I have windows XP 32 bit and in the network connections folder both my local area connections are MISSING. I'm not really sure when this started..I just noticed it last weekend. The thing is my ethernet ports still work...they work perfectly fine. I can disable and re-enable them from device manager, I am getting the proper IP address I should be getting, and I can get on the internet and do everything just fine. I work at an ISP as a Network IT and Internet Tech..I have been fixing computers for about 6-7 years but this one has me stumped. I have tried everything I could think of...I uninstalled both ports and reinstalled them...that didn't work. So I looked it up on microsofts website to find out other things I could do such as making sure the 3 net.dll files were registered, I checked in the registry for a certain value it existed and was configured as it should be, I ran some other commands that microsoft recommended but still having the same problem. The only other thing I can think to do is wipe and start over...its not that big of problem because I have everything saved on my external but I would like to fix it without having to do that because it just time consuming. So if anyone has any suggestions or have had this problem yourself, I would really appreciate the help. Thanks!!Wow your an expert already.  . Are you saying that when you go to network places you can't find the icon there, or you want the icon to be seen in the systray?Go into your network connections, right click Local Area Connection and go to Properties.

Make sure the CHECK BOX is checked.Heh...see thats the problem...I know how to make the icon appear in the system tray. The local area connection icon doesn't EVEN appear in the network connections folder (>Start>My network places>View Network Connections) This is where the local area connections, any pppoe connections or other broadband,dialup,vpn connections are seen. My local area connection isn't here for me to right click it and go to properties or anything like that. I've made sure the services that involve this are all running and they are.
This article describes your issue http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894543, but I find it unlikely that you would have that hotfix installed... Still, might be worth looking at.Thnx...that link helped a lot but unfortunatley the hotfix is only for SP2 and I have SP3...I even tried uninstalling SP3 but that still didn't work...still kept saying that the service pack I was running was newer than the fix I was trying to do.Try doing a system RESTORE to before the problem started.

If that doesn't work run the sfc /scannow command.tried both of those too but still no luck. I might see if I can't get that hotfix to work. If that doesn't work i've been wanting to go ahead and upgrade to vista so I guess this is a good as time as any.