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I've just moved from an excellent, extremely user-friendly Windows XP computer system to a Windows 7 system.

When I started with XP, I was advised as a matter of good practice to disable the Network Connection when I shut down my computer. Finding the Local Area Connection file to do so and to enable when I switched back on was easy. In the Notification Area (bottom right) of the XP desktop, an icon appeared when I enabled the LA Connection showing the speed, etc.

Windows 7 does not appear to have this facility and when I did disable the LA Connection I was treated as if I had done something wrong - getting it enabled by means of the Trouble-shooter. Is this Windows 7 so backward that disabling is not encouraged or have I missed the way to do it?

Don't tell me to go to Local Area Connection - I can't find one.

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  • I did mention Local Area Connection in my answer, only because this is a common default. You may need to experiment with disabling the various connections one at a time to find out which one is your internet connection, or you could use the ipconfig command to get this information if you're confident enough with networking and the command-line. Nov 30, 2014 at 8:29
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    "I was advised as a matter of good practice to disable the Network Connection when I shut down my computer" - where did this advice come from? It is not necessary to disable networks before shutting down ...
    – DavidPostill
    Nov 30, 2014 at 8:38
  • Aye. It feels a bit as "before you leave the house. Turn off all the lights and unscrew all the light bulbs". No idea why you would ever need to do that and I have worked with PCs since windows 2.01
    – Hennes
    Nov 30, 2014 at 9:16
  • You were advised incorrectly. Considering Win 7 is some 5 years old now I think it's safe to assume that the kinks are worked out. Any 'issues' you perceive are more likely your deficiency (knowledge or otherwise) rather than actual issues. Please consider that before taking to a combative tone.
    – JoelAZ
    Nov 30, 2014 at 11:46

4 Answers 4

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This can be done fairly easily without the use of the troubleshooter:

  1. Press the Windows Logo Key (flag key) and R at the same time. The Run dialog will be displayed
  2. In the Run box type ncpa.cpl and click OK
  3. The Network Connections window will display:Network Connections window1
  4. Right click the desired network adapter
  5. Choose Disable from the menu

Re-enabling the connection is the same process as disabling it. When you right click a disabled connection, the menu displays Enable instead

1The screenshot is from Windows 8.1, but is substancially the same as on Windows 7

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You can disable/enable network interfaces by execting the following commands in elevated(!) command line console: netsh interface set interface name="Local Area Connection" admin=disabled (just replace "Local area connection" with actual name of your interface(s)).

If you receive error message "An interface with this name is not registered with the router" or "No more data is available" - this issue occurs because the user account under which you run the command does not have either administrative or elevated user rights.

The alternative way to do the same things:

  • Start elevated Command Prompt.

  • Get NIC list and index number: wmic nic get name, index

  • Disable NIC with index number: (eg: 7) wmic path win32_networkadapter where index=7 call disable

  • Enable NIC with index number: (eg: 7) wmic path win32_networkadapter where index=7 call enable

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The network icon in the task tray exists still in Win 7. It does not show by default, you must turn it on. Just as you explicitly had to in XP 10 years before it. The notion of disabling the LAN connection before shutdown has no basis in reality shy perhaps of troubleshooting a LAN driver blocking shutdown or similar. That said:

Go to Start button, type "Notification" and choose teh Notification Area Icons.
Scroll down to find "Network" and change the option on the right to "show icon and notification".
Click ok.
Profit.

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For anyone wondering how to re-enable the network connection without going through troubleshooting (like I was), just navigate to Network and Sharing Center as normal and there, where you can't see the disabled connection adapter anymore, click Change Adapter Settings on the left hand side of the panel, which will show you all installed adapters, and then double click on the disabled network device to enable it.

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