I seem to be tearing my hair out once again with the Network List Service. Several months back the Network and Sharing centre stopped displaying or reporting the active networks, although I was connected with internet access. A consequence was most of the Metro apps would not work as they thought the computer was off-line.

The problem seemed to be that the permissions were wrong in the Network List hierarchy and adding Full Control for my user account in 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList' seemed to solve the problem.

Once again thought the Metro apps are not working reporting no internet connection and the Network and Sharing centre has the following message:

Unknown

The service to detect this status is disabled

More Information

When I select More Information I get a dialog asking if I want to turn on Network List Service,  when I click "Turn this on' nothing happens. 

Having looked in the Event Viewer, there are a large number of this entry, maybe it is related?

    DCOM got error "1068" attempting to start the service netprofm with arguments "Unavailable" in order to run the server:

Network List Service is reported as running in Services.msc. and task  manager.

I tried to check the permissions in the registry key as I did before but key was missing (i think). I tried switching to a local account on the computer from my Microsoft Live account but no change, although when I checked the registry, the NetworkList key was there and the permissions were correct. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong place but I was pretty sure it was missing...

Not sure where to go next with this.. 

did you installed any 3rd party security app before this issue happen?

try to check whether this issue persist after try clean boot

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135?wa=wsignin1.0

If clean boot solved this problems, uninstall any 3rd party security apps (include antivirus and firewall) installed, or try system restore using restore point

another workaround I suggest also try to reinstall or update your display driver and network driver to test

• Edited by britishdhez 3 hours 2 minutes ago

Thanks for the reply. I have tried a clean boot with no change and I only have the Windows  security software enabled. I did run a bunch of anti malware tools after the problem started but have uninstalled all of them now.

As for the network and display drivers, they are the latest versions. It is a late 2012 retina mac book with the latest bootcamp drivers from Apple. I also check the chip manufacturers for updates. The mac only has Windows installed, no OSX partition.

If all else fails I do have a clonezilla backup of the drive although it is fairly old I can use it as a last resort!

did you installed any 3rd party security app before this issue happen?

try to check whether this issue persist after try clean boot

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135?wa=wsignin1.0

If clean boot solved this problems, uninstall any 3rd party security apps (include antivirus and firewall) installed, or try system restore using restore point

another workaround I suggest also try to reinstall or update your display driver and network driver to test

• Edited by britishdhez Wednesday, April 08, 2015 4:19 AM

did you installed any 3rd party security app before this issue happen?

try to check whether this issue persist after try clean boot

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135?wa=wsignin1.0

If clean boot solved this problems, uninstall any 3rd party security apps (include antivirus and firewall) installed, or try system restore using restore point

another workaround I suggest also try to reinstall or update your display driver and network driver to test

• Edited by britishdhez Wednesday, April 08, 2015 4:19 AM

did you installed any 3rd party security app before this issue happen?

try to check whether this issue persist after try clean boot

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135?wa=wsignin1.0

If clean boot solved this problems, uninstall any 3rd party security apps (include antivirus and firewall) installed, or try system restore using restore point

another workaround I suggest also try to reinstall or update your display driver and network driver to test

• Edited by britishdhez Wednesday, April 08, 2015 4:19 AM

did you installed any 3rd party security app before this issue happen?

try to check whether this issue persist after try clean boot

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135?wa=wsignin1.0

If clean boot solved this problems, uninstall any 3rd party security apps (include antivirus and firewall) installed, or try system restore using restore point

another workaround I suggest also try to reinstall or update your display driver and network driver to test

• Edited by britishdhez Wednesday, April 08, 2015 4:19 AM

Hi ScottieM,

I am a little confused of the exact symptom of the issue .Do you mean the Network and Sharing Centre UI (User Interface)won`t be opened or the Network List Service won`t be working ?When did the issue start to occur ?Have you got any error messages ?If it is possible ,please post a screenshot here .It will be very useful to help troubleshoot the issue .

If there is a network issue here ,we can try to run the built-in troubleshoot tool to have a diagnostic :
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Troubleshooting\All Categories\Network Adapter,Internet Connections

"DCOM got error "1068" attempting to start the service netprofm with arguments "Unavailable" in order to run the server:Network List Service is reported as running in Services.msc. and task  manager."
It is a little werid ,we can try the following suggestions to have a troubleshoot :
1.Perform a full scan with an antivirus software.If you haven`t got one ,we can try the official software.
Malicious Software Removal Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/malware-removal.aspx

2.Run "dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth"or "Sfc /scannow"to check the health of the system files.

Best regards

Hi,

The Network and Sharing centre opens as normal but where you would normally see 

'View your active networks' followed by the network or list of networks that you are connected to it just says:

Unknown (when view your active networks would be)

The service to detect this status is disabled

More Information

Clicking on 'More information' informs me that the Network List Service is not running and asks if I want to start it, clicking yes does nothing. The Network list Service is listed as running in Service.msc

I have tried a full virus scan and also ran a whole host of anti malware tools and the computer seems clean. I also tried sfc /scannow with no problems detected.

I restored and old clonezilla backup I had and it is fine now but made a system backup before I did. This is the second time this has happened and I would like to find a solution so I will revert back to the drive image with the issue and post a screen shot. 

Hi ScottieM,

"I restored and old clonezilla backup I had and it is fine now "

Considering the issue can be resolved by system restore ,have you made any modification to the machine or installed any third party software after the restore point ?

Please also check the Event Viewer for more information to troubleshoot this issue .

Event Viewer\Windows Logs \Application ,System ,Setup (Update information)

Best regards

Sorry about the delay, I have been away on holiday. I just tried restoring the disk image I made when I had the network and sharing problem but it seems to be corrupted. 

I am fairly sure this will crop up again so will hopefully be able to get to the bottom of it next time. I do not recall installing anything other than windows updates on the computer prior to this happening.

It has once again reminded me to keep system backups up to date! Thanks for the replies and effort.