About a year ago, my brother bought a laptop with Windows Vista on it, but when he connected to my wireless network, he didn’t gain access to the internet. He could see all the computers in the network and access shared files, but no internet. Vista showed the connection as “Local access only”. We tried all kinds of settings in Vista, but no luck. In the end we figured it must be the way my network was set up, and we gave up – he was only visiting for a day, and at home he would have direct internet access, no network settings needed.
Today I installed Windows 7 beta on a new computer, and when I tried to access the internet with it, the same problem came up: “Local only”. Naturally I went looking for answers online (no, not from the new pc!), but all I found was a description of the problem, and people offering all kinds of solutions that simply don’t work. However, in the end I ran into an old page that describes how to solve it in Windows Vista via regedit, by removing IPv6 altogether. Luckily I read “remove IPv6” before I read the ‘via regedit’ part, and I went into the network settings and removed IPv6 by unticking a box. It worked straight away, my network now says “Local and Internet access”, and I can surf the Internet without a problem.
Step by step:
- click the Start button
- click “Control Panel”
- click “Network and Internet”
- click “Network and Sharing Center”
- click the link “Local Area Connection”
- click the button “Properties”
- untick the box in front of “Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)”
- click the OK button
- close the Local Area Connection popup
- observe the value of Access type. This should now be Local and Internet.
I’m not sure exactly why that change makes the difference. I can tick the box again, and the internet connection will remain in place. Also, while the box was unticked, I changed users and found the other user’s account to have “Local only”. I then *ticked* the IPv6 box, and the effect was the same: Local only changed to Local and Internet.
Of course I can’t promise it will work for everybody, as I only tried it out on my own setup, and I did it in Windows 7 beta, not Vista. Please let me know in the comments whether this worked for you or not, so maybe we can determine exactly which combination of settings does and doesn’t work in the whole setup.
Update:
Following the comments of Lorenz and Joe Vinas, I’ve tested it myself, and this seems to be the actual cure: disable and enable the network adapter. I think Lorenz is right, my fix of switching off or on IPv6 probably just causes the network adapter to restart. Still indeed, although it’s a cure, it’s not really a solution. It should not be necessary to restart the network adapter!
I tried that but it still doesn’t work for me. I tried reinstalling drivers but still didn’t fix the problem. Still working on a fix
Did not work , Mine is bit complicated , i have installed windows 7 in VMware..So i don’t where to look at , When my box crashed last time , for a fun i installed Windows 7 as the OS , and the internet worked fine.. but now when i installed it in VMware I am having issue.
Still having the problem as well tried some things here and there but still no luck. was wondering if anyone else is having this problem and if they have a solution to the problem
With the number of people who have this problem, I wonder whether this problem would only exist in the Beta version, or if it’s inherent in Windows 7. I still find it weird that my brother’s official version of Vista had exactly the same problem. It only happened when he was trying to use my network, not when he was at home on a direct connection.
@ daenvy and John, what about you, are you trying to connect Windows 7 via a local network, or on a direct connection?
@ Madhu, I’m not sure if the problems in VMware would be the same situation as outside VMware. I am no virtual machine expert, and only use Parallels on Mac to run Windows XP. This connects fine, but trying to connect to the internet from within Parallels with Windows 98 totally failed, didn’t manage that.
This issue is driving me insane. I bought a new laptop last year with Vista on it and then recently updated to Windows 7 and still happening. I’m going absolutely insane! If I surf to the neighbor’s wifi I can connect no problem. When I went to my friend’s house and tried to use her wifi I got Local Only again. I hate this problem, it’s like having 56k dialup.
Just to be clear, it was happening when I had Vista too which is why I upgraded to 7 beta. I have a compaq presario f700
Same problem here after installing Windows 7. Didn’t have the same problem in Vista. In fact if I boot up into Vista it’s still fine. Found that if I switch off WEP on the router then Windows 7 works fine, when I switch it back on it’s back to Local only again.
@kongomush, you mean switch off the whole security key, or switch from WEP to WPA?
I think you mean just switching it off, and it that case it’s a dangerous way of getting it to work, obviously.
Either way, I think it’s a bad sign if Windows itself decides how to handle the connection based on your router preferences.
I have found this problem with Windows 7 only on wireless WEP key networks; switch to a WPA wireless network and it is fine. I have both at my house and the WEP one works for about a minute and then stops; switch to the WPA one and its fine forever. Will keep looking for a fix…
@Andy Fearless, I use WPA at home, so I’m afraid that’s just one more of the ‘this might work for some’ solutions. Haven’t even tried to connect Windows 7 wireless though, it’s cable-connected to the wireless router.
I still can’t believe this is such a buggy thing, and there’s no solution that ‘just works’ for everyone.
Well for me it didn’t work.
I noticed I had 2 networks and was connected to both. I disabled one of them and this seemed to disable my network adapter. Then I re-enabled it and only my home network appeared (the second misterious one was not there anymore).
And then everything worked fine.
Strange.
I had the same problem. The solution is to disable the network adapter, then re-enable. I think the ipv6 trick works only when, somehow, the device needs to be "rebooted"
Also worked for Vista
Vista for the rough edges it has compared to 7, is every bit as good in the security field. Technically, out of the box, it’s more secure. So that won’t be the case this time around. And for the record, it was the truth between XP and Vista. Vista x64 is substantially more secure through OS protections than XP is. Vista still won’t be as fast as 7. Won’t have the superbar. But under the hood, for the most part, they’re pretty much the same.
My problem is similar. When I start my computer in Windows 7 RC, I don’t have network or Internet access. Then, I open Network and Sharing Centre, I go to “change adapter settings”, I click on “disable this network devise”, then I click on “enable this network devise” and, invariably, I have local network and Internet access. From then on I don’t have any more access problems until the next time when I switch the computer on again. Then I have to redo the disable and enable operation. On the same machine, when I logon in Vista access to local network and Internet is always fine. This problem drives me mad. For days I try to find a solution and nothing works.
I tried to disable IPv6 connection, also changed my wireless security to WPA.
But still i get a "No Network Access" status for IPv6 connection!!!!
Any suggestions or some help please??
I solved it by doing:
1) Disable the current network connection
2) Re-enable that connection. Still not working internet access.
3) Setting IPv6 to active (I had deactivated it before step 1). At this point the system hangs.
4) restart (I mean, power off by pressing the power button).
When I restarted, the connection said Internet Access and I could access the internet.
@Alfonso Mateos: And do you have to do that every time you want to use the computer to go online, or was this a one-off solution that solved it?
(I’m guessing the former)
Next week or so I’m gonna get the Windows 7 RC (the beta will expire), and see if anything was solved. Not getting my hopes up though..
This local access only thing is giving me a headache. Not a single mention of it on MS website yet its huge problem judging by forums
I also have this problem. I am using windows 7 RC and the problem started 5-6 days after install. I have access to LAN computers but no internet until i disable and then enable network adapter first time after system starts.
Alfonso’s solution in not permanent. So far the only quick repair is, disable the adapter and enable it again every time you start windows. I’m tired of doing it. I agree, the problem is huge. In my case it started after installing Photoshop. I have two more computers with the same version of W-7 and they work fine: on logon they connect automatically to Internet and local network. I even reinstalled W-7 in the faulty machine and the problem persist.
I find that I have the same issue. I am running a beta version of Windows 7 at home, and I have to disable/enable the network adapter..
In the office, I am running Windows 7 64bit. I don’t have trouble connecting to the internet, though I have a display saying that I don’t have internet access.
Hmm, go figure.. I haven’t been able to fix this yet.
I just opened the command line and pinged a outgoing destination such as google.com. PING http://WWW.GOOGLE.COM
I was OK after doing this.
I have exactly the same issue on Windows server 2008. W2K8 is Vista with frilly bits.
I have 6 servers and ALL of them say "Local Access Only". If I switch to DHCP on the NICs they work. Have plugeed my Vista laptop in to the LAN and, yep, "Local Access Only". XP Pro works fine, good old OS.
It’s doing my head in now as I know it’s not our PIX/firewalls/switches, it’s purely something to do with MS and it’s on all the servers !
Unticking IPV6/restarting does not work. Will post my solution if I get there, going to run Windows update next as hopefully they have sorted the issue.
Thanks
Re:How to solve the "Local access only" problem in Windows 7 beta
I experienced same problem in Windows 7. Found the solution to my problem on this web-site: http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-networking/3382-limited-connectivity-issue-2.html
I also found the Windows Service called: "##Id_String2.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B87 9762 ##" , which seems to be part of the program ‘Bonjour DNS Responder Service’. I disabled this Service, rebooted Windows 7 and the problem seems to have solved.
Normal Internet access again without having to disable/enable the network card every time.
Popi’s solution fixed my problem…thatnks again
@ Popi & Firestorm: tried that too, but there is no Windows service by that string in my list of Services.
Where the method I described in this blog post worked for me on the Windows 7 beta, I’m now in more trouble, since I installed Windows 7 RC: not even "local access only" now, it plainly says "no internet access".
Troubleshooting tells me the physical connection is broken. This isn’t true however, as I can access my router, and logged into the router, I can ping sites on the internet. Clearly there is no cable problem. Wanna guess my thoughts about Windows 7? :\
That did not resolved the issue,
I also am experiencing this problem initially after starting up, – on my Dell XPS Studio 435MT with Windows 7 RC Build 7100. It seems to correct itself after a while, but I have to wait after I have opened up MSIexplorer (8) or the Network and Sharing Center window. I can also click the troubleshooter which evidently resets the network adapter which is an onboard Intel 82567LF-2 Gigabit chip connected to a broadband modem via ethernet cable . I might try Dell’s Vista driver and see if that helps. My machine came with Vista (64bit) and everything was working all right then. Otherwise W7 is ok and faster than Vista.
I am having the same problem, the net used to be fine then it starts to disconnect. I am on a basic home network on a router. I can see other computers on the network but I can’t have any net access. I tried using a wireless card to see if the problem was the network card but no, still no net access. I thought I had spyware but googling the problem told me lots of other people have the same problem? What gives? I tried assigning static IPs but still no go.
In Ubuntu, I can browse just fine and use the local network pcs.
I installed windows 7 rc and I have problems with the Internet, It show "no internet access", mention that in "safe mode" it work.What is the problem?
@RAM66, I have no idea what the problem is, sorry. We all have this problem, and nobody knows a definite solution. Some solutions work for some people, other solutions for others, and some don’t find a solution at all. It’s a mess. See also my newer post, here: http://blog.locusmeus.com/?p=109
unticking ipv6 worked for me (so far) Running wireless 64bit Vista. Also increased transfer speed 2x estimated.
Also have a Wireless Vista 32 bit sitting right next to 64 bit, and ipv6 is ticked, and no problem.
Why problem on 64 bit and not on the 32 bit (hmmmmmm)
Thanks for everyone’s posts.
Popi’s solution seems to be working for me at least after 1 reboot so far. Hopefully it will continue working because this issue is beyond annoying!
When I start my computer in Windows 7 32 bit, I don’t have network or Internet access.
Then, I open Network and Sharing Centre,
I go to “change adapter settings”,
I click on “disable this network devise”,
then I click on “enable this network devise” and, invariably,
I have local network and Internet access.
From then on I don’t have any more access problems until the next time when I switch the computer on again.
Then I have to redo the disable and enable operation.
after playing around i seem to have fixed my problem problem being the same as the last post.
When I start my computer in Windows 7, I don’t have network or Internet access.
Then, I open Network and Sharing Centre,
I go to “change adapter settings”,
I click on “disable this network devise”,
then I click on “enable this network devise” and, invariably,
I have local network and Internet access.
From then on I don’t have any more access problems until the next time when I switch the computer on again.
Then I have to redo the disable and enable operation.
this is what i did to fix that goto change adapter settings right click on your network connection then properties click on configure then advanced on property where it says flow control click to highlight if not already then on value click tab and select Rx & Tx Enabled.
thats fixed mines hope its of some help to others best wishes modman
i have fixed the problem above
goto your adaper properties
then click configure
then advanced
click on flow control
then in value select rx&tx enabled
job done
@modman: do you also know the reason that method works?
I can’t check myself, as I don’t have a Vista or Windows 7 installation anymore, but if any others can confirm it works, I’d like to update my post with this solution.
i have no idea how this works m8
all i can say is i tried it and it works for me on both vista and windows 7
maybe from the rx&tx enabled info someone can come up with the item of how it happens
kind regards
not working
My connection says its active and that I have internet connection but I can’t access the internet!
Disable/enable doesn’t work….
It’s not working for me :S
Popi’s solution is worked with my computer
thanks a lot …
Legend … popi’s solution worked for me too!
I just installed Windows 7 RC on a Dell D630, and it connects to the network fine but no internet!
I tried disable/enable the adapter,"unticked" ip6. It does not have the bonjour service, I even installed the newest driver fot the nic and nothing seems to work.
I’m not even surprised with this, so many years and Microsoft can’t seem to put togher a decent OS.
I guess we wait for an update.
@Manny Welcome to the club…
As for waiting for an update: try Ubuntu. Instant network and internet connections, and out of the box everything.
Oh, and free 😉
In my case the wireless adapter works fine but when I plug in using a cable I get the same thing that is occuring above, i am connected – but no internet access
Didn’t realize this was such a big ongoing issue, I doubted myself and thought I was missing somethin g obvious.
S.
@SD, I think it’s Microsoft that are missing something obvious 😉
worked for me!
thanks!
so far, I absolutely DETEST Windows 7. I install one application and it crashes. I reinstall it and install another application and it kicks me off the internet.
It’s flaky. It’s CRAP!
I added the DNS servers in manually and my NIC had internet
Thank you SO much! We just bought a new laptop and when it went online I would be booted off the internet on my PC. You so totally Rock!
Seems a silly question, but has everyone with the problem tried to access the internet? I’ll explain! I get the same problem…sometimes my network comes up as local and internet, but mostly it comes up as local only and now I’ve upgraded to windows 7 I get the little yellow warning triangle ontop of the wireless signal indicator…but whatever it says, my internet still works.
Even if it says local only.
Anyone got a fix for this, it’s not a massive problem, but it is fairly annoying!
Thanks very much!
@Dan, can’t speak for the others, but yes, I’ve tried to access the internet. That’s how I found out I couldn’t, after which I went looking at the network settings and found the ‘local access’ thing 🙂
I had this same issue and after some digging through our firewall logs I was able to discover the problem. It seems that Windows 7 sends an http request to bay24-f40.bay24.hotmail.com in order to verify internet connectivity. Now on our firewall we have hotmail.com blocked for obvious reasons. When i disabled the firewall rule blocking hotmail.com the exclamation point went away. I would check to make sure hotmail.com isn’t blocked at your locations
@Trevor, That’s an interesting point. I’m quite sure I haven’t blocked anything on the router level, but it’s certainly worth looking into for others, thanks for the heads up.
Hope this works for someone. In Windows 7. Right click on the taskbar and "Start Task Mananger". Goto the "Services" tab and click on the "Services…" button. Find and double click on "Bonjour Servie". In "Startup type" option drop list, choose "Automatic (Delayed Start). Reboot. If that doesn’t work, then choose "Disabled" in the option drop list. I recently installed a Apple software that allow me to share my CD/DVD to my Macs and thats when all this issue started. Good Luck!
wow, i just bought a new computer with windows 7, an emachine EL1331G-01w and couldn’t get onto the internet. Thought the adapter card was defective. THIS WORKED! Thanks!
thanks, it wasnt a big deal to me as i knew i had internet but the trick worked. I think the reason it does it is its contantly looking for an IPv6 router, and the IP or maybe DNS of an IPv6 router, as in mycase atleast.
Hey cteng893:
You are the best. The Bonjour service thing worked. Thanks.
windows vista 32 bit local access only.
tryed unticking ip6, no help. lan is coming up public. lan card is not receiving dchp assignment of IP. Verified card, and router is working. ipconfig command displays an ip for public vice private net. any help would be apprecited. manual ip assignment will connect but windows still will not see network. unable to surf update etc. dns server error noted.
Try looking this solution:
http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-networking/3382-limited-connectivity-issue-2.html
I fixed this problem on several of my windows 7 machines, by stopping and disabling windows defender, in my windows services. Sorry I didn’t have time to read the entire thread, so if someone else has mentioned this, then I apologize. Anyway, hopefully this helps out someone.
Hello all,
After trying every solution from this blog and every solution on the nternet, nothing seemed to work for my. I have a MSI notebook Windows 7 home premium installed. I solved my problem by entering ip and gateway info manually. I have access to the network and internet now.
Hey, lads.
What wireless cards are you all have?
Ive install on several computer winblows7, and had no problems on WEP, WPA/TKIP or WPA2. The only problem was a WPA-enterprise connection, atheros cards dont work with the latest drivers, intel cards work fine. The solution for atheros cards is using XP atheros drivers.
I’m on Windows 7. It totally worked for me!!! Thank you – as you said other solutions didn’t seem to work at all. I just got rid of the IPv6 and it sorted my home network at the same time. Whew – just a few hours lost!
I have tried many of the solutions above without success until I tried cteng893’s solution from Nov-13-2009 worked for me, except I didn’t find the Bonjour listing in services, I found ##Id_String2.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762## and right mouse clicked it and selected properties and then changed my startup type to Automatic(Delayed Start, clicked ok and then closed all windows and rebooted. PROBLEM SOLVED…finally!
hi everyone
i have a hp slimline and i had vista x64 on it. thinking that 7 was awesome, i foolishly upgraded to it. my problem is pretty much everyone elses here, no internet access, no network connection and the list goes on and on. i have tried everything, unticking ivp6, enabling renabling, my pc doesnt have the bonjour service so im out of luk there and thats all i can think of so far. i also noticed that when i plug in a usb device such as my phone or flash key, the pc doesnt recognise it. oh i forgot to mention, these "problems" occur after like ten minutes. could it be because the drivers are conflicting? im using a wireless internet, usb 802.11 b/g wlan. if anybody has any other solutions ill gladly try em, im desperate 🙁
We purchased a brand new HP Laptop with Vista Home Premium which would intermittently go offline or say "local access only". I would just reset the wireless router and it would give us access to the internet for a few days and then stop again. Then I installed a new driver for my wireless Brother printer and it would not let us access the internet at all. I came to the forums to find the answer, but it seems there are alot of temporary fixes. Microsoft, this is not good. Anyway, my temporary fix that I have to do on a regular basis (whenever computer is woken up or turned on) is to goto my dlink 514 IP address 192.168.0.1 and change the channel in the wireless section. It started on channel 6, changed it to channel 11, had to reset today so changed it to channel 10. I have also unticked IPv6 and manually entered IP addresses for IPv4. Some say just updating your router to Vista compatible will solve the Local Access only problem. That will be my next experiment.
I do a lot of work with Virtual PC and as a result I had many loop back adapters. When I disabled all of them my internet connection was restored using both Land a wireless network connections.
Another vote for cteng893’s solution. THANK YOU!
In Windows 7. Right click on the taskbar and "Start Task Mananger". Goto the "Services" tab and click on the "Services…" button. Find and double click on "Bonjour Servie". In "Startup type" option drop list, choose "Automatic (Delayed Start). Reboot. If that doesn’t work, then choose "Disabled" in the option drop list.
##Id_String2.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B87 9762 ## i cant find this or bonjour in my services tab… i havent installed anthing from apple so im pretty sure bonjour is not on my pc.. ive been having the issue described above when i try to download files and play games.. ive tried pretty much everything to resolve this issue.
I am running Windows Vista and have just installed SP2 and now I cannot connect to the internet and my home network to the PC is unidentified. I have tried numerous ‘attempted’ solutions found on internet forums, but still have no solution. DHCP does not appear to be working’. I have tried manually entering an IP address and DNS server etc, but that did not work. Can anyone suggest anything else please?
Mine is a strange issue. I can browse and carry out all networking related activities but my network card would still say local only. For your information we are using isa proxy to reach internet.
Sandy, my issue is the same. Using Small Business Server 2003 SP2 with ISA Server 2000 SP3 – network card shows local only, but actually have internet access via web, but some programs such as Windows Update do not work – tried isolating the Proxy settings to allow website through, but no success. If proxy is disabled, no internet connection. Any help appreciated.