Windows 7 shows red "X" on network icon, but I'm connected

At first, I thought this didn't work, so I moved on, but it turns out I didn't allow enough time for it to work:

I followed the instructions in the high rated answer in this thread.

  1. Click Start, [click Run], type regedit, and then press ENTER.

  2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL-MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network

  3. Right-click this subkey, click Export , and then save the selected branch in a file.

  4. Click the Network subkey again, and then delete the Config entry. Do not delete the >Network subkey. The Config entry will be reconstructed when you restart the computer.

  5. Restart the computer. You may have to manually turn off the computer.

  6. The config key is re-created on the next boot up.

The final step (6) takes a few minutes to complete. During that time, I unplugged my network cable and replugged to initate the internet connection and the key rebuild.


Lets try flushing DNS cache and renewing your IP.

Flush the DNS cache and restore MS's Hosts file ... Copy and paste these lines in Note pad.

@Echo on
pushd\windows\system32\drivers\etc
attrib -h -s -r hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 localhost>HOSTS
attrib +r +h +s hosts
popd
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock reset all
netsh int ip reset all
shutdown -r -t 1
del %0

Save as flush.bat to your desktop. Right click on the flush.bat file to run it as Administrator.

Your computer will reboot itself.

this solved my issue.


If you are able to verify that you are connected to the internet, the icon should have no bearing on anything. However, I can understand how it is tough to look at. Try opening a command prompt as an admin and typing:

c:\ipconfig /release

c:\ipconfig /renew

c:\ipconfig /flushdns

c:\ipconfig /registerdns

See if any of these help.

Tags:

Networking

Windows 7

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