Earlier today I posted about the Private Network Settings being gone from Windows 8.1, well I have found the root cause of the problem. I am happy to report that the setting is not gone from Windows 8.1, but it’s part of a typical change of feature that Microsoft didn’t bother to inform the populace about; maybe they did, but as a Microsoft Watcher I find it difficult that I would have missed the information.

Anyway I digress. The problem lies in the way I use Windows generally, yes I am one of those who use Windows principally as a Standard User. I usually have two profiles on my devices, one is an admin account with which I do maintenance of the system, the other is my personal Microsoft Account profile as Standard User in which I use Windows normally to work. So there lies my problem, Microsoft has changed the Networking settings after Windows 8.1 so that only the Administrator level accounts could change Network accessibility settings. Before it used to be that anyone could change that particular option in Windows.

So if you’re a standard user, you won’t see those options to set Private Network, but if you’re and admin you’ll see them. The problem with this is that Windows 8 is a multi-user environment, so Microsoft will allow you to define for example a WiFi Network Profile, but they won’t allow you to manage it as a standard user. So, if as a standard user, you need to change your Network Connection settings, you have to refer to your Administrator.

So there it is. Now you know too.