Change Network From Public To Private In Windows

Sometimes for whatever retrotard reason, your new internet connection will be set to public instead of private. As if you are using the WIFI at a coffee shop, library or hotel or something instead of your own secure home network. Without going into detail, just know, it does matter and makes a difference. If you know, you know. If not, do some research. No matter the case, let’s fix it.

Keep in mind that you can use this guide to change your network state from whatever it is currently set as to whatever you like. Public, Private, Work, Home, etc. Not only public to private. Just follow the steps and replace the states as you see fit. Let’s get it!

First things first. To find out if your network is set to public or private follow these quick steps.

1: Open the Start Menu and type ‘control panel’.

2: Click the ‘Control Panel’ shortcut that pops up in the list.

3: Select ‘Network and Sharing Center’ from the control panel options.

If your control panel does not look like the one below, check in the top right corner for the ‘View By’ option. Make sure it is set to ‘Small Icons’. That’ll fix it.

4: Here you will find your active network profiles. Note the name of the network and its public or private state directly underneath the name.

If you want to change your network type between public, private, home or work, here are two surefire ways!

1: In some windows versions simply click the link underneath The network name. (If yours is not clickable, jump to the registry edit)

2: In the Set Network Location window, click the type of network you desire. Note that Home and Work are both private networks.

3: Depending on your selection, you may be presented with a few follow-up screens to customize and confirm your settings. It’s all self explanatory, so set things to your liking and hit Next or Continue.

That’s it!. If you were able to follow the steps up to this point, you’re gooooood. Otherwise you’ll need to use the registry edit below.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PROCESS INVOLVES USING THE WINDOWS REGISTRY EDITOR. THE REGISTRY IN WINDOWS IS PRETTY MUCH THE HEARTBEAT. TAMPERING WITH THE REGISTRY IS RISKY IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL AND KNOWLEDGEABLE. YOU MUST FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW PRECISELY!

The Registry Edit:

1: Open start menu

2: Type ‘regedit’ and click the Regedit link that appears. The Windows Registry Editor should open.

3: In the registry editor, navigate to the following location or paste it in the path box and press ‘ENTER’.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles

***Under Profiles, there will be keys (folders) with seemingly random strings of numbers. Each folder contains settings and info for each network connection saved on your computer.

4: Click each key in the navigation section on the left and check the panel on the right until you find the Profile Name that matches the network you want to edit. You should have noted this if you followed the first section in this guide.

5: Once you’ve identified the correct profile, right-click the DWORD named ‘Category’ then select ‘Modify’ in the context menu.

6: In the edit DWORD window, make sure the Base is set to Hexadecimal. In the Value Data box, set the number to 0 for Public, 1 for Private, or 2 for Domain and hit OK.

These are the only 3 recognizable numbers/states. If you use any other number it will be the equivalent to 0, which is public.

7: Now look for a DWORD named ‘CategoryType’. If it exists, jump to step 11. If it does not exist, here’s what you do…

8: Click ‘Edit’ in the menu bar up top.

9: Hover over ‘New’ and select DWORD (32-bit) Value. A new value will be created on the right.

10: You’ll have to give the new DWORD a name. Name it “CategoryType” and press ENTER.

11: The data should be set to 0 (all zeros) by default. If it is not, right-click the name and select modify or double-click it to open the Edit DWORD window.

12: In the ‘Value Data’ section, replace whatever is there with 0 and press ‘OK’ to close the editor.

13: Close the registry.

And we’re done baby! Yeah! 🙂

NO need to restart, the changes SHOULD take effect immediately. But restarting is recommended to ensure settings remain after making registry edits. After a restart, follow the first section in this guide to confirm your changes.