Windows Keeps Looking for a Network Connection - Opens New Browser or Tab

[themak1985]

Describe the issue
So Windows 10 ARM Edition Windows 10 Pro (21354.1) on UTM is super buggy - see #2569 - but I am encountering a weird issue. Windows is opening msftconnecttest.com/redirect via edge (or any browser) which is redirecting to https://www.msn.com/?ocid=wispr&pc=u477 every minute or so. Not sure how to stop it.

Configuration

• UTM Version: 2.1.1
• OS Version: Big Sur
• Intel or Apple Silicon? Silicon

[PDVJAM]

Exactly the same issue.

[conath]

I believe I have the solution for you. There is a registry key you can change to disable this connect test:

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet and set EnableActiveProbing to 0.

This worked in my Windows 10 VM in UTM. Source: https://networkproguide.com/fix-connect-attempts-to-www-msftconnecttest-com-windows-server-2016/

.reg file if you need it:
disable-ms-connect-test-popup.reg.zip

[conath]

Note that this will mean Windows always shows as No Internet even though you are, in fact, online. You can poke around with the other registry values in that path, maybe it's possible to get the Internet Status showing online correctly. I have not tried that.

[ggruber4711]

Thanks for this, saved my day :-)

[conath]

This will be fixed in UTM update 2.2.0 or later, as it introduces Shared & Bridged networking. The underlying issue with emulated networking will not be fixed by the 2.2 update, however switching to Shared or Bridged Mode will workaround the problem entirely. I have personally tested it.