I have machines that have all interfaces connected to the domain network, all connected interfaces can reach the domain controllers, however the Network and Sharing Center in Vista still identifies the network connection as Unauthenticated and defaults to the Public firewall profile.What specifically is Network Location Awareness checking for that is causing these connections to fail to determine they are on the domain network and select the Domain firewall profile?

Network Location Awareness service collects and stores network configuration and location information, and notifies applications when this information changes. It is required if you are using Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) or Internet Connection Firewall (ICF). Based on current situation, the issue may not related to this service. The network Unauthenticated behavior can be caused by several reasons. I suggest that you log on with a local user account, and follow the steps below to reinstall the network adapter driver on the Windows Vista computer. 1. Click Start, click Run, type in "devmgmt.msc" (without quotation marks) and press Enter. 2. In Device Manager, double click to expand the "Network Adapters" branch. 3. Right click your network adapters listed under "Network Adapters", and click Uninstall to uninstall the driver. 4. Click Start, in the Start Search box type "appwiz.cpl" and press Enter. 5. Find the entry of the network driver, and uninstall it.6. Please reinstall the driver with the driver CD. Is the issue resolved after reinstalling? If it persists, follow the steps below to boot in Safe Mode with Networking, and check if the issue occurs. 1. Restart the computer.2. Keep pressing F8 key until the Windows Startup menu appears.3. Choose the Safe Mode with Network, and press Enter.4. Log on with your account. Does the issue still occur? If the issue does not persist, please back to Normal Mode, disable the anti-virus and firewall on the Windows XP computer. If the issue occurs in Safe Mode, or it does not occur in Safe Mode but occurs in Normal Mode without the anti-virus and the firewall, please let me know the system of the domain controller. Is it Windows Server or Small Business Server? Additionally, please let me know if you can access other domain computers and Internet on the problematic computer. Also, let me know whether other Windows Vista computers have this issue.

I am presently setting up some new Dell Latitude E6400 in a Windows 2K domain. The Domain has Win2K, Win2003K, and Win2008K DCs. These have the very latest drivers installed on them, downloaded last night from the Dell support website.I am experiencing this issue whenever the laptop is hibernated or placed into standby.I removed the Anti Virus (ESET Smart Security) and after this the network was correctly identified after hibernation or standby.However I now cannot connect to the registry with external network tools despite disabling the Windows firewall completely.I have given the built in Administrator account a strong password and enabled it. I have been able to connect to the C$ drive both with the AV installed or not installed.I could connect to the registry with the AV installed, but not with it removed.What on earth has changed?Chris

There exists better solution than re-join, please have look at http://www.cievo.sk/2012/02/21/reset-computer-accounts-in-active-directory-domain/.---------- Ondrej Zilinec - Cievo ----------