Windows takes an obscenely long time to establish a network connection after booting
Often, when I reboot my machine for whatever reason, it boots up normally, I log in, it shows my desktop, loads all the icons and then takes upwards of 5 minutes or longer for the networking icon in the taskbar so show that I have network access (shows that little blue ring). Now, normally I wouldn't think this is much of a problem since I've found a blog at one point detailing how to change the address it's using for that confirmation. However, in this case, I'm unable to use (m)any other windows services until it decides I'm connected. For instance, I'm unable to open the registry editor - I'll open the start menu, search for regedit and run it, but will no longer be able to use the search tool in the Start menu until the registry editor appears and that won't appear until the network configuration decides I'm connected. If I open a browser (doesn't matter if it's Firefox, Chrome or IE), I'm unable to visit any sites - they say I'm not connected. I'm unable to open the Network and Sharing center at all - if I try to left or right click the network icon in the taskbar, nothing happens. If I try to visit the Network and Sharing center by typing the address in a folder window, it simply never loads until that icon shows I'm connected. In other words, my computer is pretty unusable until Windows decides I do have an internet connection. A little about that - I've had this problem for about a month now and have experienced it while connected via wire to two different routers (Netgear, now Linksys E3000). That doesn't seem to be the problem. My connection is perfectly fine at all other times except when my system boots (so it shouldn't be the wires) and I've both kept myself updated with all the latest Win7 patches and firmware for the netword card + other system components. Oh, and no other computer on my network has this networking issue. My system is running Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
December 2nd, 2011 11:07pm

in my case network discovery seems to be the reason why Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings Turn OFF network discovery
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December 3rd, 2011 4:50am

You mention the trouble is when you are connected by "wire" and mention 2 different routers and other computers on your network. So, just to clarify the setup a bit: do you have more than one router connected to your network? How many adapters does your motherboard have (wired and / or wireless ), you say that your connection is cool at all other times, do you mean after you have waited the 5 minutes? Is the computer that takes 5 minutes connected differently that your other computers? Does it have to have a connection before the others will access the net? I am using an ASUS board that has two (2) gigabyte "wired" adapters, one "wireless" adapter & one bluetooth adapter. My ISP is U-Verse, so I must use their (AT&T) router but I have it connected to a D-Link DIR-855 router. I also have 3 D-Link 1522 wireless bridges connected to my net. Where I'm going with this is that in my case, making sure that I didn't have multiple DHCP, firewall port and NAT issues was the key to my success in having all of this equipment working correctly. As I do utilize all of my network adapters, both wired & wireless. Including the switches, one 16 port and 4 eight (8) port, 2 routers and 3 bridges ~ I have TONS of equipment running without a hiccup on my wired LAN, as well as my 2.4 & 5 gigahertz wireless nets that all "speak" to each of the 3 computers, TVs, media boxes, media extenders, audio receivers, smart phones, tablet devices, 5 NAS units and 5 satellite boxes as one big happy family. When I boot Win 7 64 Ultimate it takes less than a minute for the little blue ring to disappear. I know I haven't offered any specifics other than what I had to deal with for my LAN (DHCP, firewall ports & NAT) if you can be more specific about how you have your LAN configured, maybe we can find the gremlin.
December 3rd, 2011 12:23pm

Hi, First, please refer to the replies by Brano and Anonymous007211, then you may also try the following things. 1. Use a static IP address instead of DHCP. 2. Turn off firewall. 3. Boot in Safe Made with networking. 4. Make sure the running status of Network Location Awareness and Network List Service are Automatic. Try the steps above and let us know the results. Regards, Juke TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Juke Chou TechNet Community Support
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December 5th, 2011 3:20am

Hi, How's going? Please feel free to give us any update. Regards, Juke TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Juke Chou TechNet Community Support
December 7th, 2011 3:50am

Sorry, went out of town and forgot where I had posted this question at. When I mentioned the two different routers, I was only trying to clarify that I've tried using two different routers to see if I've gotten different results. Right now it's just my computer -> cat6A -> Linksys E3000 Router -> cat6A -> Cable Modem. The computer in question does not have a wireless card, just a single wired adapter. This computer is the only one that's actually connected to the router by wire - all other computers in the household are connected wirelessly. But even a couple weeks back when they were connected by wire, they didn't experience this issue. I turned off network discovery. For some reason this time I'm able to access the net via browsers or ping sites, however applications like Skype or Pidgin still show that I have no connection. Also, I'm unable to use certain Windows tools in the meantime while it's pondering that connection thing. For instance, my computer just booted and it's showing the blue circle overlay on the network icon. If I click that icon, nothing shows up (it's usually a menu of the available network options). If I open the control panel and try to open the network and Sharing center, the window never opens. If I try to view network computers and devices, again, the window locks up and never shows anything. If I just select the Network menu from my start menu, same result, window locks up, never shows anything. But once this ~5 minutes is up, everything will work perfectly. Again, sorry for disappearing and thank for any insights you have.
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December 9th, 2011 5:39pm

I have the EXACT same issue! Additionally, I can open Command Prompt and ping inside and outside my network using IP addresses and using url's, such as google.com and yahoo.com successfully, even though my taskbar does not show a connection. This problem started about a month ago and I have not added any hardware or software. I do, shamefully admit, I install almost all of the Windows critical and reccomended updates without discretion. I cannot find any answer to this anywhere!!!
December 9th, 2011 7:34pm

go to device manager expend network adapters select your network adapter go to properties for that adapter under Advaced tab look for "Speed & Duplex" Try 10 mb full reboot See if things are better then try 100 mb full Network card will get the ip and everything but it probably will try to adjust it's speed to the router during that process you will temporarly lose connection and reconnect again.
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December 9th, 2011 10:35pm

go to device manager expend network adapters select your network adapter go to properties for that adapter under Advaced tab look for "Speed & Duplex" Try 10 mb full reboot See if things are better then try 100 mb full Network card will get the ip and everything but it probably will try to adjust it's speed to the router during that process you will temporarly lose connection and reconnect again. Has not made a difference at all for me...
December 11th, 2011 4:40am

Maybe try this, i am not sure that it will resolve the problem, but it is worth trying anyways. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/eef49e64-157c-4082-8e80-52e48309691f Hi All, I've seen this problem multiple times, especially with Windows 7 64-bit versions and Enterprise edition. The source of the problem appears to be the Bonjour service that is installed in the background and set to "Automatic" when installing certain 3rd party applications. Apple applications like iTunes and Adobe applications like Acrobat Professional and Creative Suites have been known to cause this problem. I've also seen virtualization software like VMWare and VirtualBox cause similar issues with network adapters. The solution in most of the cases I've come across has been to stop and disable the Bonjour service. The Bonjour service also masquerades as a service with a name of the format "##Id_String1.6844F930_blahblahblah". Here's how to disable this service in Windows 7: Right-Click on Computer > Select 'Manage' Expand the 'Services and Applications' section in the bottom of the Left-Nav dialog and Select 'Services' Sort the Services list by name and look for either "Bonjour" or the "##Id_String..." name mentioned above Right-Click on the service and select 'Properties' Click the 'Stop' button to stop the service Select 'Disabled' from the 'Startup type' drop down list Click 'Apply' and then 'OK' Reboot your machine and see if the "Multiple Networks" issue is resolved. If so, you should have internet connectivity again. Hope this helps. cheers, Aaron
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December 11th, 2011 11:37am

Thank you for the suggestion, but this did not change any thing. It didn't hurt anything either. Ryan
December 11th, 2011 3:24pm

Hi, Have you tried to boot in Safe Mode with Networking? Does this still occur in that Mode? Also, perform the following actions. 1. Turn off all your firewalls and anti-virus applications. 2. Update the driver of your network adapter to latest version.Juke Chou TechNet Community Support
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December 12th, 2011 4:56am

Hi, How's going?Juke Chou TechNet Community Support
December 14th, 2011 4:25am

Hi, As this thread has been quiet for a while, we assume that the issue has been resolved. At this time, we will mark it as ‘Answered’ as the previous steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios. If the issue still persists, please feel free to reply this post directly so we will be notified to follow it up. You can also choose to unmark the answer as you wish. BTW, we’d love to hear your feedback about the solution. By sharing your experience you can help other community members facing similar problems. Thanks for your understanding and efforts. Regards, Juke TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Juke Chou TechNet Community Support
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December 16th, 2011 5:15am

No, still having the issue. Nothing suggested here has resolved it. Thanks for the suggestions, though. Ryan
December 17th, 2011 12:25am

Hello?
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January 10th, 2012 8:15pm

Hi, Does the issue still happen if you boot in Safe Mode with Networking? Please advise.Juke Chou TechNet Community Support
January 10th, 2012 9:17pm

Not sure, let me check and I'll get back to you.
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January 14th, 2012 7:59pm

Hi, Does the issue still happen if you boot in Safe Mode with Networking? Please advise. Juke Chou TechNet Community Support No it does not. Have internet access right away.
February 25th, 2012 12:50am

No it does not happen in safe mode...
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February 25th, 2012 12:50am

Jake, this issue is still not resolved. Please advise.
March 2nd, 2012 7:05am

I'm getting the exact same problem. Have tried everything above. Can't anyone help with this?
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March 18th, 2012 7:20am

In my case I have the same problem and I think (is not sure) that happens because my computer needs to charge the domain policies. When these policies are charged the computer works fine. That's happens also without network cable...
March 21st, 2012 5:37am

I have the same problem but I don't know what you mean by "my computer needs to charge the domain policies". Is that something that is done manually and if so is it only needed once? How does one do this?
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March 29th, 2012 12:27pm

I have the same problem but I don't know what you mean by "my computer needs to charge the domain policies". Is that something that is done manually and if so is it only needed once? How does one do this? I developed that same problem a few days ago on my desktop computer running XP pro Please help if you can, Thanks
May 14th, 2012 2:52pm

I've been having the exact same issue for a few months. Any new developments on this??
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June 17th, 2012 2:58pm

OK!! After half a day of turning background services on and off individually, I found the culprit!! For me, the problem was fixed by disabling the Microsoft (background) service called "SQL Server (SQLExpress)". I'm not sure what exactly this process does (about to research that) but I wanted to let everyone know what worked for me so you can try it. Simply use msconfig to disable SQL Server (SQLExpress) and restart. Hope that helps!
June 17th, 2012 6:21pm

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