I have seen this several times in Vista, even in Windows 7. You try to connect to the LAN or Wifi and you are never prompted to choose a network location (Home, Work or Public). When this happens The Network and Sharing Center will X out the Internet icon and show Local Access Only. The problem is, there is no way to choose which location you want! Lame.

So, do this…

  1. In the Network & Sharing Center, click the “Change adapter settings” link at the left.
  2. Open the properties of the adapter in you are trying to use.
  3. Un-check the Link-Layer Topology Discovery items. There are two, Mapper and Responder.
  4. Click OK

From here, you should be connected automatically if not prompted for the Network Location. If no such luck, then you can also try disabling IPv6. I usually do anyway, so I don’t know for sure if it is necessary.

Another solution I have found that may work is to run the following from a command prompt: route delete 0.0.0.0. This seemed to work for me once, but it had no effect the last time I tried. The reason it may work is that Windows creates a primary default gateway of 0.0.0.0 to block internet access until you choose the Network Location. By removing that route and restoring the correct gateway, it may just get you surfing again.