[Windows Fix] Yellow Triangle with Exclamation Mark (!) on Network Connections Icon in Taskbar Notification Area

Today while setting up a Windows 7 machine, I faced a very annoying problem. I was installing various software and Internet connection was working fine in the computer but suddenly the Internet connection lost and the network connection icon in Taskbar notification area (system tray) started showing “No Internet Access” message.

Windows started showing a Yellow triangle with Exclamation mark ‘!’ over the network connection icon in Taskbar notification area.

I was using Internet through my mobile phone’s USB tethering in the computer. I also tried other Internet connections such as USB Wi-Fi dongles, Wi-Fi routers, etc but every time there was no Internet connectivity and Windows kept showing Yellow triangle with Exclamation mark ‘!’ over the network connection icon.

I restarted the device but it didn’t help. I tried several solutions such as using custom DNS, assigning IP address manually, netsh and ipconfig commands, uninstalling and reinstalling network adapters, modifying registry, etc. But no solution fixed the issue.

At last after a few minutes of troubleshooting, I was able to find out the culprit. It was a 3rd party firewall software which caused this weird and irritating problem.

It seems the Firewall software deleted, disabled or modified some required built-in system firewall rules which come preinstalled with Windows installation which caused this Internet connectivity issue in my computer.

I uninstalled the 3rd party firewall software and restored all default firewall settings which immediately fixed the issue. The Internet started working fine again in my Windows 7 machine.

If you also face similar issue in your Windows computer and you are unable to connect to Internet and Windows shows Yellow triangle with Exclamation mark ‘!’ over the network connection icon in Taskbar notification area, following steps will help you:

STEP 1:

First of all uninstall any 3rd party Firewall or security suite software from your computer. After uninstallation, restart your computer if possible.

STEP 2:

After restart, open Control Panel and click on “Windows Firewall” icon. Alternatively, you can also directly launch Firewall window using following command in RUN or Start Menu search box:

Now click on “Restore defaults” link given in left-sidebar.

Windows will ask for confirmation that it’ll remove all Windows Firewall settings that you have configured for all network locations, click on “Restore defaults” button.

You’ll get another confirmation dialog box showing “Restoring the default settings will delete all settings of Windows Firewall that you have made since Windows was installed. This may cause some programs to stop working” message. Click on “Yes” button.

That’s it. It should resolve the Internet connection issue in your computer system.

BONUS TIP:

If above mentioned method doesn’t work for you or you don’t have 3rd party Firewall or antivirus software installed in your computer, check out following similar articles which contain several troubleshooting solutions to address Internet connection issues:

[Fix] Local Area Connection, Ethernet or Wi-Fi doesn’t have a Valid IP Configuration

[Fix] Network Connections Folder is Empty in Windows, Not Showing Network Adapters

[Fix] “One or More Network Protocols are Missing on This Computer” Error in Windows

[Fix] No Internet Access After Installing Feature Update in Windows 10

[Windows 10 Tip] Use “Network Reset” Feature to Fix Common Internet Connection Issues