"Network Connections" service missing/deleted

[noetus]

Today I discovered that the Network Connections folder is empty on my X61 tablet (running Vista), and the reason is apparently that the Network Connections service has simply disappeared. The windows network icon in the taskbar has a red cross, and holding the mouse over it reveals the message: "Connection status: unknown. The specified service does not exist as an installed service." Also, when I try to refresh the Network Connections folder, I get the following error:

"The Network Connections Folder was unable to retrieve the list of Network adapters on your machine. Please make sure that the Network Conenctions service is enabled and running."

I've looked in the list of installed services (by running services.msc) and it's simply not there anymore, and I don't know how to get it back.

My network device drivers look fine, and Access Connections can still find and log onto my home wireless network.

I've tried searching for a solution to this problem online, but haven't come up with anything that has worked.

What to do? Anyone else had this problem?

[bill bolton]

What to do?

With Windows, the first step, always, with any network based problem is to go into the Device Manager and make sure that your network devices still have working drivers still installed.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[GomJabbar]

On some of the newer ThinkPads, the network adapters can power themselves off. Something to do with power saving features. Make sure your adapters are not powered off. Look at you configuration settings for each adapter in Access Connections. In particular, I would look for "Deep Smart Power Down" settings. Also make sure you do not have a hardware switch turning off your wireless adapter (I do not know if ThinkPads are incorporating these at this time or not). You can also try Fn + F5 to turn on your wireless adapter.

This reminds me that I read in this forum in regards to newer ThinkPads that ethernet adapters can disappear in Windows if they are not plugged in to an ethernet connection. Check into that.

[noetus]

Thanks for the replies and the help - but I want to clarify that network connectivity is not the problem. I have network connectivity on my home wireless network (I'm writing this on the afflicted machine), and Access Connections seems to be managing it fine.

The problem is that the 'Network Connections' folder is empty. It shows no network adapters installed even though they are working fine (and all drivers are installed and loaded, etc). Also, the network icon in the task manager shows no connectivity and returns the error I mentioned in my first post. This is not merely a cosmetic problem - I cannot at the moment use Windows to edit any settings on my connection devices, or add any new ones. I've traced the problem to a missing service (not anything to do with drivers or hardware switched off), which is, apparently, the Network Connections service (netman). This is a known issue that occurs sometimes, but though google returns plenty of reports of similar issues, nothing I've turned up has been able to help me fix this. The thing is, netman.dll is still present and I can run the command "net start" on it which seems to parse with no errors, but still (even after rebooting) the service "Network Connections" is just entirely missing from the list of installed services.

I suspect the registry has somehow become corrupted, so that Windows can't see that the service is there even though all the files are there, but I don't know how to fix that.

The reason I posted this in the VISTA forum is that I believe it is a Windows problem rather than something specific to my hardware (X61 tablet) or device drivers. Perhaps I am wrong about that, though. One thing that I do recall happening over the last few weeks, which did seem specific to my hardware, is that after sleeping and waking up the machine, sometimes it wouldn't reconnect to my router, and the wireless would be switched off but wouldn't turn on (even using Fn-F5 would have no effect) and I'd have to reboot the machine. But I think that is a separate issue from the one I'm suffering from now.

Any ideas on what I can try? A reinstall of Windows, or perhaps a repair of the installation, is a last resort (a reinstall would be a huge amount of work, given all the customisation I've done, and a repair runs the very high risk of screwing something else up).

Perhaps if someone with a similar or identical machine, running Vista, would be prepared to run a search on the registry and post every line that has the word 'netman' in it, I could compare. It would be tedious job, though, unless there's an easy way to automate it.

[GomJabbar]

See if this is of any help. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825826

[noetus]

I already saw that page. One problem is that it's for Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server, not Vista. The other problem is that at line 2 it says "Verify that necessary services are started:" and at line 2 c. we find "• Network Connections (this service depends on RPC service)". Well ok, the problem is that it DOESN'T say what you're supposed to do if these services are not just not started but MISSING ALTOGETHER. What then?

[noetus]

(Incidentally, the keys that you're supposed to check for at line 8 are indeed missing on my system. Now since this is Vista not XP I don't know if they're supposed to be there or not, but I tried the recommended solution of creating them anyway. Problem is, Vista gives me an error saying I do not have sufficient permissions to do that.)

[steveg47]

noetus, If you would like to try, I can email you a zip file with registry exports of all the reg entries I can find referencing netcon(found 13). You can examine them and possibly merge then into your registry. Doing this may add back the missing service and fix your problem. If you would like this zip file pm me an email address I can send them to.

Also, the utility sc.exe run at the dos prompt can be used to install, remove, investigate and manipulate services.

If you are missing more then one service I would strongly suggest you reinstall Vista.

[GomJabbar]

Problem is, Vista gives me an error saying I do not have sufficient permissions to do that.

This link should help with that. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929858/en-us

I already saw that the previous link was for XP and 2003 Server, but I have a feeling that it will likely work in Vista. See if the 3 files mentioned (netshell.dll, netcfgx.dll, netman.dll) exist on your hard drive (you will need to make hidden and system files viewable). Unfortunately I do not have a Vista machine to look at.

Here is something else to look at.
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/51 ... 07842.html

[rvacha]

I have had Network Connections disappear on several XP machines over the years. Most of the time a system restore will fix it.

[noetus]

Thanks for all the help guys, especially GomJabber and steveg46.

Here's an update. None of the tips/tricks you pointed to worked (some of them I already knew about - and some of them don't apply to Vista, e.g. the idea of changing/correcting the permissions used for some system services, since this is changed in Vista and is hardwired for some services, part of the "security hardening" that's been done in Vista). The problem with making changes in my registry turned out to be a registry problem with the permissions on the individual keys (and not because I wasn't using elevated permission with Regedit, which I was) and once I fixed that, I was able to modify the registry, but it didn't make any difference.

And I can't use system restore because the backups don't go back far enough.

What I did discover was that about 5 system services related to networking were not working because their registry entries were missing or corrupted. The files were there - just the registry was messed up. I copied the relevant entries from another Thinkpad running Vista and got those services running again.

I tried everything else I could find, including all the MS advice that seemed relevant to Vista that was already linked to.

Everything is now working again EXCEPT THE NETWORK CONNECTIONS FOLDER. That is still empty, and does not return an error (or anything) when I 'refresh'.

At this point I can only conclude that there is still some problem in the registry, but tracking it down will be difficult if not impossible. I have no idea how the registry got messed up to begin with (both with regard to the persmissions and the msising entries). If it happened internal to Vista, or caused by some program, I just don't know.

Interestingly, if I open the 'Network Connections' folder and select 'Advanced > Advanced Settings' the connections DO APPEAR at the top, under the 'Adapters and Bindings' tab. But I can't change any of their properties there, so it doesn't help. It's interesting that they come up, though.

I can live with this for now, and once Vista SP1 comes out I'll reinstall then (and get the added benefit of installing SP1 'cold', which is probably a good idea).