"unidentified Network" unable to change.

I have new emachines g525 laptop with windows 7 installed and updated (today).

The laptop has both cat5 and wifi networking and the issue I have is with the wifi although I haven't attempted it with the wired network.

My network consists of a gateway computer (not running windows) that has both an internal and external network interface, and there is a WiFi access point for the internal network.

The laptop connects to the access point and obtains an internal IP address using DHCP. The only access to the outside world is via a squid proxy on the gateway machine.

The problem is that when I connect with WiFi it sets the network as an "Unidentified network" and hence sets it as a "Public network". I can manually modify this each time to "Home network" via the "Choose homegroup and sharing options" in "Network and Sharing Center". If I go to the "Set network Properties" popup it displays the Network name as "Unidentified network" and the icon as a bench. I am unable to change either of these properties even though the Network name field looks to be a text entry box. I would like to change the network name and have the laptop automatically use "Home network" for this connection.

Any help would be appreciated.

This comes up a lot. This post has some fixes for that problem. Windows 7 Unidentified Network Help!

More fixes described here. http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-...d-network.html


Another easy fix for this problem here. http://thegeekden.blogspot.com/2009/...-7-solved.html

chev65 said:

This comes up a lot. This post has some fixes for that problem. Windows 7 Unidentified Network Help!

More fixes described here. Limited connectivity - Unidentified network - Windows 7 Forums


Another easy fix for this problem here. The Geeks' Den: Unidentified Network Windows 7 - Solved!

I have searched for answers but haven't found anything that works. I can tell you what it isn't.

It isn't Bonjour or iTunes as neither are installed.

Changing the MAC address has no impact other than the Laptop obtaining a different IP address.

Adding a default route has no impact. The laptop is on private subnet with no access to the internet other than via a proxy server on the same subnet.

There are no strangely named services running.

The only one of the solutions I haven't been able to try is the one that tells you to change the "Local security Policy". My version of windows 7 doesn't seem to have this option in Administrative Tools.

Thanks anyway.