How to Set Network Type in Windows 10 Using PowerShell

There are three default network types Windows will use, which are simply pre-defined firewall configurations. They are "Public", "Private", and "domain". 

When you connect to a network for the first time, Windows will normally ask if you want your computer to be discoverable by other devices on the network and if you select yes, it sets your network type to "private". If you are on public wifi somewhere, and set your network type to the same, your device will not be discoverable on this network (though your traffic will still be susceptible to interception unless it is encrypted). 

Sometimes, you will find that even though you are on a private, hopefully secure network, your network type is still set to "public", preventing you from accessing any network resources (printers, fileshares, etc). 

To easily determine your network type, open a PowerShell window and run the following:

Get-NetworkConnectionProfile

Here, you will find the name of the network you are connected to, whether it is wired or wireless, the network type, and whether the network is using IPv4 or IPv6 addressing. 

If the NetworkCategory is showing as "Public" and you would like to change it to "Private", run the following: 

Set-NetworkConnectionProfile -Name "[wireless network name]" -NetworkCategory Private