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Yellow exclamation mark on network connection icon - No Internet access - How it works? RRS feed

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    Hi all,

    I can understand there is yellow exclamation mark on network connection icon with the description "Limited access" if the computer cannot obtain the IP address (e.g. DHCP server is down). But I don't know how "No Internet access" works after the computer has obtained an IP address. I'm guessing, Windows will try to "ping" Microsoft servers? Or try to establish a connection with Microsoft websites? And then Windows will show "Internet access" if sucessful, or show "No Internet access" with the yellow exclamation mark on network connection icon if failed? What I want to know is how Windows adjudges.

    Thanks,
    高麻雀

    Thursday, August 8, 2013 3:47 AM

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    Hi,

    I’m not sure what did you mean by this sentence “But I don't know how "No Internet access" works after the computer has obtained an IP address.” Did you encounter this issue that the Internet is accessible, but networking reports "no internet access"?

    To troubleshoot the issue, please perform the following steps:

    1. Restart Network List Service.
    2. Test if you can access this website:

                     http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt

    1. Run Troubleshoot Problems Tool in Network and Sharing Center.
    2. Temporarily turn off firewall and antivirus program.
    3. Upgrade the NIC driver to the latest version.

    Restart the computer and check whether the issue still appears. 

    Regarding how Windows adjudges, you can refer to the following content:

    When a Windows machine connects to a network, there are two technologies, Network Location Awareness (NLA) and Network Connection Status Indicator (NCSI) which are used to automatically identify the network the machine is connecting to and whether or not it has access to the Internet.

    NLA aggregates the network information available to the PC and generates a globally unique identifier (GUID) to identify each network.

    NCSI is designed to respond to changes in network conditions, and examines the status of a network connection in a variety of ways, it is responsible for detecting Internet connectivity status. Network Awareness collects characteristics such as the Domain Name System (DNS) suffix of the computer, the forest name, and gateway address of networks that the computer has connected to.

    If you want to know more information about how Windows knows you’re connected to the Internet and what happens in the background when windows identifies a connection status? Please refer to the following two blogs:

    The Network Connection Status Icon

    http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2012/12/20/the-network-connection-status-icon.aspx

    Network Location Awareness (NLA) and how it relates to Windows Firewall Profiles

    http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2010/09/08/network-location-awareness-nla-and-how-it-relates-to-windows-firewall-profiles.aspx

    Regards,

    Yolanda

    • Marked as answer by Cloud_TS Thursday, September 5, 2013 12:48 PM
    Friday, August 9, 2013 9:21 AM
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    You get a limited access icon when your gateway is wrong or unreachable.  Did you set your ip address you self or is it done automatically via DHCP? 

    I assume this is a home computer.  If so then your gateway will be whatever the address of your router is.  

    Most by default are something like 

    192.168.0.1

    or 

    192.168.1.1

    I suspect you have assigned the address yourself and not added the gateway.  If you have, switch back to auto and run ipconfig from the command prompt and look for your gateway address.  You can then go back and assign a address on the same subnet as that.  The DNS address also has to be set on the same page.  You can let your router handle this by using its address or you can point it direct to another DNS ie Google's is 8.8.8.8

    If you have any more issues could you post an image for us with a command prompt and ipconfig?

    something like this

    You can see in yellow the gateway (in my case it's my domain controller)

    use this as reference

    • Marked as answer by Cloud_TS Thursday, September 5, 2013 12:48 PM
    Friday, August 9, 2013 10:05 AM

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    Hi,

    I’m not sure what did you mean by this sentence “But I don't know how "No Internet access" works after the computer has obtained an IP address.” Did you encounter this issue that the Internet is accessible, but networking reports "no internet access"?

    To troubleshoot the issue, please perform the following steps:

    1. Restart Network List Service.
    2. Test if you can access this website:

                     http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt

    1. Run Troubleshoot Problems Tool in Network and Sharing Center.
    2. Temporarily turn off firewall and antivirus program.
    3. Upgrade the NIC driver to the latest version.

    Restart the computer and check whether the issue still appears. 

    Regarding how Windows adjudges, you can refer to the following content:

    When a Windows machine connects to a network, there are two technologies, Network Location Awareness (NLA) and Network Connection Status Indicator (NCSI) which are used to automatically identify the network the machine is connecting to and whether or not it has access to the Internet.

    NLA aggregates the network information available to the PC and generates a globally unique identifier (GUID) to identify each network.

    NCSI is designed to respond to changes in network conditions, and examines the status of a network connection in a variety of ways, it is responsible for detecting Internet connectivity status. Network Awareness collects characteristics such as the Domain Name System (DNS) suffix of the computer, the forest name, and gateway address of networks that the computer has connected to.

    If you want to know more information about how Windows knows you’re connected to the Internet and what happens in the background when windows identifies a connection status? Please refer to the following two blogs:

    The Network Connection Status Icon

    http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2012/12/20/the-network-connection-status-icon.aspx

    Network Location Awareness (NLA) and how it relates to Windows Firewall Profiles

    http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2010/09/08/network-location-awareness-nla-and-how-it-relates-to-windows-firewall-profiles.aspx

    Regards,

    Yolanda

    • Marked as answer by Cloud_TS Thursday, September 5, 2013 12:48 PM
    Friday, August 9, 2013 9:21 AM
  • Question
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    You get a limited access icon when your gateway is wrong or unreachable.  Did you set your ip address you self or is it done automatically via DHCP? 

    I assume this is a home computer.  If so then your gateway will be whatever the address of your router is.  

    Most by default are something like 

    192.168.0.1

    or 

    192.168.1.1

    I suspect you have assigned the address yourself and not added the gateway.  If you have, switch back to auto and run ipconfig from the command prompt and look for your gateway address.  You can then go back and assign a address on the same subnet as that.  The DNS address also has to be set on the same page.  You can let your router handle this by using its address or you can point it direct to another DNS ie Google's is 8.8.8.8

    If you have any more issues could you post an image for us with a command prompt and ipconfig?

    something like this

    You can see in yellow the gateway (in my case it's my domain controller)

    use this as reference

    • Marked as answer by Cloud_TS Thursday, September 5, 2013 12:48 PM
    Friday, August 9, 2013 10:05 AM
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    Just for kicks.  Notice on the command promt image the top set of ip address' is set as 169.254.24.44

    Its from my wireless that is not connected to anything.  You get an address that looks like this when you can not obtain a IP address from any source.  Ie if you are connected to a network that has no DHCP server on it.

    ;)

    Friday, August 9, 2013 10:07 AM
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    I had a similar problem when setting up a lab with a domain controller. The DC would show the yellow icon but still had internet access. My IP settings were manual and i had the preferred DNS set to localhost. Once i added an external DNS server (8.8.8.8) the icon cleared.

    Thanks!

    • Proposed as answer by sovan ghosh Saturday, November 16, 2013 4:57 PM
    • Unproposed as answer by sovan ghosh Saturday, November 16, 2013 4:57 PM
    Wednesday, November 6, 2013 3:48 PM
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    I am unsure of the meaning of your question. This does appear to be the same problem I was having with ALL of the computers on my home network. It was not an issue until windows 8.1 upgrade wouldn't let me open any of my apps. the issue was with my antivirus (Avast in this case)  web shield. the latest update corrected this issue.
    Thursday, November 28, 2013 6:26 PM
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    I fixed mine.  network adapter........uncheck IPV6.  Unless you know for sure your system is set up to handle IPV6.
    Friday, May 27, 2016 2:25 PM
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    I had a similar problem when setting up a lab with a domain controller. The DC would show the yellow icon but still had internet access. My IP settings were manual and i had the preferred DNS set to localhost. Once i added an external DNS server (8.8.8.8) the icon cleared.

    Thanks!

    I had the exact same problem as this: lab setup, domain controller. I added 8.8.8.8 as an Alternate DNS Server, disabled and enabled the network interface, yellow icon went away.

    Now, WHY does this work? I'd like to figure that out.

    Monday, August 27, 2018 5:09 PM
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    problem fixed here : https://youtu.be/EX6AKYRNg1g
    Tuesday, July 21, 2020 11:48 PM