How to set separate Home and Work network locations in Windows 8?

4

I use a laptop both at home and work. On my Windows 7 laptop, it let me specify the work network as Work and my home network as Home, and associated sharing settings and default printers accordingly.

Now I am using a Windows 8 machine and I don't see the ability to separate Work and Home networks in the same way. I even found that I was connected to my homegroup from home when logged in at work on my laptop (essentially, creating the homegroup in the internal work network).

Is there a way to configure Windows 8 so that I can have my separate Work and Home network locations again?

Ben Richards

Posted 2012-11-05T20:18:00.980

Reputation: 11 662

Answers

0

I recently got a new laptop (Sony VAIO Duo 11).

On this computer, Sony has included a "VAIO Control Center" utility. Under the "Network" settings, they actually included this functionality. They call it Network Profiles. It actually appears to cover all the functionality (that I cared about) of the Windows 7's default behavior, but with the added benefit of being able to manually create multiple networks beyond just "Home", "Work", and "Public".

This is a screenshot of what I have just configured:

enter image description here

It lets you configure separate network settings, including default printers, for different network locations. While this is a vender-specific tool, it indicates that it can be done (at least through a third party). Perhaps a generic tool also exists somewhere.

Ben Richards

Posted 2012-11-05T20:18:00.980

Reputation: 11 662

4

I believe that the first time you're connected to a network you're prompted to enable or disable sharing, which depending on the answer labels it as a public or a private network; at least that's how it always happened to me.

If you want to change that for a network you're already connected to, go to Settings in the charm bar (Win+C for example) and click over the network icon.

You'll see something like this:

Example

Then right click the connection you want and select Turn sharing on or off (there may be more things, like clearing saved credentials), you'll then be presented with a menu like this one where you can change it:

Sharing menu

The same Networks menu can be accessed left clicking the network system tray icon in the classic desktop. To confirm it or check the kind of network you're connected to open the network and sharing center (right click in the network systray icon) and there you can see it:

Network and sharing center overview

Xandy

Posted 2012-11-05T20:18:00.980

Reputation: 3 442

so it does not actually save a profile for each connection you set up? – Moab – 2012-11-05T20:43:41.767

I did see this, and I selected the second option (Yes). However, both my home and work networks apply to that option, and aren't separated. I want my computer to treat home differently from work (different sharing settings, but enabled, and different default printers). – Ben Richards – 2012-11-05T20:43:44.760

1I believe this is about as good as it gets in Windows 8... I just spent about half an hour on two different Windows 8 machines and it does seem like they have toned down the "locations" to just Private or Public, rather than the more explicit options from Windows 7. – Windos – 2012-11-05T20:43:54.187

1@Windos Personally, I asked because I find that hard to believe. It does appear that way, but since Windows is used significantly in the workplace, and BYOD is only gaining in popularity, it seems odd they'd dumb this feature down at all. – Ben Richards – 2012-11-05T20:44:51.967

1I think that they may have gone with the thinking that "If it truly is a work network, then it will be a domain." It's a shame, and I'll keep looking for a solution because this will probably stop me upgrading my personal laptop (which sometimes follows me to work.) – Windos – 2012-11-05T20:46:48.950

I'm afraid I can try if it stores profiles differently here, I only have one network accessible. But I remember that in another machine when I established a VPN to my work placement I was asked again the same question, this time for the VPN itself. – Xandy – 2012-11-05T20:47:27.627

Yes, you can have a private and public network at the same time. The problem is, both "home" and "work" would be/are considered private and subject to the same sharing/firewall/homegroup settings. – Windos – 2012-11-05T20:51:52.853

@Windos I don't think that's it, unless you mean to say that I should be logging in under my work account (which does reside on our domain, here). I haven't tried this yet, but I didn't have to do this in Windows 7. – Ben Richards – 2012-11-05T20:54:34.910

@Xandy I did see that too, but when I bring my laptop to work, it's not connected via VPN, but WiFi. Both home and work wifi networks are classified as "Private", not "Public", yet I don't want them to share settings. – Ben Richards – 2012-11-07T18:31:15.127

Yes I see, I tried it today too and apparently "Private" networks are treated all alike, there seems to be no way to differentiate them in regard of shared printers for example. Could you have different configs for different networks even being in the same category in Windows 7? – Xandy – 2012-11-07T19:59:25.397

@Xandy I don't know. My old laptop is still Win 7 so I could test that. But hopefully there is a way to enable this in Windows 8. – Ben Richards – 2012-11-08T19:59:25.070

Asked: 2012-11-05T20:18:00.980

Viewed: 3 620 times

Active: 2015-09-23T08:01:59.843