Hi,

My Windows 11 laptop doesn't seem to realise when it's connected to
WiFi. When connected to WiFi it displays "No internet, secured" and the
icon in the system tray has a globe with a cross by it rather than the
usual WiFi icon.

But I clearly am connected to WiFi since I can browse websites as usual
and I am wrting you this message right now! If I connect another laptop
I have (which is Windows 10) or smartphone to the WiFi there is no
issue. Similarly, if I connect my Windows 11 laptop to another WiFi
(e.g. a hotspot from my phone) there is the same problem.

This is causing problems as some apps (e.g. Office) are getting confused
as they think they are not connected to the internet, even though they are.

Are there any solutions to this problem?

Thanks!

HC wrote:

> My Windows 11 laptop doesn't seem to realise when it's connected to
> WiFi. When connected to WiFi it displays "No internet, secured" and the
> icon in the system tray has a globe with a cross by it rather than the
> usual WiFi icon.
>
> But I clearly am connected to WiFi since I can browse websites as usual
> and I am wrting you this message right now! If I connect another laptop
> I have (which is Windows 10) or smartphone to the WiFi there is no
> issue. Similarly, if I connect my Windows 11 laptop to another WiFi
> (e.g. a hotspot from my phone) there is the same problem.
>
> This is causing problems as some apps (e.g. Office) are getting confused
> as they think they are not connected to the internet, even though they are.

What do you get if you try to access the following URL?

<http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt>

On 8/23/2023 4:23 AM, HC wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My Windows 11 laptop doesn't seem to realise when it's connected to WiFi. When connected to WiFi it displays "No internet, secured" and the icon in the system tray has a globe with a cross by it rather than the usual WiFi icon.
>
> But I clearly am connected to WiFi since I can browse websites as usual and I am wrting you this message right now! If I connect another laptop I have (which is Windows 10) or smartphone to the WiFi there is no issue. Similarly, if I connect my Windows 11 laptop to another WiFi (e.g. a hotspot from my phone) there is the same problem.
>
> This is causing problems as some apps (e.g. Office) are getting confused as they think they are not connected to the internet, even though they are.
>
> Are there any solutions to this problem?
>
> Thanks!

NISsvc (doesn't seem to work the way I thought)

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/configuration-manager-archive/enhancements-to-behavior-monitoring-and-network-inspection/ba-p/273238

Apparently, network configuration is a lot more complicated than just the "metric" weight...

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/mobilebroadband/understanding-and-configuring-windows-connection-manager

And what that article shows, as a general trend, is your result
is the antithesis of what the connection manager is doing. Networks
can be soft-disconnected, which should stop the opening of new connections.
Whereas, whatever is wrong with yours, new connections can be opened,
even when the thing is down.

Your symptoms is, you can open new connections, as long as an application
does not check the network status using some higher-layer function.

While this article has some advice, I don't like all the advice offered.
There are only certain ways you should be disabling IPV6, which is
why I wouldn't even be remotely interested in doing that. Before doing that,
it would be a separate research topic.

https://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/how-to-fix-a-no-internet-secured-error-in-windows-10-11/

And using Troubleshooters -- I like a troubleshooter, where there is a high probability
the thing it fixes, will never break again. If the usage of a Troubleshooter is destined
to become a habit, then using it is (mostly) a waste of time. If the Troubleshooters did
a better job of hinting root causes, I would not be so annoyed with them.

For example, I've had network problems, where using the network troubleshooter, instantly
restores network share capabilities. Yet, I'm doing this every bloody day, which is not
a productive usage of my time. I know there are three commands it will be executing
on my behalf, so that should provide some ideas as to where something could be broken,
but the tool should print out what subsystem it thinks is cooked.

*******

And you wouldn't, of course, be using a VPN and asking me a question like this :-/

You would stop using the VPN, and debug the base system first and see if the
problem persists in the vanilla case.

For a networking question, it pays to be very explicit about what fancy and whizzy
stuff you're using, that nobody else uses. For example, I have two VM hosting
softwares, and these create virtual Ethernets and stuff, which makes my networking
"messy and non-standard". Still, mine does not break like yours is doing.

People who develop VPNs, are not nearly as gifted as VM hosting people.
Some VPNs are commercial, some are hobby projects where the developer
barely knows networking. That are a lot of TAP and TUN projects,
that are just a dumpster fire.

I still do not know, what Windows function is the equivalent of the Network Manager
in Linux. In Linux, you have the basic connection (what existed in Linux *before*
the Network Manager). Then the Network Manager was put on top of that, for fun.
On the very first release in Linux, the Network Manager would claim the network was
down, and Firefox would not use the network. Whereas if you did a ping from Terminal,
of course it worked. From this, we could immediately determine the Network Manager
was a useless piece of crap. Today, it works a lot better. I do not know if
Windows has something that transparent, in its stack.

This article, for example, the stack *must* have stuff on top of WinSock we need
to know about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista_networking_technologies

*******

OK, you can check the items in the last post here. However, I cannot find
an "nlasvc" in Win11. Even doing in Terminal "tasklist /svc" does not show it.
services.msc shows an entry of C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe -k netprofm -p .
And it turns out, "nlasvc" is now "netprofm". Very helpful. Manual start. Not running!?!
WTF.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-10-globe-icon-indicates-no-internet-access/225a9fb8-7ea6-4b6d-b0c7-df3bbd28f260

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet
ActiveWebProbeHost string www.msftncsi.com
...
total six entries

It was using that address, in WinXP era too. That is part of figuring
out the "No Network" aspect, when an http packet sent to that server,
does not receive an answer. The packets used for that function are
very short, to reduce bandwidth costs. There is no Javascript or Google Analytics :-)
That's why the URI should continue to be http:// , because that is
"cheaper" than doing an unnecessary https:// and doing SSL/TLS.

Paul

On 23/08/2023 11:35, Andy Burns wrote:
> HC wrote:
>
>> My Windows 11 laptop doesn't seem to realise when it's connected to
>> WiFi. When connected to WiFi it displays "No internet, secured" and
>> the icon in the system tray has a globe with a cross by it rather than
>> the usual WiFi icon.
>>
>> But I clearly am connected to WiFi since I can browse websites as
>> usual and I am wrting you this message right now! If I connect another
>> laptop I have (which is Windows 10) or smartphone to the WiFi there is
>> no issue. Similarly, if I connect my Windows 11 laptop to another WiFi
>> (e.g. a hotspot from my phone) there is the same problem.
>>
>> This is causing problems as some apps (e.g. Office) are getting
>> confused as they think they are not connected to the internet, even
>> though they are.
>
> What do you get if you try to access the following URL?
>
> <http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt>
>
I see "Microsoft Connect Test"

HC wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> What do you get if you try to access the following URL?
>> <http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt>
>
> I see "Microsoft Connect Test"

The "reachability" of that file, should be what determines whether it
says it has internet connectivity, rather than merely a local wifi
connection.

I think earlier versions of windows used the "msftncsi" site that
someone else mentioned.

On 23/08/2023 14:16, Andy Burns wrote:
> HC wrote:
>
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>>> What do you get if you try to access the following URL?
>>> <http://www.msftconnecttest.com/connecttest.txt>
>>
>> I see "Microsoft Connect Test"
>
> The "reachability" of that file, should be what determines whether it
> says it has internet connectivity, rather than merely a local wifi
> connection.
>
> I think earlier versions of windows used the "msftncsi" site that
> someone else mentioned.
>
I have got to the bottom of this now - it appears the problem was being
caused by Norton anti-virus software.

On Fri, 25 Aug 2023 08:54:01 +0100, HC wrote:
>
> I have got to the bottom of this now - it appears the problem was being
> caused by Norton anti-virus software.

Back in the 1980s, Peter Norton software was high quality. He was the
Mark Russinovitch (Sysinternals) of the DOS era. Though his software
was not free, it was worth the price IMHO.

Then he sold his products _and_his_name_ to Symantec, and things went
downhill fast.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

Stan Brown wrote:

>Back in the 1980s, Peter Norton software was high quality. He was the
>Mark Russinovitch (Sysinternals) of the DOS era. Though his software
>was not free, it was worth the price IMHO.
>
>Then he sold his products _and_his_name_ to Symantec, and things went
>downhill fast.

Exactly, I only looked at Norton Commander for Windows for a couple of
minutes, then deleted it. Then I bought and installed Windows Commander
(now: Total Commander, www.ghisler.com), and keep updating it for free
until today.

-jw-

--

And now for something completely different...