Does this work? I'm experiencing local only problem in Vista. I'm not a computer expert, so im a bit afraid to do something which may corrupt my system intirely. Is this the final solution to the problem?

Nothing is absolute, however after 9 hrs of browsing that day, this solution worked for me. None of the steps in my solution can corrupt your system anymore than those registry mods.

This solution worked like a charm for me. It also saved me the headache of formatting.

If anything, try running cmd prompt as administrator (rightclick on the shortcut and select "Run as Administrator) followed by entering "netsh winsock reset' followed by restarting your computer.

Tried mpeters13 recipe, however still "local only" and no internet. I guess there are versions of this problem caused by different malfunctions in Vista. I have also installed the latest firmware in my wrt54g router, however with no luck. Also tried to connect with a cable, still no luck. My troubleshooting have convinced me that the problem lies intirely in windows vista. My XP laptop connects flawlessly to internet.
I will try to connect directly into the modem, just to rule out a compatibility problem with vista and my router. Hmmm, is it possible that my cable-modem (terayon) could be incompatible with vista?
Well, will post here if i encounter any solutions.
Thanks for all help!

Tried mpeters13 recipe, however still "local only" and no internet. I guess there are versions of this problem caused by different malfunctions in Vista. I have also installed the latest firmware in my wrt54g router, however with no luck. Also tried to connect with a cable, still no luck. My troubleshooting have convinced me that the problem lies entirely in windows vista. My XP laptop connects flawlessly to internet. I will try to connect directly into the modem, just to rule out a compatibility problem with vista and my router. Hmmm, is it possible that my cable-modem (terayon) could be incompatible with vista? Well, will post here if i encounter any solutions. Thanks for all help!

That's a shame :(. The biggest issue I had was that regardless of the connection medium (lan, wireless, sprint aircard or dialup) I could not pull a proper IP address. I kept getting automatic private addresses (169.254.xxx.xxx)/24.

What IP address are you getting when you try connecting to the given network? Are you getting a proper automatic private address (192.168.xxx.xxx)/24 and subnet, or whatever IP you range your service provider serves?

Additionally, did you run those commands as administrator? Like mentioned, there are many cases and causes for this problem, unfortunately.

For all I know, it could have been a combination of the tips from this thread that worked.
The first try I did was run the DHCP tool someone wrote in this thread. Then I reset tcpip, disabled auto-tuning, deleted the route, cleared ALL vista stored network locations, reset winsock. I hope you are able to find a fix.

OMG-Everybody here is missing the actual problem.
This is BY design. Microsoft is trying to help you by turning the connection to local access only because it sees an invalid domain name in DNS. Most people do not configure a DNS domain for their wireless router. In some cases it is detected as invalid even when present.
DO NOT TURN OFF IPV6, DO NOT UPDATE THE FIRMWARE ON YOUR WIRELESS ROUTER, DO NOT UPDATE YOUR LAN DRIVERS, DO NOT EDIT THE REGISTRY.
While all of these things may or may not solve the problem you are using a billy club to swat a fly.
SOLUTION:
Delete your connection from the view wireless connections page or connections page, use the Microsoft wizard "connect to the Internet" to re-create your connection, and from this point on it will use that connection as an INTERNET connection. Seems that when you use the "connect to" or the auto detect wireless function in Vista to connect to a wireless network, Microsoft assumes you need help identifying the role of this connection an when the DNS validity of the connection is invalidated it sets it to Local access only.
For instance if you are in an active directory domain MYDOMAIN.LOCAL it will help you out and change this connection to "local access only"
I have no idea why Microsoft chose to do this accept to promote commercial wireless hot spots which all just so happen to have 100% properly identified DNS and never show up as "local only"
I have properly identified DNS on my wireless network so my Buddies VISTA machine works fine on my network, but at home it will not work and says "local access only" this is how I discovered this Vista helper bug.
Remember this is By DESIGN and there is actually nothing wrong when it says local access only accept the fact that this network has improperly identified DNS.
Never put in Mannually DNS servers because when you go to a hot spot your Internet won't work because you may have DNS port 53 blocked to local access only and your manually configured DNS server will not be reachable from the hot spot network.
Remember to use the "Connect to the Internet" wizard to build INTERNET connections in Vista, either that or have a Cisco CCIE configure wireless router to the level that Vista expects for an Internet connection. The other solution is to FDISK and go buy XP Pro and reload with XP Pro as it does not try to help you determine Internet Access and availability.

Thanks for the clearest explanation of this problem I've seen anywhere. Why on Earth do Microsoft not publicise this 'helpful' feature so people are alerted to it as a potential problem?

Thanks a lot kidputer. This is propably the reason for "Local Only", I've done what you've defined and I 've got any Local Only until now. However I've still got a connection problem. Even if my connection stays as "Local and Internet" after a while, I couldn't get any response from my connection. It just stopped without showing any problem. Is there any relation with the swithing off IP6 or previous registry update etc.

Can anyone fix my problem. I have a fixd connection to a Netgear router (new at MS suggestion) and have had the LOcal Access Only problem. On log on my network shows up with an unidentified public network in tandem. Like some evil twin I can only get rid of one by disabling the other. I then reinstall the connection and the problem resolves, the evil second unidentifed network disappears and I am left with my one network connection. My vista laptop connects beautifully through the router. MS research department (yes the real eggheads) spent hours on remote access to my computer trying to fix the problem. My ISP wasted just as much time getting nowhere. I have bite marks all over my desk but after installing a new card, router and cable MS say: reinstall vista. Grrrr.....

Here is the printout of my IPCONFIG/all if it helps
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\test>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Zoostorm
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family PCI Gigabit E
thernet NIC (NDIS 6.0) #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-2F-3C-C8-39
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.4(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 28 January 2008 21:14:25
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 31 January 2008 21:14:23
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 10:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection*:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{39C1AD59-F2CF-4D2B-853F-71B575FC5
8D2}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.0.4%11(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Users\test>^A^A

C:\Users\test>

Delete your connection from the view wireless connections page or connections page, use the Microsoft wizard "connect to the Internet" to re-create your connection, and from this point on it will use that connection as an INTERNET connection.

Can you pls tell me how to delete the wireless connection? The delete button is grayed out.

Yes I have the same problem - the disconnect facility will not work because Vista thinks that my network is the only active network.

Fixed my wireless "local only" issue by removing the latest Vista version of Zonealarm. Now using the Windows firewall..

Can you pls tell me how to delete the wireless connection? The delete button is grayed out.

I would also like to know how to delete the wireless connection. I just repeat this to show that more people need that information.

By the way, thank Your for dealing with this problem

Hi there all,

What a useful and supportive forum. I too have this local only issue with Vista, but mine relates only to when I connect my Dell notebook via a LAN connection to my work servers. Another quirk is that it is highly inconsistent. On restarts 50% of the time I might get to open my homepage and one link before it goes local only, the rest of the time its no connection at all. I have had 3 new motherboards, 2 total system reinstalls and still have this problem. I reverted once back to the Windows.old and it seemed to work for about 2 weeks. I then went on holidays for a week and have come back to it even worse than ever.

In airport lounges and my home connection all wireless connections work perfectly.

I have tried the disable IP6 and a few other things suggested here, but how would I go about resetting this LAN connection as the delete connection option is greyed out? Any suggestions would be soooooo apreciated.

Best regards

Mark

Hopefully someone will catch on to this, I have been pulling my hair out. I am about to poist a LONG string, but it is because I have gone through a LOT of threads and tried to fix my issue first...PLEASE HELP.

This is with the CAT5 cable attached directly from Main switch.
I have no problems here with manual input of all IP addresses...EVERYTHING here is fine, but we have 4 other computers that are attaching to a network through a router.
Problem is: They all get connection when attached to router but I do not.
Please advise.

(GOOD CONNECTION = No Issues Manual input IP Addresses)
C:\Users\Dad>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Dad-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-73-B2-21-3B
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-6B-F3-ED-DB
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-D3-F5-05-82
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 82.211.188.141(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.248
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 82.211.188.137
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 82.211.188.137
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{0904E5AE-DF43-48FE-B1F4-D314C3E56
707}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::200:5efe:82.211.188.141%11(Preferre
d)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 82.211.188.137
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{D9497CFF-3AEA-4F36-A28C-4B3AEA317
E9A}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 10:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{D42116AF-DA68-4BA2-A54B-69D542FB7
78D}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2002:52d3:bc8d::52d3:bc8d(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 2002:c058:6301::c058:6301
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 82.211.188.137
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Users\Dad>

Problem comes after I try to connect to a router. Vista automatically assigns Autoconfig IPv4 address and will not allow me to change it...how do I do it?
THIS IS ipconfig /all AFTER connected to the router...I do not understand what happens, please advise.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Dad>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Dad-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-73-B2-21-3B
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-6B-F3-ED-DB
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-D3-F5-05-82
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.45.252(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{0904E5AE-DF43-48FE-B1F4-D314C3E56
707}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:169.254.45.252%11(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{D9497CFF-3AEA-4F36-A28C-4B3AEA317
E9A}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 10:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{D42116AF-DA68-4BA2-A54B-69D542FB7
78D}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Dad>

I am at a loss,
1. Tried the post where you R-Click Comp/manage/system/services and applications/services/change settings for DHCP Client
2. Tried Regedit post where you add (D-Word) Toggle
3. Tried changing IP address in Regedit to 0
4. Tried power management changes
5. Uninstalled Norton
6. Reinstalled to original factory configuration and I just am at a loss....I tried everything in all of the posts that I could find...I am at my wits end.

It appears that the local only problem may be due to a misconfigured firewall rather than a fault in vista. If you have the problem of a 'twin' public network appearing in the network and sharing centre, which you cannot delete, then try uninstalling your antivirus/firewall. You may need to save your subscription (eg Norton) and make sure that you clear everything (go to control panel>program software and features) and uninstall the principal program plus the addon's. Restart and the problem will be no more. Then reinstall your antivirus/firewall and follow the initialisation routine. With luck that should clear the problem.

Well I totally uninstalled McAfee and have no firewall or antivirus whatsoever now to test this troubleshoot and nup. Local only and not even an intermitent connection now. Spent 2 hours waiting for and dealing with Dell who suggest it could be an ISP issue, but probably is Vista. Any other suggestions?

I doubt if it is an ISP issue as I spent several hours with my machine under remote control from BT as they tried to hunt down the problem. In the end MS research department suggested a clean reinstall. With an upgraded version of Vista that is a serious long job. Here are some avenues to try: (i) make sure that your AVF software is completely uninstalled - you may need to download a tool from the AVF site to ensure complete removal, (ii) check that windows defender is deactivated, (iii) check that your router/hub does not have a firewall installed and if it does make sure that is deactivated. When you are sure that you have cleared everything then reinstall your AVF software. If that all fails then beforte reinstalling the AVF software try deactivating your network adapter through control panel>device manager and then reactivating (this should bring up the internet connection), then reinstall the AVF software. It seems that this problem is triggered by a wide variety of causes mostly due to misconfiguration of the system and, I suspect, incompatibilities with early versions of 'vista compliant' software. Its a nightmare to sort out.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am pleased to report that the problem (for now at least) has been solved. So with my laptop totally denuded of all security our tech guys had one last crack and it turns out that my Vista laptop did not like one of our two gateways and its firewall/router configurations. Our techo's asigned me a static default gateway to the second gateway and it works 10.1.0.2 instead of 10.1.0.1. So after weeks of stuffing around in part - yes its a vista compatability issue - all our other XP machines work fine.

I will post a bit more techo info about whether it was the router or the firewall or both on a bit more analysis.

Again thanks.

Now this is going to sound strange as a fix to this problem, because I truly do not understand it either. Earlier I posted a LONG string with both of my IPCONFIG settings, one with directly being hooked to the Modem (No Issue) then when I was attached to the D-Link Router (HUGE ISSUE) Spent about 3 days trying to figure it out and tried everything....to include a clean reinstall of the WHOLE system...everything back to original factory settings.

I still could not get on after that.....so I said screw it and set the router up to give everyone else the ability to use DHCP and I had a Static IP address outside of the DHCP range. This also did not work even after the clean reinstall, took out all firewwalls (And Windows Defender) still no connection. So just for a last resort, I went to one of my Soldiers' on the same network and plugged into their router (Linksys) and viola.....presto change-o I was able to get on under DHCP connection. At this point I am thinking that I have a low end D-Link Router that does not work well with Vista.....but there are other Vista OS' on this network that are working fine with D-Link router (same one I have). So, I go back to my router thinking that I am going to have to buy a LinkSys and hook back up to my DI-604 (D-Link) and now that works...WTF? However, not under DHCP, but with the Static IP address that I gave it and did not work......so I dont know WTH is going on....all I know is it seems to be working now....even though SLOW AS molasses in January.

Dont know if that whole story helped anyone or not, but if mine goes haywire again, I am just ordering a LinkSys router.

Bill

Great news and well doem Tashimoto7 - this is a weird problem and it will be interesting to see if SP1 solves the problem properly. I am not hopeful, but I invested in new Netgear card and router (at MS suggestion) all to no avail. Then it turns out to be misconfigured AVF. Still, good to see we are getting some traction on this.