After rebooting Windows Server 2012 R2 systems, many administrators report network connections inexplicably switching between Public and Private profiles. This behavior particularly affects:

• iSCSI connections failing authentication
• Internal ping requests being blocked
• Firewall rules not applying correctly

The network location profile directly impacts Windows Firewall behavior and network discovery settings. A misconfigured profile can:

# Example of blocked iSCSI traffic due to wrong profile
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName iscsi-target -Port 3260
# Returns "False" when profile is Public with default firewall rules

The modern UI in Server 2012 R2 lacks profile control options. Use this PowerShell approach instead:

# First, identify network connections and their current profiles
Get-NetConnectionProfile | Select-Object Name, InterfaceAlias, NetworkCategory

# Force a specific connection to Private
$targetAdapter = Get-NetAdapter -Name "InternalBackbone"
Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex $targetAdapter.ifIndex -NetworkCategory Private

# For multiple adapters
Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "Corp*" } | ForEach-Object {
    Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex $_.ifIndex -NetworkCategory Private
}

Create a scheduled task triggered at startup to enforce profiles:

$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -AtStartup
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "PowerShell.exe" `
    -Argument "-NoProfile -Command `"Get-NetAdapter -Name 'Internal*' | Set-NetConnectionProfile -NetworkCategory Private`""
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "EnforceNetworkProfiles" `
    -Trigger $trigger -Action $action -RunLevel Highest

If profiles still reset, check for:

1. Group Policies overriding local settings (gpresult /h report.html)
2. Conflicting network location awareness services
3. NIC driver issues (update from manufacturer)

# Diagnostic command to check profile history
Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-NetworkProfile/Operational" | 
    Where-Object { $_.Id -in (10000,10001,10002) } | 
    Format-Table TimeCreated, Message -AutoSize

For environments with multiple network interfaces, consider implementing this wrapper script that logs profile changes:

function Set-PersistentNetworkProfile {
    param(
        [string]$AdapterPattern,
        [ValidateSet("Public","Private","DomainAuthenticated")]
        [string]$Profile
    )
    
    $adapters = Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object { $_.Name -like $AdapterPattern }
    if (-not $adapters) {
        Write-EventLog -LogName "Application" -Source "NetworkConfig" `
            -EntryType Warning -EventId 500 -Message "No adapters matched pattern $AdapterPattern"
        return
    }

    $adapters | ForEach-Object {
        $current = Get-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex $_.ifIndex
        if ($current.NetworkCategory -ne $Profile) {
            Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex $_.ifIndex -NetworkCategory $Profile
            Write-EventLog -LogName "Application" -Source "NetworkConfig" `
                -EntryType Information -EventId 501 `
                -Message "Changed $($_.Name) from $($current.NetworkCategory) to $Profile"
        }
    }
}

# Usage example:
Set-PersistentNetworkProfile -AdapterPattern "Internal*" -Profile Private

When our Windows Server 2012 R2 reboots, network connections mysteriously switch between public and private profiles. This particularly affects:

• iSCSI connections failing authentication
• Internal ping requests being blocked
• Firewall rules not applying correctly

The network profile type controls:

1. Windows Firewall rulesets
2. Network discovery settings
3. Authentication requirements
4. Service accessibility

Here's the definitive way to lock network profiles using PowerShell:

# Identify network interfaces
$adapters = Get-NetConnectionProfile

# Set specific adapter to Private
Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex 12 -NetworkCategory Private

# Verify the change
Get-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex 12 | Select Name, NetworkCategory

For environments with multiple NICs:

# Configure all Ethernet adapters as Private
Get-NetAdapter -Physical | Where-Object {$_.MediaType -eq "802.3"} | ForEach-Object {
    $profile = Get-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex $_.ifIndex
    if ($profile.NetworkCategory -ne "Private") {
        Set-NetConnectionProfile -InterfaceIndex $_.ifIndex -NetworkCategory Private
    }
}

For systems where GPO keeps resetting profiles:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles\{GUID}" /v Category /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Note: Replace {GUID} with the actual profile GUID from:

Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles\"

Common issues I've encountered:

- Multiple NICs on same subnet causing profile collisions
- GPO overriding local settings every 90 minutes
- Network location awareness service stuck