Quickly Open Network Connections List in Windows Vista
One of the biggest annoyances for me in Windows Vista is that you can't immediately open the Network Connections list to see the list of adapters like you could in XP.
In Windows XP, you could right-click any network connection and select "Open Network Connections", but in Windows Vista, the only option you have is to open the Network and Sharing Center via the same right-click menu.
To immediately open the connection list, you can just type ncpa.cpl into the Start menu search box:
And up pops the network connection list just like I'm used to:
You can also create a shortcut somewhere to the full file path if you want even easier access.
Just use C:\windows\system32\ncpa.cpl as the location of the shortcut.
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 02/8/07 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Network and Internet
Thank you! This has been driving me crazy - thanks for figuring it out!
Great Excellent Wonderful
Cool, thanks much, driving me batty as well. This will help.
Here's one further though . . .is there a way to index the connections themselves so as to be searchable from the Start menu? I see a ton of possibilites in the index options if you set the start menu customize option to "full index". Surely those connections have an extension of some sort?
I used 'control netconnections' to accomplish the same thing.
Another work-around, if you miss the option to have the 'connect to' start menu item displayed as a menu is to open ncpa.cpl as above, select all, and drag to your desktop. You'll end up with a bunch of shortcuts - one per network connections. You could then move these to a folder in your start menu called something like 'network connections'.
A nice bonus of this is that the Vista Indexer will then know the names of all your network connections, so if you want to (say) connect to your corporate vpn, its as easy as tapping the windows key and typing a few letters.
Nathan:
That's actually what I did recently as well… good tip, I might write that one up separately.
Bravo. Thanks.
Cheers, that ones been annoying me for a while now…
Another 2 ways:
1. Shortcut to rasphone.exe on your taskbar.
2. Create a folder named 'Network Connections.{7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E}' (without the quotes) and put it in Quick Launch such that it appears only when >> is pressed on Quick launch. Then it appears as a menu from where directly the connections are accessible.
Seriously, Microsoft has messed up the shell UI, Windows explorer, network UI and even advanced search isn't really advanced. If everything's not indexed, it's of no use. They should've put a real-time search for backward compatibility.
I thought I was getting supid in my old age but I was (kinda) wrong! Thanks for the help….. So simple
Jim
it doesnt work for me i still cant see it
Bryan,
The "'Network Connections.{7007ACC7-3202-11D1-AAD2-00805FC1270E}'" folder in your quicklaunch will only appear as a menu when it is not able to fit within the standard display area of your quicklaunch. Try creating the folder, then shrinking the area used by quicklaunch until you see the > (depending on where you keep it) icon appears. If you then click on the >, you'll see the icons that "don't fit", including the Network Connections folder, which will display as a menu.
Thanks to "anonymous" for this additional workaround, btw.
FYI, I contacted Microsoft customer service regarding this, and after a number of emails back and forward, recieved the response below. Can anyone confirm that they are experiencing this issue on "North American Vista" ??
"As you have contacted the Microsoft North American Customer support . At this time, our Support Professionals are only trained to troubleshoot issues with North American versions of our products whereas the Support Professionals at the local Microsoft subsidiaries are trained to troubleshoot issues with localized versions of our software.
From the information you have provided in your message, I found that you are located in New Zealand. If you have purchased the Microsoft product in New Zealand, your best resource for support is the Microsoft New Zealand subsidiary.
There are significant programming differences between North America and localized versions of software. You will be best assisted by the subsidiary that specializes in the version."
Thanks for the tip on this Vista downgrade of what we had before.
Do you also know why disconnecting is so flawed? Clicking on Connect or Disconnect may have to be done several times before the disconnect option appears; otherwise, it just keeps confirming the connection.
Also, any way to get the send-receive computer screens on the task bar to light up as before? Used to be you could tell if a distant server was responding or not, now that's gone.
YOU ARE AWESOME!!!
This is the one thing I thought I would never be happy with with Vista! I hated Vista at first but have grown to prefer it to any other windows release. This has just taken away another major annoyance!
THANK YOU!!!! xxxxxxxxx
Bloody hell. It's about time I found this.
You, sir, have done a fine service toward humanity.
OMG, thank you soooo much!
YES YES YES!!! I go to school. and I work in an office, and I always have to forward ports for certain apps in different locations, meaning I have to constantly activate and deactivate my static IP settings, and it always drove me crazy that I couldn't just open it directly.
YOU ARE AWESOME!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!