Tag: No Internet access

Windows 7 “no internet access” false message

On By windows7bugsIn Windows 75 Comments

We lost the count of discussions initiated through this blog, every time there was another “reason” for this false message with Windows 7. After using Windows 7 more than couple of years time, recently we noticed this false message being an annoyance once again with few of the dell desktop machines we started using at work.

Loads of googling around brought us to a topic which discussed about AVG blocking Windows network awareness service and further dwelling into the topic proved that, any Anti-virus with a built-in firewall capability could indirectly affect the above said service, thus causing “no Internet access” false message. At work we use symantec endpoint as corporate solution and Avast Internet security suite with few client systems which are dominantly used for Oracle development.

Somehow, Symantec end point suite always disliked Oracle forms developer suite(s) and we were forced to switch to Avast suite for those users who are into Oracle development.

Back to the topic, following a tip obtained from google search, we did the following

Avast -> settings -> Troubleshooting-> and checked “load avast services only after loading other services” and bingo! no more false messages, no more yellow triangle with network connection icon.

Dealing with “Windows 7 Additional log on information may be required”

On By windows7bugsIn Windows 71 Comment

Scenario: Windows 2008 R1 AD Domain, Windows 2003 ADC, ISA 2006 proxy, Windows XP, Windows 7 Clients.

I had couple of other posts related to the same topic in the past. Last week, March 2009, we almost ran into a solution which we expected as a permanent resolution for the annoying “Additional log on information may be required, click here to open the browser” message. However, immediately after couple of days without issues, this message started popping up, especially with 64bit Windows 7 Professional clients (I have one)

This time rather than spending our whole attention towards the client, we tried to do troubleshooting for the live connection and the detailing pans suggested we should sign up with the ISP for this network. Because we are behind ISA server proxy, we assumed the connection assess the same as a re-direction.

We had ISA from last five years and right now running ISA 2006. However we never enabled the auto discovery method for ISA and finally after spending few minutes and with the help of a document from isaserver.org we managed to get the wpad work fine for us.

However, other than my particular box, rest three test boxes running both 64bit and 32 bit clients stopped receiving “Additional log on information may be required” or “abc.com no internet access” status messages. In order to re-produce the scenarios which caused my system to have persistent error messages, I opted for a fresh installation of the OS and started creating manual restore points (how to?)

Post-installation activities

Re-joined my box with previous hostname

Installed ISA firewall client<>’No more You may require additional log on information or the yellow triangle with “abc.com no internet access”

Installed Avast free antivirus<> No problems yet (Many posts refer about antivirus programs causing the status/error messages)

Installed ZoneAlarm free firewall<>Better manageable than built-in firewall, still no error messages.

As writing this post on 20th March 2010, I am yet to receive any error messages about the connectivity. Following are the software I am yet to install which MAY cause problems with the connectivity

  • Java VirtualBOX
  • VMWare free player

Right now I am too busy to install the virtual machines, however too eager to assess what would happen once after I will finally install them. Please come back and read to know whether one of the installations specifically causes the most annoying error messages you would come across with your Windows 7 network connections!

Even though while connected to the LAN physically I don’t get warning/error messages, while establishing a PPTP connection from home to work, I do receive “Additional log on information may be required” followed by “click here to open the browser” messages.

Update 20.March.2010 afternoon session

Installed VMWare free player (latest edition). Everything works fine. “Additional log on information may be required” message still appears along with the hated yellow triangle only when the cable is physically detached and attached back. Nothing (restarting “Network Location Awareness”) clears the status message and a forced restart required to clear the message.

Uninstalled VMWare player, re-produced the situation to confirm it was not the VMWare networking components causing the error

Found a latest driver for the NIC from BroadCom site itself as HP site provided NIC drivers are rejected by Microsoft stating the drivers supplied by Microsoft being the latest dated to 26th April 2009. The drivers from BroadCom is dated 08th of June 2009 and Windows agreed to upgrade the drivers.

By virtue or out of curiosity disabled the option “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” under Power Management node.

Re-installed VMWare free player, restarted the machine. Everything seems working fine.

Unplugged the cable, plugged back and bingo, within few seconds the network connection established without throwing any error messages!

Does it mean we are finally dealt with more than a month-long painful exercises to find a solution for this annoyance? Wait, let us wait another couple of days. Last time when we “found” such a solution, the error messages started appearing after 2-3 days…

Minor update (21st March 2010)

Umm I didn’t have to wait for 2-3 days! Now, the latest problem which triggers a hated yellow triangle tightly related with the power saving “enhancement”. After the fresh installation the power options were not altered to suit my current working atmosphere and the machine was having default settings, in which, even while the power is plugged in the system was asked to go into sleep mode after 5-10 minutes of idle time.

Once awaken, the system tries “hard” to re-initiate the network, eventually fails to authenticate(?) something, something, brings back the favorite(?) yellow triangle and the love message “Additional log on information may be required”

The only solution I had was to set up never to allow the PC to enter into the sleep mode while power is plugged in! Seems it is working perfectly (I spent around 12 minutes for lunch and when returned the network connection was still intact without the yellow triangle or error message(s))

Windows 7 domain network “no internet access”- A temporary fix!

On By windows7bugsIn Windows 77 Comments

Scenario: Windows 2008 R1 AD Domain, ISA 2006 SP1, Client Windows 7 Professional 64bit with ISA firewall client installed!

Annoyance factor: Though the client could access the internet, the local area connection/wireless connection to domain network shows “No Internet Access” or when connection shows “Internet Access” the balloon message says “Additional log on information may be required”

Day count wasted to find a solution: 8th day in a row

Activity log as following.

  1. Googling to find a solution, came against a vista forum post where somebody has mentioned about adding “local service” account under “Administrators” local group.
  2. Added “local service” and “network service” under local administrators group.
  3. Restarted “Network Location Awareness” which in due restarts “Network List Services” automatically.
  4. Noticed the following: Instead of the much hated yellow triangle, the connection (cabled) shown “Additional log on information may be required”
  5. Flipped the coin, uninstalled the ISA 2006 firewall client.
  6. Though not prompted, opted for a restart.
  7. The connection apparently stopped showing both the annoying messages “No Internet Access” and “Additional log on information may be required”
  8. Re-installed ISA 2006 Firewall client, restarted the “Network Location Awareness” service which restarted the “Network List Services”. Everything look still good
  9. Moved to nearest Windows 7 client running 32bit Windows 7 Professional. Gone through the above said procedures. Confirmed everything worked fine.
  10. Moved back to my client machine, removed both “Local Service” and “Network Service” accounts from local administrators group.
  11. Forced a restart.
  12. Everything looked fine, no more false messages stating “No Internet Access” or “Additional log on information may be required”!

Annoyance continues

Though the connection status doesn’t piss me off with the messages, the following were observed.

Avast anti-virus client as well Symantec endpoint client were unable to download virus definitions from download servers until manually configured with proxy settings.

Monitoring the ISA Server 2006 pointed towards the download requests being forwarded to ISA without user credentials and ISA was denying access to those requests.

Now wondering how more days I should spend to find a solution for this problem :(