How to change from Public network to Private network

Question

First of all I'd like to say I've read topics but I have not been able to find an answer. I've had a power cut and when my PC with Windows 7 64-bit (12Gb RAM / Core i7) reboot, I've lost my perfectly working Internet connection. Now there's an "unknown network = Public network" instead. I've tried several things and this stuff really drives me nuts:

I've tried:

• to uncheck IPv6 because I've read somewhere that IPv6 may mess everything (sometimes). No success.
• to turn off network discovery. No success.
• to uninstall (not disable, uninstall) my network card so that it's re-detected. No success
• to remove the Admin password = no password for admin. No success
• try to set default gateway but no success
• the only solution that may work is by using gpedit.msc but, of course, it's not available for the Windows 7 home edition

I'm using my laptop with Ubuntu on it: absolutely no problem at all. This really drives me nuts. This is the first time in 15 years of computing that Ubuntu is better than Microsoft. Does this mean something? I've paid to upgrade from XP to Vista (because, as a Web developer I needed to test my websites with IE9). Vista was such a crap that I gave up and I paid once again $135 to upgrade to Seven home edition. And now I can't access Internet only because of a lack of intelligence of the team who created Seven (the network part to the least).

My network configuration is simple:

• My "big" PC which is connected to the "Internet Box" with Ethernet cable (I avoid Wi-Fi when I can)
• My laptop which is connected to the "Internet Box" with Ethernet cable too
• The Box with Internet access that acts like a switch too (=4 Ethernet plugs for local network)

So :

(Internet) <=> FreeBox (local IP 192.168.1.254)
                ^  ^
                |  |
                |  +-- laptop Ubuntu (inet adr:192.168.1.25)
                |
                +----- big PC with Windows 7 (see further for IP config)

I've tried to config "by hand" the IP config ("192.168.1.51" with default gateway "192.168.1.254" and DNS "192.168.1.254". No success = "unknown network")

Any idea how to solve my problem?

Here's my ipconfig /ALL

Configuration IP de Windows

   Nom de l'hôte . . . . . . . . . . : PC-de-Olivier
   Suffixe DNS principal . . . . . . : 
   Type de noeud. . . . . . . . . .  : Hybride
   Routage IP activé . . . . . . . . : Non
   Proxy WINS activé . . . . . . . . : Non

Carte Ethernet Connexion au réseau local :

   Suffixe DNS propre à la connexion. . . : 
   Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Connexion réseau Intel(R) 82567LF-2 Gigabit
   Adresse physique . . . . . . . . . . . : 00-22-68-66-FA-C6
   DHCP activé. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Oui
   Configuration automatique activée. . . : Oui
   Adresse d'autoconfiguration IPv4 . . . : 169.254.123.192(préféré) 
   Masque de sous-réseau. . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Passerelle par défaut. . . . . . . . . : 
   NetBIOS sur Tcpip. . . . . . . . . . . : Activé

Carte Tunnel isatap.{D2E5CF40-E064-4B8F-AD6F-806141104266} :

   Statut du média. . . . . . . . . . . . : Média déconnecté
   Suffixe DNS propre à la connexion. . . : 
   Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Carte Microsoft ISATAP
   Adresse physique . . . . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP activé. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Non
   Configuration automatique activée. . . : Oui

Carte Tunnel Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface :

   Statut du média. . . . . . . . . . . . : Média déconnecté
   Suffixe DNS propre à la connexion. . . : 
   Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
   Adresse physique . . . . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00

Answer 1

Ok I've tried almost everything, but the problem seems not to come from Windows 7. The big problem that was the stupid behavior of Windows 7: if I say "hey there's a DHCP" and it can't connect to the "DHCP Server", it should say that somewhere but it doesn't. Instead, it just "supposes" the network card works properly (which is not the case), and says it has detected a "Public network". It will never be able to connect to this "Public network" because the network card doesn't work properly. Anyway that was really confusing, because it was like saying "hey man I found a network, it works, but I can't connect to it so I guess this is a Public network"... So the simplest solution I've come so far is: boot on the Ubuntu Desktop Live ISO.

• If DHCP discovery works, it's clearly a 100% Windows problem.
• If it doesn't it's a hardware problem.

That was a lot faster than re-installing the whole Windows 7 upgrade stuff and re-installing all my software... just to discover this was a hardware problem and Windows 7 had given very bad clues about what was going wrong.

There should be a Wizard in Seven that could ask:

• "Are you a basic user?"
• "Are you an advanced user?"

If we answer "2", then "Do you know how to read advanced network diagnostic?"

• Yes
• No

If we say "Yes" then "Here's the detailed diagnostic: DHCP discovery has failed" and tada! Problem solved.

Answer 2

Try this, delete your network locations, then set up a new network connection.

Click the Icon for the unknown network in Network and Sharing Center, then choose "Merge or Delete Network Locations", highlight all the connections and select delete.

.

EDIT 2

This ip config below means Windows could not reach the dns server, so it assigns an internal network address. Since Ubuntu works, see what DNS server Ubuntu is using, compare it to the manual ip config you did in Windows, which showed it as 192.168.1.254, they should match, next try to ping the DNS server while in Windows.

See this page, try resetting your TCPIP stack, then reboot. How do I reinstall the TCP/IP protocol driver on Windows 7?

169.254.123.192(préféré) Masque de sous-réseau. . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.

Answer 3

Your question leads me to believe that you might be connecting directly to the Internet. You will always get unknown in that case. If so, to really make sure this does not happen to you all the time, you should have a local router/firewall with a switch with a few ports. You would then have a local LAN, something like 192.168.1.X.

If your Internet goes down, you have not lost your connection to the local network, and you would just reboot your cable modem (or similar) and router, if necessary.

I have been using Windows 7 since it came out. This is not a Windows problem, but it is hard to direct you further without seeing your network. You should really post your ipconfig/all results if you need more help.

Also, when you loconnectionnnection, just try opening an command box, and going ipconfig /release , then ipconfig /renew.

Answer 4

OK, now that you have posted your ipconfig, I see that you are using an internal network, which is good.

This is the big problem: 1) Do you you have a DHCP server set up? Right now, you are getting a 169.x.x.x address, which means that Windows is not getting an IP address either set statically or from DHCP. It gave one to itself...it is called a local link, or automatic private addressing. It is to talk to other computers local to it that have no configuration either.

Make sure your network driver is up-to-date. Make sure your netmask is 255.255.255.0. You can test by pinging 127.0.0.1. If you get no reply, your network card is not set up correctly. Then ping your internal default gateway of 192.168.1.254. Your NIC could also just have died.

Once you have that, you can set a domain in your DHCP server options of mydomain.local. If you are using a static IP address, go to the IPv4 settings>advanced>DNS settings and enter mydomain.local into the Append these DNS Suffixes. It is more for Windows server domains, but it should allow your network to identify itself.