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Enabling NCSI Active Probing prevents auto-connect to corporate Wi-Fi 802.1x

We've recently implemented a change in our Production environment to ensure Active Probing is set to Enabled in the registry (via Group Policy), to ensure Microsoft's Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) properly detects internet access, to ensure Office 365 and other related apps remain activated/connected to Microsoft's necessary service(s).

  • HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet
  • HKLM\ SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetworkConnectivityStatusIndicator

After about a week of implementation, we've noticed a recent uptick in Service Desk tickets concerning laptops not auto-connecting to our main internal Wi-Fi network (corporate 802.1x) when undocking from wired/Ethernet, or arriving on-prem from off-prem. We can see the Wi-Fi network with no issues in the wireless list, but the specific internal Wi-Fi network shows "Action Needed" next to it. We can connect to the network by clicking the Connect button, but then the Wi-Fi network requests for us to perform a security check remediation through the web browser. This should not occur for on-prem corporate assets (based on the Cisco Anyconnect Secure Mobility client settings we've set for these machines).

If I drop one of the machines into an AD OU that has no group policies established/enforced, and turn off / disable Active Probing via registry, the issue is resolved and the machine is able to auto-reconnect to the internal Wi-Fi network without issues. If I move the machine back to our Prod OU, do a GP update and reboot, the machine's registry enables Active Probing and then reverts back to saying "Action Needed" for the internal Wi-Fi network.

My questions are the following:

  1. What is the importance of 'Active Probing' for auto-reconnecting to corporate 802.1x wireless networks? Why do the machines fail to auto-reconnect to this network when Active Probing is enabled?
  2. Is there a fix to ensure these machines can auto-reconnect to the wireless network while Active Probing is still enabled?
  3. Should Active Probing be required to be enabled to ensure Office apps are able to activate/stay connected with Microsoft Services? via NCSI.

Your help on this is much appreciated in-advance!

Answer
Answer

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

NCSI is detects and responds to changes in network conditions. It examines the status of a network connection in a variety of ways. In the Active Probe Process every time a network configuration event occurs the NCSI process performs several tests to identify the network’s connectivity status. Refer the following article for detailed information on NCSI and Active Probe process.

The PC will connected to network automatically if it was configured to the same network before, as you have mentioned that you are unable to auto connect to the same network, let can try few troubleshooting steps to resolve this issue and check if that helps. Refer the article on Fix network connection issues in Windows.

However, I would suggest you to post your query in the TechNet forums, where you will be able to find support from professionals and members for issues related to NSCI and Active probe Process.

Hope it help.

Sandeep Kumar M

Microsoft Community – Moderator

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Last updated August 2, 2023 Views 24,177 Applies to: