Hi, I recently installed Windows 7 X86 RC, the installation went well and I have no worries. I am wirelessly connected to my Secure Home Network and have been surfing the internet quite happily. However the network status indicator in the system tray is greyed out with a red 'X' over it instead of the globe...???? As if I am not connected? Its not really an issue as I have access to the web and online stuff, I'm just wondering if anyone else has come across this and if they have managed to fix it ???? Alternatively if there is anybody out there who knows what the issue is? As I said, its not really a problem I would just like 'all the pretty lights to come on'. Thanks. JD

If your PC has both wireless and wired (RJ45 port) capability, then the greyed out with red X is for your wired connection since you're using wireless instead of wired. It's just saying your wired connection is not connected.

Thanks alot, I considered that. Wasn't 100% though.

I have this same issue on Windows 7 x64 RC. Even when both my Ethernet and Wireless are both connected it still shows a read X. Come to think of it I haven't seen it have the globe in a good while.

I don't believe what The Digital Jedi said is correct. What The Digital Jedi is talking about I think is the Network Connections Applet (ncpa.cpl) and not a disconnected network connection. I don't see why having a disconnected network connection should reflect a red X in the Network Status System Tray. A lot of people have both Wired and Wireless enabled at any given time but yet not using both. Also disabling any connections not in use does not effect the red X for the Network Status System Tray Icon.

I have the same issue as well on x86 RC with only a wired connection. In the beta the icon was fine. Beyond that my networking works better than any previous Windows setups. I can even access workstations across a persistant VPN on a separate subnet with almost no delay in showing the shares. I've got a mix of Win7, Vista, Server 2K3, XP Home and Pro, and one Home Server. My only real problem is my ATI TV Wonder driver blue screening in the middle of recording a TV show.

If you hold your mouse pointer over it does it say anything? (ie media disconnected etc?)

Yea, it says the name of my network and internet access. The connection works fine, just shows the wrong icon. As of a couple days ago after a reboot to finish some updates the icon has fixed itself, no longer has the red X over it. That was a minor issue, just wish my ATI tuner driver would quit giving a BSOD right in the middle of a recording. It sucks watching a show only to have it end right when the plot is building. :-{ I even loaded a new updated beta driver that was offered and still does the same thing. I just installed the RC on a second desktop, have to move the tuner to that machine and see if it does any better.

Quick update to this minor problem with the icon. The red X appears intermittently, with no real pattern or reason as to when it will show up. I did find what I believe is causing the icon to show the network connection as disabled yet the pop up text states "Internet Access". I was in the Local Area Connection status window to make a change and I noticed under Connection it shows <<<IPv4 Connectivity: Internet>>> and<<<IPv6 Connectivity: No network access>>>. Now in the Properties tab I have IPv6 unchecked since I don't need it and I just adds alot of extra info to Route Print commands and such. I checked the box again to see if that changed anything but since I don't use IPv6 on my network it still says "No network access". I will leave it that way for a while and see if there is any change in the icon, but as of this posting I still have the red X. As a note I am only using a wired connection and have no wireless hardware on any of my systems.

If your PC has both wireless and wired (RJ45 port) capability, then the greyed out with red X is for your wired connection since you're using wireless instead of wired. It's just saying your wired connection is not connected. I disagree because i have both, and this is not happening to me.

I actually ran into a problem like this when i decided to try out static networking to try to resolve another problem. My icon would show four bars, with a yellow triangle, saying no internet access, however, i was able to connect to google, use irc, chat, etc. As soon as I switched back to dhcp configuration, the icon resumed working the way it is expected.

I have a static IP configuration on my IPV4 network and the same problem is occuring to me. When I first installed the Windows 7 RC, the indicator icon was functioning normally, however now it says that I'm not connected to any networks, though I certainly am. It's not a big hassle for me, except that I cannot connect to my VPN because Windows says I need an active connection.

I have a static IP configuration on my IPV4 network and the same problem is occuring to me. When I first installed the Windows 7 RC, the indicator icon was functioning normally, however now it says that I'm not connected to any networks, though I certainly am. It's not a big hassle for me, except that I cannot connect to my VPN because Windows says I need an active connection. Thats interesting because mine has never effected connecting to my office VPN. Seems to be a complete status icon issue and nothing more, if I hover over the icon it does say connected to internet.

Hi,I recently installed Windows 7 X86 RC, the installation went well and I have no worries. I am wirelessly connected to my Secure Home Network and have been surfing the internet quite happily. However the network status indicator in the system tray is greyed out with a red 'X' over it instead of the globe...???? As if I am not connected? Its not really an issue as I have access to the web and online stuff, I'm just wondering if anyone else has come across this and if they have managed to fix it ???? Alternatively if there is anybody out there who knows what the issue is?As I said, its not really a problem I would just like 'all the pretty lights to come on'.Thanks.JD hi I have same problem but my clour is YELLOW. everything 's working good and I connected via wireless but desktop network icon is yellow !! please help

Static addressing could be the problem as that is what I use due to the size of my network and I prefer to always know the IP of a specific computer. I have moved up to the release version of Windows 7 and I hate to say it but the red X is still there, and my network still is working fine. The icon is functionally useless as compared to the icon in XP and earlier. It does not show send and recieve activity, or the amount of data transfered. You cannot click on it to bring up the status window to quickly change properties etc. That one lacking feature is what I really miss, now you must go thru the Network and Sharing Center to get to the link for the status of the connection. I don't bother showing it in the tray anymore, saves room for other icons. Windows 7 (x86) ver. 6.1.7100.2.0.0.256.1

WIN 7 Pro... All connections are good. Icon does not blink to show activity on line. No 'visual' as on XP Pro.Just a plain gray icon that implies if present and no other notification all is great with connection(s).One must rely on other communications devices lights to determine if movement on line(such as modem, router, etc.)Have moved all com physical devices within the peripheral field of vision, so can detect activiy on the line.How'bout dem apples!. SPA

I had the same problem. To fix it, I uninstalled the drivers for the LAN and Wireless adapters, rebooted the computer [don't know if I needed to reboot in Windows 7 but it can't hurt.] then reinstalled the drivers. If you need to, you should download the driver installers off the internet before uninstalling the drivers, obviously. After that the icons worked great! In my case I think the registry got corrupt when I installed Orical Virtual Box, and Virtual Box installed a virtual network adapter, so, reinstalling the drivers fixed the registry. Hope I was helpful.

Hello All , I faced same problem last week am using (win7 ulitmate x86 ) i recently installed VM-ware workstation and my tray connection shows am disconnected while am not (am using wired network) . Since VM installs 2 other vriual network cards i check it out and fixd the problem for me , I did the following: 1. Disable my main network card . 2. I waited tell my network tray shows the yellow tringle . 3. Disable the 2 vriual network cards created by VM (The blue circle starts to spin looking for a network). 4. Waited tell it show me am diconnected . 5. Enable my main network card (that solve my problem) Tray icon back to normal and shows am connected. I hope thats help some of you guys :)

I tried one thing in here and that was the correct answer. For most of you, things work, just the icon shows wrong. I am the IT for Lighting Science and this is my command machine. Well this is the ONLY one that it does this on. So I went into the adapter settings and unchecked IPv6 as I don't use it. Most people and places do not. Why would they? Anyway, as soon as I did that the icon showed fine. no need to disconnect, reinstall, reload, format, or anything. If you are like most people and do no use IPv6, uncheck it in your net adapters. Problem solved.

Brad, I try your suggestion but the issue continue. I see the 4 bars with a little orange sun (or asterik?) on it... Have internet connection OK. But can't find a reliable way to recover the Icon without this orange asterik... I would appreciate some well fundamented recovering answer from Microsoft... g.

I also have the same problem and also none of the solutions listed here works for me. Could you solve it already or not?

This is the only thing i tried and it worked. I unchecked the IPv6 and the icon was back to normal. After you get the icon back to normal, you can re enable the IPv6 and the icon remains normal.