is just hiding an issue, not fixing it, best not to do these things..

[buseng]

Will try & post the details tomorrow. Only just seen this.

This is what I done,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesNlaSvcParametersInternet
Under the Internet key, double-click EnableActiveProbing, and then in Value data, type: 0.The default for this value is 1. Setting the value to 0 prevents NCSI from connecting to a site on the Internet during checks for connectivity.

URL
http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt
131.107.255.255

Make sure it is 1 & not 0

Bus - this is just hiding an issue, not fixing it, best not to do these things..

All I can say that it worked for me & still worked when I booted up today. Have the proper ethernet icon saying with internet access.

[Fed-up]

So just to clarify, you enabled Active Probing by setting this value back to the default value of 1. Is that correct?

I was initially confused by what you copy/pasted and wrote, as I think h3mp may have been as well.

[buseng]

So just to clarify, you enabled Active Probing by setting this value back to the default value of 1. Is that correct?

I was initially confused by what you copy/pasted and wrote, as I think h3mp may have been as well.

That is correct in your first sentence, yes. It was on "0" for some reason.
Confusing, yes.

I can only assume that if Active Probing is disabled it can't verify an internet connection is present, so assumes there isn't one.

[Souwester]

All I can say that it worked for me & still worked when I booted up today. Have the proper ethernet icon saying with internet access.

I tried what you said and then I had no internet access at all. I changed it back, and now everything appears to be fine! Don't you just love computers!