This is a very common Problem in Vista. Consumer/Residential Internet Providers are set for Automatic DHCP. The ISP's do not even know the answers and Microsoft support has had problems getting people online. This is with the PC directly connected to the cable Modem. the first step to getting the connection going.

Working for an ISP, I would like to know the real answer for getting Vista online. It is frustating not knowing what truly is the fix. Of course we have a couple Vista PC's set up to explore on, but they are already connected. Especially for those who buy new computers and attempt to set up for the first time. This will become more prevalent as more consumers purchase Vista machine. This will probably happen this 2007 Holiday season & Microsoft comes up with a reasonable Update for most big issues.

I have attempted disabling IPv6, checking settings, disabling & re-enabling network card and LAN connection and still nothing in most cases. I have tried unplugging the power from the computer so that the network card & the system loses information holding up the connection. one time I switched over to USB and that worked. Luckily the person was not setting up with a Router.

I think more reseach needs to be done on this.

found this looking for a better fix than the one I have ...

power cycle the wireless router.

or the long answer ...

exact same expereince as the OP, local access only, I can however open the wireless router web admin page, so this isn't a wireless connection issue per se.


All was working fine until i turned off SID broad cast, lost internet access but local access was fine, tried numerous network repair and diagnostics. Eventually I re-enabled SID broadcast, this alone did not fix the problem, neither did a reboot. I had to shut down my desktop, powercycle the wireless router, boot up my desktop. Everything working again.

I suspect there is something beyond my knowledge going on with vista/wireless router upnp packet forwarding, at least I suspect it's on the routing side of things as the wireless network functions, accessing external sites is what fails ... note my XP laptop was working fine throughout the troubleshooting, so it wasn't as if the internet connection itself was down.

Just heard this may be caused by Vista's auto tuning which dosn't like some routers and to try disabling it by ruuning the command -

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

I will test it tonight.

The sad thing is, I just bought an Vista Laptop. I was debabting getting an XP laptop just because of this reason. But I figured since I troubleshoot this all day long for our customers, that I would take a shot at it. I have the same issue. I Can not get connected to the INternet whether the laptop is directly connected to the Cable modem or through a router. I can connect to the Routers Web Admin thought.

Researching this it seems like the DHCP that my ISP (and the company I work for) is different that the DHCP that Vista is running. A "Windows DHCP" that can not see the ISP's DHCP. Thanks Microsoft. TRying different things that I read and nothing has worked yet. Whatever I do try, I set back so that I know exactly what the fix is.

Today I did take the laptop to a coffee shop and I was able to connect through their wireless and get to the internet. But that was a different ISP (TMobile). So maybe they had the updates DHCP.

Now I did enable UPnP on the Router, but that does not see to do anything. Whatever it is. The Vista DHCP is not Communicating with the ISP DHCP.

Anyone have any ideas?

running the command "netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
" seems to have fixed my issue, bit early to be sure.

if you try it, you can always change back with the command
"netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal"

googling vista autotuning brings up many other issues with this feature, so maybe worth turning off anyway.

I got an interesting message back from that

"Set Global Command Failed on IPv4 The requested Operation requires elevation"

Elevation to what? I am using the Administrator account. Gggggrrr

being logged in as administror isn't enough ... another vista annoyance.

right click on the command prompt icon in the start menu and select "run as administrator"

then run the netsh command. Otherwise it runs with normal user rights even when logged in as admin.

I got an OK on that. still nothing.

Tried USB, it recognized the cable modem. moved driver over for it via usb flash disk/drive. no connection. still "local only" with all settings correct.

online chat with my isp. told me to uninstall the tcp/ip and reinstall it. Ooops can not uninstall it in properties. LOL

I am going to take out the battery and see if that does anything.

also try to uninstall symantic/norton security.

I find it hilarious that my problem seems to have fixed itself... I tried everything and it didn't seem to work. I finally got it to work after disabling IPv6 for my wireless connection and rebooting. I don't remember re-enabling IPv6, but it is currently running and I'm writing this from my laptop on a wireless connection at someone else's house. I truly feel, based on the results when getting configuration results back (ipconfig /all), that, in my case, the PC was using a “random” Automatic IP address configuration as the preferred connection. If anyone has insight as to how to possibly reverse/prevent this... please post.

I got past the "local" problem by opening the Network & Sharing Center, then open Manage network connections, and then highlighting the the connection and then opening "connectivity", setting it to internet and local and finally opening "network catagory" and setting it private ( check marks).

Now I am fighting with the dns server not recognizing the address.