Tuesday, November 26, 2013

How to Change your Network Profile in Server 2012

Network Profiles were first introduced as part of Windows Firewall with Advanced Features in Vista/2008 to allow administrators to configure different firewall profiles based upon what network a user connects to.  Administrators could change the profile by navigating to Network and Sharing Center in control panel and selecting the profile which suits their needs.

In Server 2012, Administrators can no longer change the network profile in Network and Sharing Center, they can view just not change.


To change the network profile you must use the new PowerShell cmdlets introduced in PowerShell version 4 in Windows Server 2012.

Please refer to the following screenshots for performing this procedure.


After making this change, it will update in Network and Sharing Center.


The default profile in Windows Server 2012 is public.  This changes automatically when you join the server to the domain however in the event your server is not to be joined to the domain, you need to change the profile manually yourself.  In this instance I'm setting up a stand alone offline certificate authority which must not be domain joined.  As a result I needed to configure this manually.

Hope this has been helpful.

14 comments:

  1. Very useful post. Got me out of networking hell. Thanks

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  2. Thank you, great post!

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  3. Exactly what I was looking for.

    Thanks!

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  4. Perfect! Thanks a million!

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  5. That I was looking for :)

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  6. Thanks sir, you made my day!

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  7. Thank You! It was quick and perfect solution.
    Sameer Vadulekar

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  8. You're the Man!!!

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  9. Would this also have something to do with why when my Imaged machines pick up a 169 address after rebooting?

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  10. This setting goes away with a reboot or if the network is disconnected and reconnected. Has anyone found a permanent solution other then using Local Security Policy to set all Unidentified networks as Private?

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  11. Just wanted to clarify, the setting goes away if you set it on an Unidentified Network.

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  12. If you have multiple interfaces be sure to specify which one by using the -InterfaceAlias option in the command

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  13. i'm having issues with the command, Get-NetConnectionProfile : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argu
    At line:1 char:1
    + Get-netconnectionProfile : Set-NetConnectionProfile NetworkCategory Public
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-NetConnectionProfile], Para
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Get-NetConnectionProfile

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  14. What if the server is already joined to the domain and this command doesnt work?

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