Wireless Network not connected - but it is?!!

Hi,

I have been using Vista for some time now, and I connect to the internet via
a wireless router, which, up until today, has worked fine.

However, my Media Sharing has stopped working (I stream music to an xbox via
Windows Media Player) and when I go to look at the Media Sharing settings, it
tells me that "sharing is disabled as the computer is not connected to a
network".

I then go to the Network and Sharing Centre, which also tells me that I am
Not Connected to a network.

If I look in the taskbar, I do have the little netowkr icon, with a globe on
it, indicating that I am connected to the network - however, if I hover the
mouse over it, it tells me that I am not connected.

However - I clearly am connected, as I can browse the internet just fine! I
have done an ipconfig, and I have a valid IP address, and I can access my
router wirelessly, and see that all is well!

So - for some reason, Vista does seems to connect, but then doesn't seem to
realise that it has connected, and tells itself that it isn't connected,
which is ultimately preventing me from running Media Sharing. Any ideas as
to what could be wrong?

Well, there could be several things going wrong here.

The most likely would be that your firewall is blocking these
applications. OK, maybe mnot so likely, but always worth a look. If you
made any changes to a firewall or other security program, try undoing
them.

Have you tried restarting? This usually fixes network problems,
although I know it can be a pain to do so.

No, I've checked all my firewall settings, and they're OK. I think the
problem is something more fundamental than Media Player.

I am currently connected to the internet via my wireless connection -
definitely, I am surfing the web as we speak. However, if I look in the
Network and Sharing Centre, it says that I'm not connected to any network -
so it looks like some part of Vista isn't telling some other part of Vista
when it connects to a network - hence, Media Player won't start sharing as it
can't find a network to share on?

Any more ideas welcome!?

PS - I have tried restarting a few times, but it hasn't helped :-(

To rule out Player or Network try another player.

Done - it isn't media player. Network and Sharing Centre says I'm not
connected to any network - but I know I am. But Network and Sharing Centre is
telling all my applications that I'm not.

Does anyone else have any ideas? I'm totally stuck - short of reinstalling
Vista and starting again, I can't think of anything :-(

I'm having the exact same problem on my desktop PC.

I've included screenshots to demonstrate the problem. The name of my
network is Shorty, which is the same as the name of my desktop PC, which
is having this issue. If you look at CantFindNetworks.jpg (attached),
you'll see that Windows says it can't find any networks to connect to.
However, my computer is ALREADY connected to the network and the
internet, and I am having no issues in any other software (web browsers,
chat clients, etc all work just fine, despite the message that I am Not
Connected to Any Networks).

In addition to my desktop PC, I also have a laptop. My laptop has no
problems, and it is connected to the same network (though wirelessly ILO
by ethernet). I did a network map from each system at the same time,
and as you can see, the Desktop network map shows a problem between my
router and the internet, but my laptop does not show any problem. The
laptop represents what actually seems to be happening. So why is this
getting so screwed up?

It wouldn't be a problem, except that certain Windows programs (most
notably media sharing) will not work because they believe the 'Not
Attached to Networks' thing. Web browsers, chat clients, windows
update, etc don't appear to pay any attention to this problem. Please
help me out with any ideas.

Some Router are Not compatible with Vista. May be yours is one of them.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932134
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).

Have you installed any new drivers, software, hardware, if so roll them
back/uninstall.
Ping one of the other ip addresses on your network, see if it is
reachable, boot into safe mode with networking, see if you can still
connect etc, etc.

Maybe your network is changed to public (hidden). might want to make it
private or at work again to see if it detects other computers.

Try resetting the router, (not to factory defaults, so just pull out
the power plug for a few minutes and put it back in)

sounds like software, see if you can install another program that
organises your network settings.

I need to know more, are you connecting your pc to the router
wirelessly or by ethernet cable, are you using a laptop or desktop?

[nschleif]

I had this annoying problem, I would place the mouse pointer over the network icon and it would tell me i am not connected to a network when actually i was and everything seemed to be working fine. I tried everything to bring back the network identification to the icon and my network and sharing page.
Here is how i finally fixed the problem after 2 days of sleeplessness.
I went to the network icon on the desktop (classic mode) (I am running vista business prem), I clicked on network and sharing center icon, the then clicked on the customize button just below the world globe in order to customize network settings, then I clicked on merge or delete network locations at the bottom left side of the set network location page. I noticed a lot of duplicate locations. all said not in use and unmanaged. I deleted them all, every single one of them. I then went back and used the create a network connection function to reconnect to my network, I entered the SSID of the network as if it was a new computer. When it connected, walahh! I got my connection back.
NOW IF I CAN ONLY GET MY MICROSOFT UPDATES TO WORK, I KEEP GETTING THAT ERROR CODE THAT EVERYONE SEEMS TO GET.

[Beckyrocks210]

No offence Adam but what are you on about?

[Candace]

There may be many possible reasons for this. You can try to rename the connection on the router and if you do that then this will force it to make a new connection. So try this and see if that is able to solve the problem for you or not. Other than this, you can also refer the links below. They have also discussed about the same thing. See you can get the answer for your question out there.
You are currently not connected to any networks
Not connected to network?