Using Troubleshooter
If your network
is down and there are problems with switches or routers, seeing
information from a stack of workstations won’t be helpful. However, if
your workstation (or someone else’s) goes offline intermittently, the Network and Sharing Center has a Troubleshooter
option that might provide insight into which connections are offline.
Troubleshooter is a good starting point for diagnosing and repairing
connections when there are problems with connections in Windows 8.
In many cases, it’s unlikely that you will take a lot of
time to work with Troubleshooter. However, some of the steps it can
perform, such as releasing and renewing IP
addresses or reconfiguring the entire IP stack (which you might do by
using netsh), might be faster, especially when a coworker is using the
computer and you are coaching him or her over the phone.
Note
TROUBLESHOOTING A KNOWN CONNECTION
If you are trying to work with someone to troubleshoot a specific
Internet issue on a known connection, you can tap and hold or
right-click the connection icon in the system tray and select
Troubleshoot Problems to open Troubleshooter.
To start Troubleshooter, open the Network and Sharing Center and tap
or click Troubleshoot Problems. Choose the area in which you are
experiencing an issue from the following list:
-
Internet Connections
-
Shared Folders
-
HomeGroup
-
Network Adapter
-
Incoming Connections
-
Printer
When you select an option (for example, Internet Connections), the
Welcome screen for the Troubleshooter opens. Tap or click Next to begin
troubleshooting the problem. Figure 2 shows the Internet Connections Troubleshooter.
You can select either general connection troubleshooting
for when the Internet itself is not working or specific webpage
connections when the Internet works but access to a particular website
is not working. Select the option most applicable to your problem and
tap or click Next.
Windows 8 then searches some general settings from your Internet Options settings to diagnose problems with DNS and Network Interface Card configurations and attempts to correct any issues it finds. In many cases, the Windows troubleshooting tools can diagnose and correct problems without manual intervention.
When Windows 8 finds an issue by using one of the troubleshooting
tools, it will display a message noting the problem found to help
diagnose the issue. However, sometimes Windows will need help from you
during the troubleshooting process. For example, the Internet
Connections Troubleshooter may find that the cause of the problem is
possibly the modem or router. Windows 8 cannot fix issues with these
devices, so the Troubleshooter
will ask you to take steps with the other device to see whether you can
correct the problem. After you have checked the other devices, tap or
click the next step in the Troubleshooter to initiate the diagnosis
again and see whether you have corrected the problem.
If you are certain that other computers can connect through your
modem and you want the Troubleshooter to skip this step and proceed,
tap or click Skip This Step And Continue. Windows 8 will try to correct
the problem. The Troubleshooter will come back to this step if it
cannot work around the problem; it will tell you that it was unable to
fix your problem and will indicate a possible reason. In this case,
additional options are available, and they might include:
-
Remote Assistance
-
Online support
-
System recovery
