diff --git a/config/config.sample.php b/config/config.sample.php
index 9b7d8e5c38da6eb8f196dc5216ba010a0785bb11..b70b3cf533dd0720ede8321b6423fa142f0c4f8e 100644
--- a/config/config.sample.php
+++ b/config/config.sample.php
@@ -126,7 +126,10 @@ $CONFIG = array(
 /* Check if ownCloud is up to date */
 "updatechecker" => true,
 
-/* Place to log to, can be owncloud and syslog (owncloud is log menu item in admin menu) */
+/* Are we connected to the internet or are we running in a closed network? */
+"has_internet_connection" => true,
+
+	/* Place to log to, can be owncloud and syslog (owncloud is log menu item in admin menu) */
 "log_type" => "owncloud",
 
 /* File for the owncloud logger to log to, (default is ownloud.log in the data dir */
diff --git a/lib/util.php b/lib/util.php
index 6630c6a9e1ab9e3650c52f58bcb4047d70b8913d..37fb1bd9d06f1bfd9cad971da4ecec525d28b4e5 100755
--- a/lib/util.php
+++ b/lib/util.php
@@ -635,6 +635,11 @@ class OC_Util {
 	 */
 	public static function isinternetconnectionworking() {
 
+		// in case there is no internet connection on purpose there is no need to display a warning
+		if (!\OC_Config::getValue("has_internet_connection", true)) {
+			return true;
+		}
+
 		// try to connect to owncloud.org to see if http connections to the internet are possible.
 		$connected = @fsockopen("www.owncloud.org", 80);
 		if ($connected) {