How to change Public to Private Network profile in Windows 10

On occasion when dealing with media servers and networking you need to change Windows network profile from Public to Private, here it is couple of ways how to do it.

When you configure the Network on Windows 10 computer, you can choose to make it Public or Private. However, if the option to change the Network from Public to Private missing in Windows 10 Settings, then here is how you can fix it. This setting is available under Settings  > Network and Internet > Ethernet and shows up when you click on it.

Sometimes this option to change the network profile goes missing. You either cannot open the settings or the option to change it is disabled.

Option 1: Change Network Profile using PowerShell

Since the option to change is missing or not possible through the UI, you need to use PowerShell with admin privileges.

Use WIN+X and then select PowerShell (Admin). Click on the yes option when UAC appears.

Then execute the following commands. The first gets you the index number, and the second lets you change the profile:

Get-NetConnectionProfile

Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex <index number> -NetworkCategory Private

Every network profile has an index number. To identify the network for which you want to change, check the label “Name”. In my case, its Network, and the index number is 14 (interface index)

Option 2: Change profile with secpol.msc tool

As a last resort, if you can’t change the network location using the methods above, you can manually change the network location using a tool called secpol.msc. This will not work on the Home, Student or Starter editions of Windows.

In Windows, press the Windows Key + R, which will bring up the Run dialog box. Type in secpol.msc into the run dialog box.Then click on Network List Manager Policies at the left and on the right-hand side you should see a couple of items with descriptions and then something called Network, which is the current network you are connected to.

It may also be called something else, but it doesn’t have a description. If you are connected to a WiFi network, it will be the name of your WiFi network.Double-click on it and click on the Network Location tab. Here you can manually change the network location from Private to Public and vice versa.