When trying to run Office 2016 or O365 (Outlook, Word, Excell, etc.), you will get an error that you can’t connect or the server is unavailable.  This often happens when you reset a password or something.

We are unable to connect right now. Please check your network and try again later.

   You may also notice that there is a yellow bang on the network connection, that you can’t reach the internet, although everything else is working. 
SOLUTION 1 –   There can be a bunch of different reasons for this, and several other fixes, but my current fix that is works for me is to update the driver, and set the CheckSum Offload to disabled, as below.

Solution 2 – May be faster, but I have had success with this only rarely, but it does sometimes work.  Just run the following commands.  They MAY need admin rights;

netsh winsock reset

netsh int ip reset

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

arp -d *

nbtstat -R | find /i “failed” 1>&2

nbtstat -RR | find /i “failed” 1>&2

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /registerdns

Solution 3 –  This should be a prerequisite, as I set it in my builds anyway, but turn off IPV6.

  • Uncheck the box in ncpa.cpl
  • remove it from the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\
    • create DWORD as DisabledComponents and set to ffffffff

Solution 4 – If you haven’t found out yet, the yellow bang on the network icon comes from the ‘Network Location Awareness‘ service.  Restart it obviously, it should have no impact on the system like a reboot or disconnect.  If you really can’t reach Microsoft’s site for validation, you can 1) turn it off in the registry (I have had very little success with this) or point it to a local network source (I have not tried this).  Here is a good link

There are some registry keys for doing this, and setting other things for NLAsvc

  • hklm/system/ccs/services/nlasvc/parameters/intenet  EnableActiveProbing (0 is off, 1 is on)
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\NetworkList
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Internet:UseOnlineContent
    • UseOnlineContent was set to 0 (zero) and so I changed it to 1 (one) and after restarting my Office 2013 products I was able to sign in to Skydrive using them.

Solution 5 – Check your DNS is correct, you may need to clear the DNS cache on the DNSserver.

 

REFERENCES

https://blog.infostruction.com/2016/12/22/office-2013-wont-activate-due-to-network-related-error/

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-office_install/office-2013-office-account-signin-feature-disabled/d086ea41-431a-4798-b46a-2ebcd25b7cb7

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Windows_Troubleshooter_Guide/Network_Location_Awareness

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/df17c593-e78f-4878-97b0-7569307934c5/windows-7-states-im-not-connected-to-any-networks-when-in-fact-i-am-connected-to-my-wireless?forum=w7itpronetworking

Windows 7 Network Awareness

How to Fix Connect Attempts to www.msftconnecttest.com on Windows Server 2016

Office 2013 won’t activate due to network related error

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/d4ddcb1a-4991-4426-9892-a0bd7f269a3a/cannot-get-outlook-2016-to-log-into-fresh-exchange-2016-environment?forum=Exch2016SD

https://www.trishtech.com/2015/07/disable-active-internet-probing-ncsi-in-windows/

https://www.sysadmit.com/2017/07/windows-signo-de-admiracion-en-conexion.html

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/547561-no-internet-access-yellow-icon-enableactiveprobing

Configuring Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) with Group Policy

 

How to Disable Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) with Group Policy

https://superuser.com/questions/688049/windows-shows-limited-connection-when-it-isnt

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