Troubleshooting connection problems can be a challenge because there are so many possible causes. First, try these steps:
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Open Network Diagnostics by right-clicking the network icon in the notification area, and then clicking Diagnose and repair.
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Make sure that all wires are connected (for example, make sure your modem is connected to a working phone jack or cable connection, either directly or through a router).
If the problem began after you installed new software, check your connection settings to see if they have been changed.
1.
Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.
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Right-click the connection, and then click Properties. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
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Check your router. Because of the new networking features in Windows Vista, some older network routers are not fully compatible with Windows Vista and can cause problems. You can test your router to see whether it is fully compatible with Windows Vista by running the Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool. Or, for a list of routers that are compatible with Windows Vista, go to the Windows Vista Hardware Compatibility List website.
If these steps don't solve the problem, look for a specific problem in the following list.
Open Network and Sharing Center by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, and then clicking Network and Sharing Center.
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If network discovery is off, click the arrow button to expand the section, click Turn on network discovery, and then click Apply. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
To share files: Click the arrow button
to expand the File sharing section, click Turn on file sharing, and then click Apply. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
To share files using the Public folder: Click the arrow button
to expand the Public folder sharing section, click either Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can open files or Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can open, change, and create files, and then click Apply. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
To share a printer: Click the arrow button
to expand the Printer sharing section, click Turn on printer sharing, and then click Apply. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
Do these steps on your computer and on any network computer running Windows Vista that you want to connect to.
NoteNetwork discovery is off by default for Public networks. Changing a network location type to Private is another way to turn on network discovery. To learn how to change a network location type, see Choosing a network location.
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Password protected sharing is enabled.
Password protected sharing is on by default for computers on workgroups. When password protected sharing is enabled, people using other computers on your network can't access your shared folders or printers unless they have a user account on your computer. There are two ways to enable file or printer sharing:
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Create identical user accounts on all computers on the workgroup (recommended). For more information, see Create a user account
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Turn off password protected sharing.
To turn off password protected sharing, follow these steps:
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Open Network and Sharing Center by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, and then clicking Network and Sharing Center.
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Under Sharing and Discovery, click the arrow button next to Password protected sharing.
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Click Turn off password protected sharing, and then click Apply. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
NotePassword protected sharing is not available on computers that are on a domain.
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The computer that you want to connect to doesn't have any shared folders.
Make sure there is at least one shared folder for you to connect to.
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The computers are not in the same workgroup.
For information about joining a workgroup, see Join or create a workgroup. Note that the default workgroup name in Windows Vista has been changed to WORKGROUP.
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File sharing is enabled, but sharing properties on the folder or printer are not set.
File and printer sharing is a two-part process: first you need to enable sharing as described above, and then you need to set sharing properties on the item itself or move it to the Public folder so that other people can access it. For more information about file and printer sharing, go to File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista on the Microsoft website.
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Your computer doesn't have the latest updates for your router.
To make sure you have the latest updates, check with the router manufacturer.
If you're using a wired connection, make sure that the Ethernet cable is inserted into the network adapter in your computer. Each end of an Ethernet cable looks like this:
Ethernet cable
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If you're using a wired connection, make sure the network cable is not defective. You can test this by using a different cable that you know works properly.
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Make sure that the cable is connected to the correct port on the router. It should not be connected to the "uplink" port. In addition, some routers disable the port next to the uplink port, so try using a different one.
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If you're trying to connect to a wireless network from a mobile PC, make sure the wireless switch on your computer is turned on. The switch is usually located along the edge of the computer.
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There might be problems with your network adapter. Check your local area network (LAN) connection:
Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.
The network icon changes depending on the status of the LAN connection, and there is information if the adapter isn't working correctly. Also, if a LAN cable is unplugged, a status icon is displayed in the notification area.
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Use Device Manager to verify that your network adapter is working correctly:
You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps.
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Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
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Expand the Network Adapters section, right-click your adapter, and then click Properties.
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Under Device status, check to see that the device is working properly.
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The network adapter driver might not be working properly. Download and install the latest version of the driver from the manufacturer's website.
Windows might be turning off your network adapter to save power. Turn off the power-saving option in the network adapter's properties (wired network adapters only):
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Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.
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Right-click the connection, and then click Properties. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
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On the Networking tab, click Configure.
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On the Power Management tab, clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box, and then click OK.
Are you using the latest driver for your network adapter? Go to the manufacturer's website to check for more recent drivers.
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Is the slowdown occurring only while music or video is playing? Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) fixes a problem with network slowness that can occur during music or video playback. For more information about installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), see Learn how to install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)
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Is TCP autotuning disabled or normal? Try disabling autotuning by following these steps:
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Click the Start button .
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In the Search box, type command prompt.
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In the list of results, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
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Type netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled, and then press ENTER.
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Restart your computer.
(To re-enable autotuning, type the command netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal, and then press ENTER.)
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Are the capacities of the router and the network adapter compatible? For example, if the router is 10/100, but the network adapter is gigabit Ethernet, the network will transmit at the lower speed. You will need to replace the slower device to get the higher speed.
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Are you using a wired connection? Try modifying the flow control setting by following these steps:
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Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
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Right-click the network adapter, and then click Properties.
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Click the Advanced tab, and then click Flow Control.
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Under Value, select Rx and Tx Enabled (in some cases, this might be called Auto or Rx/Tx Pause), and then click OK.
Make sure that you typed the virtual private network (VPN) server name exactly as provided by your network administrator.
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You must have an active Internet connection for a VPN connection to work.
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If your modem is external, make sure that the modem power is turned on.
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Contact your network administrator to make sure that you have the appropriate connection and domain permissions on the remote access server.
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This could be a certificate problem. For assistance, contact your network administrator.
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A VPN connection won't work with an active Winsock proxy client. Contact your network administrator to make sure the Winsock proxy client is not enabled.
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If you know the IP address (for example: 131.107.10.25) of a website, type that address in the address bar of your web browser and press ENTER. If this works, there is probably a Domain Name System (DNS) resolution problem. For assistance, contact your network administrator.
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If you have special software that is required or installed by your workplace, it could be part of the problem. For assistance, contact your network administrator.
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If you know the IP address (for example: 131.107.10.25) of your VPN server, type that address for the VPN connection, and then press ENTER. If this works, there is probably a DNS resolution problem. For assistance, contact your network administrator.
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There could be a problem with the server you are trying to connect to. For assistance, contact your network administrator.
This can happen when the encryption that your computer uses does not match the encryption used by the VPN server. To change the encryption settings so that your computer uses the recommended setting of 3DES, follow these steps:
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Open Network and Sharing Center by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, and then clicking Network and Sharing Center.
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Click Connect to a network.
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Right-click the VPN connection, and then click Properties.
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Click the Security tab, click Advanced (custom settings), and then click Settings.
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In the Advanced Security Settings dialog box, under Data encryption, select Maximum strength encryption (disconnect if server declines), and then click OK twice.
Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.
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If you don't see the File menu, press ALT.
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Click File, and then click New Incoming Connection. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
Open Computer by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Computer.
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Right-click the drive, and then click Share.
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In the drive properties dialog box, click Advanced Sharing. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
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In the Advanced Sharing dialog box, select the Share this folder check box, type a share name, and then click OK.
Notes
You cannot share the root of a drive with a dollar sign following the drive letter as in previous versions of Windows. For example, you cannot share the root of your C drive as "C$," but you can share it as "C" or any other name.
For security reasons, we recommend that you share only selected folders, rather than the entire drive.
Help and How-to
