Windows Vista continues to amaze me after I introduced multiple Windows Vista machines into a wired network environment using DHCP to assign local IP addresses. After a day’s exhaustive research I now have stable “Local and Internet” access on all workstations with consistent results.

My fix is not ideal, but works for the interim, in the future I’d like to remove any fixed IP and DNS details and have reliable DHCP-powered network discovery. Let Microsoft hear my prayer.

Note: You need to know an available IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and preferred DNS server for your network to proceed with this fix.

1. Open Network Connections from Start > Control Panel > Network Connections
2. Right-click your active network connection and select Properties
3. Uncheck the following from the “This connection uses the following items” list
   1. Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
   2. Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver
   3. Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder
4. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and press Properties
5. Choose “Use the following IP address” and then provide your IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway, Preferred DNS Server in the available text fields
6. Press OK to confirm changes
7. Press Close to close the Properties dialog
8. Right click your active network connection and select Disable
9. Right click your active network connection and select Enable
10. Wait 5-10 seconds for the status to change to “Local and Internet”

That should be it, if you followed these steps you hopefully now can have stable internet! I’m going to start re-enabling different services on my active network connection to find the right ‘mix’. Leave a comment on your success or issues below.