[FIX] Windows Could Not Start The Network Connections Service On Local Computer

This morning happened something weird with one of my Windows 10 running device. Actually, the machine was not able to connect any networks. Also there were no networks detected. Upon checking Network Connections under Control Panel, I found that the device was missing all Network Adapters as well.

In this case, the empty Network Connections window says this:

As suggested by the error message, I checked Network Connections service in Services snap-in (run services.msc command to get this). Here, I found that Network Connections service wasn’t running and another warning appears when I try to start this service:

So what to do in this condition? As you can see that there is no support link or help article on this, which could help us to solve this issue except the error message. After investigating a bit on this, I found that this is supposed behavior when Network Connections service is missing from network configurations under registry key for Service Host (SvcHost) i.e. the process managing multiple services in Windows. If you add netman to SvcHost key, the problem gets solved.

So here is how to fix it:

FIX : Windows Could Not Start The Network Connections Service On Local Computer In Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista

1. Press + R and put regedit in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor (if you’re not familiar with Registry Editor, then click here). Click OK.

2. In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost

3. In the above shown window, highlight SvcHost key and come to its corresponding right pane. Here, look for the multi-string value registry string (REG_MULTI_SZ) named LocalServiceNetworkRestricted. Double click on this string to modify its Value data:

4. Since you’re facing this issue, the netman term should be missing in the Edit Multi-String window. So simply add netman to the list and click OK. Close the Registry Editor and reboot. After restarting your machine, you’ll find that the issue is resolved now and you can locate Network Adapters under Network Connections:

That’s it!