[Fix] “Network Connections” Folder is Empty in Windows, Not Showing Network Adapters List

UPDATE: If you upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 and can't find any available wireless network in the list, check out METHOD 4 first.

To fix this issue, you just need to follow these simple steps:

METHOD 1:

1. Type regedit in RUN or Start search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network

3. In right-side pane, you'll see a binary key "Config". Select it and press Delete key on your keyboard.
You just need to delete Config key.

Don't worry. When you delete the key and open Network Connections folder or restart your system, Windows automatically re-creates the key. By deleting the key we are just clearing the configuration cache.
4. Once you delete the key, close Registry Editor and open Network Connections folder again and now it should show all network adapters without any problem.

PS: If you don't want to edit registry manually and want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically, download following ZIP file, extract it and run extracted REG file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it:
Download Registry Script

METHOD 2:

If the above mentioned method doesn't work for you, try following solution given by our reader "Campbell":
1. Open Device Manager using devmgmt.msc command and locate the Network adapters.
2. Right-click on each network adapter one bye one and select Uninstall.

3. Once all have been removed, right-click again and select Scan for hardware changes.
The adapters will be rediscovered and when the drivers are loaded back, the devices will re-appear in Network Connections.

METHOD 3:

If none of the above mentioned methods work for you, try following solution given by our reader "Rusty":
1. Type regedit in RUN or Start search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\Connections

3. In right-side pane, you'll see a multi-string key "ClassManagers". Double-click on it and it'll open the edit dialog box to change its value.
4. The dialog box will contain 4 GUIDs and each GUID must present on a separate line. If you find that all GUIDs are present in a single line, put them on separate lines by pressing Enter key after each closing curly bracket '}'.
For your convenience, we are providing the correct value of the key. Copy following text and paste it in the edit dialog box:

{B4C8DF59-D16F-4042-80B7-3557A254B7C5}
{BA126AD3-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}
{BA126AD5-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}
{BA126ADD-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}

After correcting the value, click on OK button to apply changes.
5. That's it. Close Registry Editor and open Network Connections folder again and now it should show all network adapters without any problem.
PS: If you are not familiar with modifying registry, you can download following ready-made registry script to do the task automatically. Just download following ZIP file, extract it and run extracted REG file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it:
Download Registry Script

METHOD 4:

This method has been added specially for Windows 10 users who upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and can't see any wireless network available in the list:
1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run following commands one by one:

reg delete HKCR\CLSID\{988248f3-a1ad-49bf-9170-676cbbc36ba3} /va /f
netcfg -v -u dni_dne

2. Close Command Prompt and open Network Connections folder again and now it should show all network adapters without any problem.
NOTE: Many readers have reported the error 0x80004002 while executing the second command. The error may occur if the Registry key was not successfully deleted by the first command. In such condition, you'll need to delete the Registry key manually using following steps shared by our reader "Scott French":
1. Type regedit in RUN or Start search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{988248f3-a1ad-49bf-9170-676cbbc36ba3}

3. While you are on {988248f3-a1ad-49bf-9170-676cbbc36ba3} key, press Delete key to delete the key from Registry.
4. Now run the second command netcfg -v -u dni_dne in Command Prompt and it should work