How do I set my wireless network to be private instead of public?

Question

Trying to maintain good security settings on my laptop, I want my home network to be interpreted as private and the university network at school to be interpreted as public. However, my home network is currently showing as public.

Here is what my Network and Sharing Center looks like:

How do I change my home network from public to private on Windows 8 Consumer Preview?

+1 to remove the -1 somebody did. I've only used XP so I suppose this private/public thing is in windows 8 and maybe a bit earlier. Could be the downvoter thought you weren't using the right terminology. A screenshot may have deterred them from having such a thought. — barlop, Mar 01 '12 at 03:23
For best security, set all networks as Public. Unless you're hosting file shares or other server-type services from your computer, you shouldn't need to open it up any more than that. — Iszi, Mar 01 '12 at 05:28
First make sure that your wireless network *is* private. Unless you've set a password it isn't. — Daniel R Hicks, Nov 18 '12 at 19:26
Are you asking how to change the network *itself*? If so, why do you say "How do I change my home network from public to private *on Windows 8 Consumer Preview*?" Are you trying to change a setting on your network or on your machine? And if on your network, why do you tell us all about your machine and *nothing* about your network? — David Schwartz, Dec 16 '13 at 00:25
Back then, interpret them as public or private on Windows 8 Consumer Preview on my laptop. — Tamara Wijsman, Dec 16 '13 at 01:09
Once again, one *should not* tell Windows that a network is "private" unless it's encrypted. An out-of-the-box WiFi network is not encrypted and *should not* be declared "private". — Daniel R Hicks, Dec 16 '13 at 01:54
How is that related to this question? Are you trying to address Microsoft? — Tamara Wijsman, Dec 17 '13 at 14:30

score 80 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 30 '14 at 00:51

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Press Win+R, then type secpol.msc
Click on "Network List Manager Policies"
Double-click on your network
Click on "Tab Network Location"
Set "Location Type" to "Private"

Go back to Network and Sharing Center to check the result.

enter image description here

edited Dec 30 '14 at 00:51

jww

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answered Nov 18 '12 at 18:08

Huynh Son Tung

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+1 for changing the location type without enabling file sharing. Private networks allow for many other relaxed firewall settings besides those needed for file sharing (e.g. remote desktop). – Jeff Lockhart Jan 30 '13 at 22:31
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this worked, I could not get the accepted answer to work at all! – Jeff Atwood Sep 14 '13 at 09:19
same, this works beautifully, and instantly. – Kurt Koller Oct 25 '13 at 22:01
+1 because this works well on the Windows 8 embedded system I have that has many things disabled which probably caused the accepted answer to fail. – Joel Rondeau Nov 12 '13 at 20:17
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This was the hint I needed, the higher voted answer had me turning on sharing for public networks. This answer showed me how to move the improperly designated network from public policy rules to private policy rules. – Grant BlahaErath Nov 15 '13 at 20:38
This solution is proper one. Enabling sharing on public networks is not advisable. – Rastislav Komara Dec 22 '13 at 19:13
**secpol.msc** is not included in several editions of Windows 8. – Sopalajo de Arrierez Mar 16 '14 at 01:26
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This did not work for me. Windows 8.1 (up to date as of 2014-05-17). – Radim Cernej May 17 '14 at 15:09

Ari Pernick · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-01T14:18:49.697

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There are a few paths to the correct UI.

"Easiest" : (Use homegroup to get to the UI / No right clicking needed)

Tap Win+W to open the search charm for settings
Type HomeGroup and Click the tile labeled only "HomeGroup"
Click on the "Change sharing settings" button
Then select the "Yes" option which corresponds to private networks

"Most Direct"

Bring up the "Networks" UI via a Click on the network icon from the desktop taskbar or from the system charm (Win-I)
Right Click on your connection and select "Turn Sharing On and OFf"
Then select the "Yes" option which corresponds to private networks

Here is the correct UI:

Network Sharing UI

edited Mar 01 '12 at 14:18

answered Mar 01 '12 at 14:07

Ari Pernick

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This does not work if the network is detected as 'Public"... but I want to change what it is detected as! – MrHinsh - Martin Hinshelwood Aug 02 '12 at 22:15
As of Windows 8 RTM, this does work even with a network detected as Public. – Edward Brey Dec 10 '12 at 04:53
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This doesn't really address the question. Huynh Son Tung's answer is more applicable. – Josh May 17 '14 at 13:16
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@Ari - good try. I thought this might help, but it appears *Sharing does not equate to Public/Private*. Another epic Microsoft UI failure. – jww Dec 30 '14 at 00:31

score 14 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 11 '13 at 23:42

14

Things have changed for Windows 8.1. The public/private setting might be even less discoverable now. Well here is what you need to do:

Open the PC Settings (Win+C, Settings, Change PC Settings)
Go to Network -> Connections
Tap/Click on the network you want to change
A page with network details opens
There should be a switch "Find devices and content" -- turn it on

Caveats: The switch is not there if the machine is domain-joined and connected to the domain network. I think the switch is also missing if you are connected to an unsecure WiFi.

See also http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/find-pcs-devices-content-on-network.

answered Nov 11 '13 at 23:42

Tomas Karban

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This worked for me. Windows 8.1, up-to-date as of 2014-05-17. – Radim Cernej May 17 '14 at 15:10
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The switch "Find devices and content" doesn't show up for me, running as user, not administrator. – Tom Anderson Jul 06 '14 at 07:13
There is no switch for me as well for "Find devices and content" on my HP notebook with Windows 8.1. My router requires a password. Don't know if there is more to it to make it secure WiFi - Windows says that the security type is WPA2-Personal. I don't know what a domain-joined network is, but I would think I don't have it. Only my laptop and a cord-attached PC on this network. Didn't do anything fancy with it. Incredible that Microsoft makes it so hard - or possibly impossible - to do. – Scooter Jan 14 '15 at 02:46
My office laptop had some settings which prevented me from starting nodejs on private network turning the button off made my network public and I can develop at home! – Rishul Matta Jun 12 '16 at 06:10

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 13 '15 at 23:29

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using Powershell

Set-NetConnectionProfile -interfacealias <Ethernet name> -NetworkCategory [Public,Private,DomainAuthenticated]

so..

Set-NetConnectionProfile -interfacealias Draadloos -NetworkCategory Private

credit to an account called "Reader"

answered Oct 13 '15 at 23:29

BozoJoe

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btw ***DomainAuthenticated*** can't bet changed manual. see here https://serverfault.com/q/814557/153084. and here https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/796f1788-d219-44ef-9aa7-e8040215df12/unable-to-change-network-profile-from-domain-authenticated-to-public?forum=winserverNIS – Tilo May 10 '17 at 17:13

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 16 '13 at 00:18

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The HomeGroup troubleshooter worked for me. It noticed that I didn't have any private networks, and fixed the problem by turning my "public" network into a private network.

answered Dec 16 '13 at 00:18

Neil

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score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 23 '16 at 07:33

While the answer about secpol.msc is great, on my win8.1 there is no such program. I came up with another simple option: forget the network and add it again with the proper settings.

You can do this by clicking on the wireless icon, manage connection settings, manage known networks, select the network by clicking on it, click on forget network. After this you need to connect to the network again with the wifi password and select that you share printers and files, so Windows will put it into the private network category.

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 16 '16 at 09:37

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you are trying to keep good security posture by making the change from category of public to private on your home network?

Note that categorizing the network as public is actually more secure in this particular setting. If you change from public to private then you open yourself up more-so. It's a bit of a false positive if you take it at face value. It is asking you if this network is considered a public or private and not actually making it public or private.

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Apr 29 '19 at 11:48

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on win10 it is quite easy....

left click on your network icon in the task bar. This will list all the currently available wifi connects
left click on your wifi connection. It will be top of the list and have Connected, secured. Also under that will be Properties (underlined)
left click Properties
a settings page will pop up. Right click on the private button and is done!

edited Apr 29 '19 at 11:48

Daniele Santi

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answered Apr 28 '19 at 17:58

Shane Bush

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How do I set my wireless network to be private instead of public?

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