Why does Windows Firewall show "Unidentified network" as one of my "Active public networks"?

I have a machine that has wifi and ethernet. I have wifi active, and am not using ethernet. My Windows firewall shows two active networks, one is the wifi network I connect to, and the other is "Unidentified network". What is this unidentified network? I can't seem to be able to get rid of it because I can't find where it is even defined. How can you detect this and know whether this is just something appropriate or possibly a security problem? I am on Windows 7 64bit.

Rhubarb

Posted 2010-05-10T04:03:07.033

Reputation: 411

Answers

Have you installed a virtualisation product such as VMware Workstation/Player or VirtualBox? These create virtual network adapters which are usually classified as "Unidentified".

ThatGraemeGuy

Posted 2010-05-10T04:03:07.033

Reputation: 3 088

Yes, I have the VMWare PLayer on my machine. – Rhubarb – 2010-05-10T13:05:35.373

This site has a little information on this, and a fix if this is causing problems for you: http://aspoc.net/archives/2008/10/30/unidentified-network-issue-with-vmwares-virtual-nics-in-vista/

– ThatGraemeGuy – 2010-05-12T10:08:07.300

Open Network and Sharing Center, and click Change Adapter Settings on the left side. If one adapter says "VMware ... Unidentified Network", then it's probably a pass-through adapter for VMware's networking capabilities. I have one called "VirtualBox Host-Only Network" on my computer since I have VirtualBox installed.

Hello71

Posted 2010-05-10T04:03:07.033

Reputation: 7 636

That doesn't solve it – barlop – 2015-09-24T10:28:21.973