Windows could not start the Network Location Awareness service on Local computer
i have a dell inspiron 1501 laptop running windows vista home premium media center edition. i have recently been getting an error when trying to view networked computer saying "connection status: unknown" and "the dependency service or group failed to start". i started by disabling and re-enabling the driver and that did not help. i then brought up the services.msc thing and started looking at the networking services. i noticed that the Network Location Awareness service was not started so i tried to start it. i got a popup message saying "Windows could not start the Netwrok Location Awareness service on Local Computer. Error 0xc000096: 0xc0000096". i also get an error popup when i try to start the Network List service saying "Windows could not start the Network List Service service on Local Computer. Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start". what might i have done to make this happen and what can i do to try to fix it?haus
January 28th, 2008 10:13pm

Hey I am having a similar problem. Same message "The dependency service or group failed to start". I haven't tried this yet but in another online forum they say to type sfc/scannow in the cmd or run. I just got my computer back up and running and connected to the internet. Windows update came on and updated.....then it did a restart and gave the error. Gonna go try the cmd line now.
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February 1st, 2008 4:50am

Hi, Thank you for the post. I fully understand the inconvenience the issue has been caused and the current situation can be frustrating. Please try the following steps for troubleshooting. 1. Please start the computer in Safe Mode with Network and check the result. If the issue disappears, please perform a clean boot.For the detailed steps, please refer to the step 1 and 2 in the KB article 936214 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936214). 2. If the issue persists, please check the system file by using the command SFC /scannow.For more information, please refer to the KB article 929833 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833). If the above suggestions do not resolve the issue that service fails to start up, please understand that debug and dump analysis may be required for further troubleshooting. Also, in most cases, it is necessary to check the source codes. However, debugging is out of our forums support boundary. A support call to our product service team is needed for the debugging service. In this case, Id like to suggest contacting Microsoft Customer Support Service (CSS) for assistance so that this issue can be resolved efficiently. To obtain the phone numbers for specific technology request, please check the website listed below: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;PHONENUMBERS Thank you for your understanding. Sincerely, Joson Zhou Microsoft Online Community Support
February 1st, 2008 1:20pm

Joson, Thank you very much for posting this. It was very helpful. We were experiencing a similar issue with Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit edition. The network connection icon was displaying a 'Connection status: unknown The dependency service or group failed to start' error. We were receiving a slew of other errors as well. After researching this, contacting Microsoft and Dell, and continued searches, I stumbled across your post, and ran the command line, and am able to connect to the internet, again. I suspect the issue was caused a by Windows update(s). Any ideas what caused this? And how to prevent the problem from returning? Would like to install SP1, also. Thanks in advance. -wj
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July 20th, 2008 3:45pm

I also had the same issue and the above solution did not work. Myissue was caused by corruption in the TCP/IP StackTo fix, you will need torun a command prompt as administrator Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt (Right-Click and Run as Administrator) At the command Prompt type : netsh winsock reset Ignore all errors, restart and voila'
December 26th, 2008 5:12pm

Louis Veila, you are my hero and have made my wife very happy. I was searching everywhere for a fix and Dell couldn't help me. I was having almost the exact problem described and was about to go get an external drive to back up data for a Vista reinstall.I couldn't get network connectivity but also my login was incrdibly slow (seemed to hang).The WLAN Autoconfig Service wouldn't start and gave me an error 1747when I tried.Your solution appears to have fixed both the network connectivity and the slow login.
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February 17th, 2009 9:27am

Louis Vella you are wonderful! My daughter brought her laptop home from college with a virus and unable to connect to the internet. I worked on it several hours until I found this. It is now connected to the internet and I was able to download some virus software that is running right now. Thank you so much!
April 27th, 2009 7:36am

Louis, Thank you so much! It worked for me too. I tried the SFC /Scannow first with no luck. Then I tried "netsh winsock reset" and voila as you say! Just out of curiosity do you or anyone have an idea what causes the problem in the first place? Thanks again.
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June 2nd, 2009 6:36pm

Absolutely fab, much much appreciated Louis Vella
June 5th, 2009 8:08am

Thank you so much Louis Vella!!!! How did u figure this one out :O? It fixed my start up problem and the connection error thingy. Now its just overheating..lol. And the battery fried itself and like 2GB of RAM because of faulty HP batteries!
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July 27th, 2009 12:22am

Thanks!The netsh command worked perfectly - tried booting in safe mode first but that didn't work.
September 26th, 2009 4:09am

Omg Louis Vella you are my hero I had no clue what to do so glad I stumbled onto your post I did your winsock reset and restarted my comp and everything is working fine (knock on wood) lets hope it stays that way
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January 3rd, 2010 7:20pm

Thank you very much Louis Vella! The long lasting performance probem with my HP Pavillion laptop and network connection issues are resolved with "netsh winsock reset" command.
April 22nd, 2010 7:20am

Louis, You and your solution are awesome. THANK YOU FOR THE EASY, QUICK FIX! I have been fighting this problem for over 2 weeks and even though I have some knowledge of repair, error fixes, etc. this one had me stumped. My computer was fixed and up and runnin g in about 15 minutes, including the reboot, and the time to take a couple of advil. THANKS AGAIN!!!!! Dale
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July 17th, 2010 7:22am

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