Microsoft has just released a fix for a networking issue that Windows 7 users may experience. Windows 7 users, under specific circumstances, may be unable to click on the location associated with their network connection. The link that is usually clickable is not functional in this case.
The issue is caused selecting the checkbox to “Treat all future networks that I connect to as public, and don’t ask me again” during configuration of the network connection.
A Fix-It has been created by Microsoft to resolve the issue and restore the option to click on the network location. Since it is a Windows 7 specific issue, the fix is only provided for that operating system.
Windows 7 users can download the Fix-It from the Microsoft Support website. All it takes then is to execute the program on the target system. The fix resets the settings and displays a prompt to select a location for the active network.
The Fix It displays a fixing status report in the end with options to leave feedback, get online help or read additional information about the Microsoft Fix It.
Experienced users and users who have no success with the Fix It can try the manual fix to repair the network location issue instead. The manual fix is listed on the same support web page. Here are the steps to troubleshoot the network location issue manually.
- Close all applications that use the network connection.
- Click on the Start Orb, type device manager in the search and run box and press enter.
- Expand the network adapters listing
- Right-click on all network adapters and select Disable from the context menu.
- Now re-enable the adapter that is causing the troubles.
- Click on the Start Orb again, type in network and sharing center and select the program with the same name from the available selection.
- Select Choose homegroup and sharing options on the lower left side of the window.
- Click on the What is a network location link and select the network location
- You can continue the Homegroup setup dialog or exit it at this point.
- Re-enable all disabled network adapters in the last step.
Both the Fix-It program and the manual repair should fix the issue under Windows 7. Did you ever run into this problem? Let me know in the comments.
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“Click on the Start Orb, type device manager in the search bx and press enter.” …in the search box and… :-)
Rowan thanks, corrected.