Network Settings

[Ted Myers]

I was always in the understanding that Network should be set to Private. It now shows Public is the Recommended setting. I have just finished setting-up my new Win 11 laptop (it replaces my Win 10 one as it had an HDD and was very slow.)What should I do?
At present, I am unable to use the Network setting but will manage it.

[JoeP]

My guess would be that Public is the safer default since your device is hidden from those on the same network. If this is your home network or a network you trust set it to Private.

[StuartR]

If you only ever use the network for accessing internet resources outside your house then you can set it to public.
If you ever need to connect from one computer in your house to another then you may need to set one or more of them to private

[Ted Myers]

Hello StuartR, I had just read the reply from JoeP and Googled Public V Private, It wasn't very straight forward in it's explanation. As I only use my Laptop at home and am the only user, it has always been Private. In that setting, I can access & transfer my files to my WDTV media player. I can move them from pc to wdtv to pc using either setting. The reason I asked was my new laptop was set to Public (recommended)[

[stuck]

...The reason I asked was my new laptop was set to Public (recommended)

And the answer is as explained by Joe and Stuart.

Microsoft are assuming, quite reasonably, that because a laptop is a portable device that will be taken out and about by the user and thus the machine is likely to encounter all sorts of open wifi connections. If the default was 'private' then when the laptop connected to one of these open networks it would trust the network and thus be visible to any other devices on that network. That's not something you want if you are sitting in a cafe or an airport lounge or a hotel where you have no idea who is also using the network. By making the default 'public' the laptop will not be visible, i.e. the connection will be safer.

In other words making the user explicitly choose to set a connection to 'private' makes the user think about whether or not they trust the network.

Ken

[Ted Myers]

Hello Ken, that's the best advice I have been given for a longish time. As I only use my pc at home, and live off the beaten track, I will keep to a 'Private' setting.

[Ted Myers]

I have just found that I was wrong in my other post, to get wi fi access to my files in my WDTV media player, network must be set to Public.

[JoeP]

Well, that is not my understanding of how public/private networks function. If a network is deemed to be Public, discovery functions are disabled. See What's the difference between Public and Private Networks.

Also, IIRC you must still enable network discovery when you designate a network as private.

[Ted Myers]

Hello JoeP, this is what I found, sorry its so small.
-

Network.jpg

Public network.png

Just opened your link, it's nearly 6 years old.

[JoeP]

Yes, it is old but still explains the difference between public and private networks. That is all I meant it to do. See Network discovery and file sharing in Windows ww and File sharing over a network in Windows. The latter is from Microsoft support so you'll likely be led to other articles and possibly a rabbit hole or two.

[Ted Myers]

Hello JoeP, I have always used 'Private' from the start. It was because 'Public' was recommended on my new laptop that caused the query. Thanks for your help.