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Internet connectivity

I'm making this post on a Windows 10 machine, which is certainly connected to the Internet (otherwise I wouldn't be able to make the post in the first place!).

But as the above figure shows, Windows doesn't understand that I'm connected to the Internet. For that reason, it does not download anything from Microsoft Store or Windows Update. (It waits for the Internet connection.)

More info:

  1. I'm not using a VPN/Proxy.
  2. ping google.com works just fine from the command line.
  3. I tried sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth, to no avail.
  4. Deleting WiFi driver, or restarting the Windows didn't help.
  5. Network Reset didn't help.
  6. Using other access points wasn't useful either.

I've tried pretty much anything I found on the web, and as a last resort will reinstall Windows. But before that, could you recommend some other solutions?

Sadeq Dousti
  • 721

3 Answers3

11

I found the answer, so I'm posting it for future reference.

Windows uses Active Probing to detect whether internet connectivity is OK (details).

It basically probes some servers using DNS, HTTP, UDP, IPv6, etc. queries to detect the connectivity mode.

WindowsSpyBlocker is a tool which checks the issues with this. I ran it, and selected option 1 (Telemetry) and then option 2 (NCSI = Network Connectivity Status Indicator):

WindowsSpyBlocker - options 1, then 2

Choosing option 5 (Test the internet connection) shows the error:

WindowsSpyBlocker - option 5

It seems that there are IPv6 and UDP problems between my network and Microsoft's default server (msftconnecttest.com).

So, I picked option 3 (Apply Firefox NCSI), and then checked again with option 5. It now works like a charm:

WindowsSpyBlocker - option 5 with Firefox selected as NCSI

The network indicator is now OK, and Windows Update / Microsoft Store work as expected.

The relevant Registry Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet, after applying FireFox NCSI, looks like this:

Registry - after applying FireFox NCSI

textual version (registry update file) of the picture above:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet]
"ActiveDnsProbeContent"="208.67.222.222"
"ActiveDnsProbeContentV6"="2620:119:35::35"
"ActiveDnsProbeHost"="resolver1.opendns.com"
"ActiveDnsProbeHostV6"="resolver1.opendns.com"
"ActiveWebProbeContent"="success"
"ActiveWebProbeContentV6"="success"
"ActiveWebProbeHost"="detectportal.firefox.com"
"ActiveWebProbeHostV6"="detectportal.firefox.com"
"ActiveWebProbePath"="success.txt"
"ActiveWebProbePathV6"="success.txt"
"CaptivePortalTimer"=dword:00000000
"CaptivePortalTimerBackOffIncrementsInSeconds"=dword:00000005
"CaptivePortalTimerMaxInSeconds"=dword:0000001e
"EnableActiveProbing"=dword:00000001
"PassivePollPeriod"=dword:0000000f
"StaleThreshold"=dword:0000001e
"WebTimeout"=dword:00000023

Save into a file registry_update.reg, double-click and run the update.

galapah
  • 133
Sadeq Dousti
  • 721
4

Based on my understanding, now your issue is that NCSI reports no internet.

The Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) is a mechanism that controls the internet connectivity display in the Taskbar, among various other functionalities. This mechanism is considered to be a smart notification system for users to know about their current internet status. If the NCSI is unable to perform its function, it will indicate that there is no internet availability, even though the computer is able to access the internet through the browser and ping other IP addresses.

As a workaround, you could try the following methods:

Make sure this registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet] EnableActiveProbing was set to 1.

Make sure passive probing be enabled as well. In case active probing fails, passive probing can also detect internet unless it’s disabled by GPO. Check below to make sure you didn’t disable passive probing.

Make sure this registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetworkConnectivityStatusIndicator] NoActiveProbe was set to 0 (should either not present or value must be 0).

Then please restart the machine and see if NCSI still reports no internet.

Kirko
  • 3
Sunny
  • 704
0

Well, I spent almost a day to fix this NCSI error too, but it was related to [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles] key being completely EMPTY due to unknown. My ethernet NIC is Realtek PCIe GbE Family (rt640x64.inf internal driver) and associated bluetooth virtual networking.

Restoring this key with standard dism & sfc brings you nothing, as these two do not fix registry issues. Resetting winsock with netsh int ip reset && netsh winsock reset does nothing as well.

The only working way was to make a parallel installation of another Windows from the same distro and to compare related registry changes.

  1. The result was absence of [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NcdAutoSetup\NetworkSetting{F56A87D0-3825-4272-90E1-07D44ED7296F}] on the BUGGY machine, where F56A87D0-3825-4272-90E1-07D44ED7296F must be your actual key from a PARALLEL installation of windows with working and connected network (just browse this key in registry and export it to separate reg file)

  2. Make export of another key as well at [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList] to compile a fix for your BUGGY machine later

  3. Compare your non-overlapping values from BUGGY machine and PARALLEL machine to compile a reg fix. My fix was like this

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\NewNetworks] "NetworkList"=hex(7):00,00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Nla]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Nla\Cache]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Nla\Cache\Intranet] "{5950C3EF-5922-4E57-9984-3B598C1B62DF}"=hex:20,10,7a,d1,af,ea

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles{F56A87D0-3825-4272-90E1-07D44ED7296F}] "ProfileName"="Network" "Description"="Network" "Managed"=dword:00000000 "Category"=dword:00000001 "DateCreated"=hex:e9,07,03,00,03,00,13,00,17,00,23,00,0a,00,54,00 "NameType"=dword:00000006 "DateLastConnected"=hex:e9,07,03,00,04,00,14,00,0e,00,21,00,12,00,2e,03 "CategoryType"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Signatures]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Signatures\Managed]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Signatures\Unmanaged]

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Signatures\Unmanaged\010103000F0000F0080000000F0000F078DCF3512325938C5C92C6503A6141DE97525814E1660650C19B2B14F870238F] "ProfileGuid"="{F56A87D0-3825-4272-90E1-07D44ED7296F}" "Description"="Network" "Source"=dword:00000008 "DnsSuffix"="" "FirstNetwork"="Network" "DefaultGatewayMac"=hex:20,10,7a,d1,af,ea

  4. Import your [HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NcdAutoSetup] from a PARALLEL machine as well to restore ref value to ProfileGuid

  5. You can reboot now and see your networking icon working in correct NCSI status. However, if you attempt to open settings menu it might close automatically due to probably permissions or ??? Therefore, now go to Devices manager (Win+X), uninstall your Realtek NIC (driver->uninstall), run "netsh int ip reset", run "netsh winsock reset" and proceed with reboot.

  6. Upon completion of boot, configure your network as usual and check your working NCSI status

Good Luck!

GuacamoleeKilla
  • 1