Networking DOA: Unidentified Network, Access: Local Only

I am facing issue with network connectivity in Windows Vista. I had upgraded from Vista RC2 to Vista RTM. It was working quiet well, but due to some issue the network settings are screwed up. It is not working nor I can use the internet. I am getting a unidentified network error on the screen. I am bit annoyed with the same. I cannot figure out why this thing keeps on appearing. The adapter is in working mode and there is no problem with the configuration. The DHCP fails to work here. I am trying to work on static ip and hope that it will be fixed.

You are getting issue with network connectivity. I had landed in the same type of issue after running windows update. I do not know what it made changes but because of that Windows is unable to get lan access. It is live on network but there is a error saying limited connectivity and the internet also fails to work. It is a bit complicated to fix this problem. I re-installed the lan adapter and it looks to be working fine. Once it was installed all the settings are configured on automatic and things went back to normal. There was no error at all. I think this might be the best way to fix the issue.

I recently assembled a new PC with ASRock AM2NF6G-VSTA motherboard and installed Windows Vista Hoem Premium. There was no problem during the installation and system is working fine. I also have a Wireless home network at my home which is already running two windows Xp computers without any problem. When i try to connect this Vista to the same network, the little network icon in the system tray says “Unidentified Network, Access: Local Only.” My router is DLink 614+ cable router.

Surprisingly am not even able to ping the router from my Vista, neither I can login it. Somebody suggested me to run the router evaluation tool, I did the same and it came with good results. So what’s the problem? Can anyone please help me with this?

I bought a Vista back in 2007 and the internet has been working great until recently. I got a rogue on my laptop and ever since I only get local access. I've been googling this thing for around 3 ~ 4 days now and I've tried just about everything I've come across and nothing seems to be working. It says I'm connected to the router with excellent signal strength but then it says the router isn't connected to the internet and I'm sure that's not the issue because the computer I'm typing this on is connected to the router fine and it's a Vista as well so I'm sure it's not a router-Vista compatibility issue.

I've tried ..
- disabling IPv6
- updating drivers (there were no updates)
- multiple scans
- disabling firewall
- uninstalling norton (with the removal tool download)
- deleting my router profile and trying to connect again
- connect via ethernet cord (doesn't work)

When I do IPCONFIG /ALL, I get ..

Quote:

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C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Cindy-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g PCI-E Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-7D-F3-BF-89
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.210.45(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet
Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-A9-C7-11-CA
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Windows\system32>

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I've tried manually putting in the IP stuff, but I didn't know the gateway and DNS details so I couldn't really do it.

** I DONT have the reformat disks. When I bought the laptop they didn't provide me with one and when we asked for one they said they'd send us one but never did. Now they're closed (nationally) and I'm not sure as to where I could get one.

** I read something about rogue servers and me being the computer newbie that I am, spotted the word rogue and made the connection with the ROGUE I had that very day. o.o

I can ping 127.0.0.1 successfully. I can't ping yahoo.com. I can ping my IP.
Just something extra information.

Thanks!

There are some things that you can check and it will really help you. Start with making your network private. You can begin with reconfiguration and check back the same. Go in network sharing center and then checkout that your network is public or private. You can change that from the option available in it. Make it private and then choose Customize. Here under the router name you can find the wifi connectivity where you can find a button called as view status. Click on properties and then click on networking. Go in TCP/IP and choose automatic configuration. Restart your pc and then check again.

I had the same problem with a Compaq Presario. it used to connect to the internet through my wireless router(BT Total) but something changed and all i got was "Unidentified Network" in the network manager and holding the mouse over the network icons in the systray in the bottom right hand of the screen i got "Local Access" only. I tried various tips from forums and eventually downloaded new drivers for the Broadcom wireless card and it now seems to work even after waking the computer up from sleep mode!! Try downloading the most up to date drivers for your wireless card, the LAN ExpressAS IEEE 802.11 PCI-E Adapter and re-boot. Hopefully this was helpfull!

I'm having the same issue and have tried numerous things to rectify it, all to no avail. I found this info, thought it might be helpful to someone that has the infamous Local Only connection issue. It very well might this, can’t hurt to try right. I'll try it once I get home, at work right now.

The infomation came from this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937168


After you configure Internet Connection Sharing in Windows Vista, you may find that, although the network connection works correctly at first, the network connection stops working after one-to-two hours. For example, you may be unable to connect to the Internet, to other computers on the local area network (LAN), or to network resources on the LAN.


To verify whether Windows Vista is using Internet Connection Sharing, follow these steps:
1. Click Start

type Services.msc in the Start Search box, and then click Services.msc in the Programs list.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

2.Find the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service in the Name column, and then examine the status for the service in the Status Column. Windows Vista is using Internet Connection Sharing if the Status column for the service shows Started.

This very well may be the reason why some of us are stuck on local only access. If there's no need to share the internet connection why share it?
I'll try it when I get home and late you know ok.

I got the error on Compaq Presario laptop. It was the only one that I was using for internet but after upgrade the wifi failed to work. It looks some settings has caused the problem. I went in network and sharing center and did the changes you said. But still it failed to work. Later on I added all the settings manually. The gateway, dns, etc and it started working. But when the system went on sleep and wake back the settings are lost. They are not saved. I am looking for some way by which the laptop can remember that forever and the internet stays active all the time. I am sure there will be some options available for the same.

Had that "Local Only" thing going on for a while. Read below... I'm posting this onto several threads around the web....

I know some of these posts are quite old but I figured I'd post my solution that finally solved this annoying puzzle. I first got my Vista laptop to work with only WEP at first after I had created a special Guest account with my Netgear router & left the WPA2-PSK for all the other wireless connections in our house. And to be able to use the WEP I had to use the hex generated or whatever characters & not what I actually typed in as the password. IIRC it's a 25 or 26 character of jumbled up letters & numbers. USE THAT! For WEP at least. I used that for a few days until I figured out how to make my Vista conenct to the WPA2-PSK network.

One person's suggestion somewhere (similar to the poster above me) suggested updating the wireless network card's driver. Windows update & the device driver in the Control Panel all claimed that the wireless network card's driver was "up to date." The driver was dated 2007 & was a version 2.something. Even when I went to HP.com & entered my Compaq's info the HP site also claimed that my network card's software was up to date.

I eventually just did a Google search for "Atheros xxx Driver." Put in whatever the specific model number is of your adapter. Go to Control Panel - Device Driver - find wireless network adapter then right click & go to driver details. The info should all be there. After I found a version 9.0 with a 2012 driver date off the Web manually it all FINALLY worked with the modern industry standard's most secure wireless encryption.

A lot of people suggest "Hey why not just use WEP?" Because WEP sucks!, that's why. According to Wikipedia it's so bad & outdated that the FBI can crack it in under 3 minutes & little assh*les can easily find software online & hack your stuff & wreak havoc on your system. DO NOT USE WEP! You might as well leave it unsecured or put up a big sign in your yard with your WEP password, Lol ;D Hope this is of help to somone out there. That is if anyone still has & uses Vista, Lol :D