Thanks for the responses. The subject network location decided to turn itself into "private" after having given me a hard time for hours yesterday. No idea why and how, but it did. My guess is that I turned the laptop off yesterday, in total frustration, and when I turned it on today - eureka! - everything was fine. Mind you, this sudden generosity on the part of Windows 8 did not endear me to the software - or to Microsoft's quietly selling versions with home computers that are missing essential parts of the software.

Kurt

I run, in addition to other devices such as network printers and MACs, two identical Windows 8 laptops on my home network. They connect to the router either via Ethernet or via Wi-Fi, depending on the preference of the user. That makes for four profiles, one of which (a Wi-Fi connection) for some reason ended up being designated as a "public network" and as a result appears to have no access to the router - I am guessing here; the network and sharing centre only tells me "no internet access". Changing the Sharing options does not work, because the system ignores the commands. For example, if I get out of that particular Wi-Fi connection, then reconnect in the foldout on the right and chose file and printer sharing "on", nothing will happen other than the system telling me that the connection is "Limited".

I am assuming "public network" is an override that defaults to "no sharing". It must be changed to "private" first. But, where's the switch, better: can one change the network location without secpol.msc, i.e. without upgrading to Windows 8 Pro?