Windows has enough quirks that you run into strange behavior from time to time.  It has been by experience with Windows 10  (through Windows 3.1 that is!) applications can have unexpected results in certain circumstances.   Let me give you an example for a customer of mine.

The customer described a windows 10 machine that was having connectivity issues.  One of the first things one does is try to ping the default gateway, typically you router is your gateway and typically resides at 192.168.1.1  but know for certain open a command prompt either right-click on the start menu or hold the Windows key W+ X . A pop-up menu, select Command Prompt:

Then type IPCONFIG <ENTER>

The IP address listed next to Default Gateway is what you want to test.

Normally Ping will respond such as:

You might run into a problem where instead of getting a ping response, If you get message “Transmit Failed” for any ping there are a few things to check.

So here is where you need to ask yourself, if this normally works, what might have changed? In my case, I had recently installed a new VPN client, such as Private Internet Access, ExpressVpn or NordVpn.

Are you using any special capabilities of these apps, such as the internet kill switch, and is the VPN down? This switch helps ensure if you have a VPN running and for some reason it gets turned off (bad connection, scheduled down time etc.) then all apps will lose connectivity to protect any information from leaking on the internet/hackers/your neighbor/your or other government. Some apps have an App Kill switch, which mean if the connection drops it will KILL the processes. This is an alternative way to be certain things don’t spill onto the network, but now you are not preventing ALL communication out from a windows box, just making sure certain apps will be killed.

Hopefully this helps someone else, but one thing to look for a response “Transmit Failed” among others. This is a telltale sign you may have VPN software setup to kill all communications if the VPN goes down. So check there first.

It might be you have network configuration problems, which you can fix with the following commands:

ipconfig/release
ipconfig/renew
ipconfig /flushdns
netsh int ip reset c:\tcp.txt
netsh winsock reset

OR

You might try using the Network troubleshooter. Select Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Status. Under Change your network settings, select Network troubleshooter. Open Status settings

Make sure Wi-Fi is on. Select Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi. Next, select Show available networks, and if a network you expect to see appears in the list, select it, then select Connect. Open Wi-Fi settings

See if you can use the Wi-Fi to get to websites from a different device. If you can’t, restart your modem, router, and device, and re-connect to the Wi-Fi.

Best of Luck!