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• SYMPTOMS
• CAUSE
• RESOLUTION
○ Manual steps to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted for Windows XP users
○ Manual steps to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted for Windows Vista users
○ Manual steps to recover from Winsock2 corruption for Windows Vista users
SYMPTOMS
When you try to release and renew the IP address by using the Ipconfig program (Ipconfig.exe), you may
Message 1
An error occurred while renewing interface 'Internet': An operation was attempted on something that is not
a socket.
Message 2
An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection: the requested service provider could not
be loaded or initialized.
When you start Internet Explorer, you may receive the following error message:
When you use your computer, you may receive the following error message:
Initialization function INITHELPERDLL in IPMONTR.DLL failed to start with error code 10107
Additionally, you may have no IP address or no Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, and you
When you use the ipconfig /renew command, you may receive the following error messages.
Message 1
An error occurred while renewing interface local area connection: an operation was attempted on something
Message 2
The operation failed since no adapter is in the state permissible for this operation.
Message 3
The attempted operation is not supported for the type of object referenced.
In Device Manager, when you click Show Hidden Devices, the TCP/IP Protocol Driver is listed as disabled
under Non-Plug and Play drivers, and you receive error code 24.
When you create a dial-up connection, you may receive the following error message:
CAUSE
These issues may occur if the Winsock registry keys are damaged or corrupted.
RESOLUTION
Guided Help to determine and recover from Winsock2 corruption
Guided Help is available to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted and to
recover from Winsock corruption. Guided Help can automatically perform the steps for
you.
The actions that this Guided Help performs can be undone after Guided Help is
finished. To undo this Guided Help, run Guided Help again. On the Welcome page,
click Undo this Guided Help, and then follow the instructions.
For more information about Guided Help, click the following article number to view the
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Manual steps to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted for Windows XP
users
To determine if the symptoms are caused by a problem with the Winsock2 key,use one of the following
methods.
To use the Netdiag tool, you must install the Microsoft Windows XP Support Tools. To do so, follow these
steps.
Notes
• If you already have Support Tools installed, go to the second procedure in this section.
• If you do not have Support Tools installed and you do not have the Windows XP Setup CD, go to
Method 2.
1. Insert your Windows XP Setup CD, and then locate the Support\Tools folder.
4. On the Select An Installation Type screen, click Complete, and then click Next.
1. Click Start, click Run, type Command, and then click OK.
The Netdiag tool will return the test results for several network components, including the Winsock. For
more details about the test, use /v at the end of the netdiag command: netdiag /test:winsock /v
Note Use this method only if you do not have a Windows XP Setup CD and you do not have Support Tools
installed.
1. Click Start, click Run, type Msinfo32, and then click OK.
3. You will have ten sections under Protocol. The section headings will include the following names
If the names are anything different from those in this list, the Winsock2 key is corrupted, or you
If you have a third-party add-on installed, the name of the add-on will replace the letters "MSAFD" in the
list.
If there are more than ten sections in the list, you have third-party additions installed.
If there are fewer than ten sections, there is information missing.
Note These entries represent an installation with only the TCP/IP protocol installed. You can have a working
Winsock and see additional entries if another protocol is installed. For example, if you install NWLink
IPX/SPX, you will see 7 additional sections, for a total of 17. Below is an example heading of one of the new
sections:
Also, each of the new sections that are created by installing NWLink IPX/SPX start with "MSAFD." Therefore,
there are still only two sections that do not start with those letters.
If the Netdiag test fails, or if you determined that there is Winsock corruption by looking at Msinfo32, you
must repair the Winsock2 key by using the steps in the next section.
To repair Winsock if you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed, type netsh winsock reset at the
Note Restart the computer after you run this command. Additionally, for computers that are running
Windows XP SP2, there is a new netsh command that can rebuild the Winsock key. For more information,
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457156.aspx
Warning Programs that access or monitor the Internet such as antivirus, firewall, or proxy clients may be
negatively affected when you run the netsh winsock reset command. If you have a program that no
longer functions correctly after you use this resolution, reinstall the program to restore functionality.
Note If these steps do not resolve the problem, follow the steps in the next section.
To repair Winsock if you do not have Windows XP SP2 installed, delete the corrupted registry keys, and then
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However,
serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow
these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore
the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click
the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
For more information about how to back up the registry, click the following article number to view the article
322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista
3. In Registry Editor, locate the following keys, right-click each key, and then click Delete:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2
Note Restart the computer after you delete the Winsock keys. Doing so causes the Windows XP operating
system to create new shell entries for those two keys. If you do not restart the computer after you delete
the Winsock keys, the next step does not work correctly.
2. Click Install.
6. On the list of available protocols, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click OK.
Search subfolders
d. In the All or part of the file name box, type nettcpip.inf, and then click Search.
Manual steps to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted for Windows
Vista users
1. Click Start, click Run, type Msinfo32, and then click OK.
3. Ten sections appear under Protocol. The section headings will include the following names if the
If the names are anything different from those in this list, the Winsock2 key is corrupted, or you
list.
If there are more than ten sections in the list, you have third-party additions installed.
Note These entries represent an installation with only the TCP/IP protocol installed. You can have a working
Winsock and see additional entries if another protocol is installed. For example, if you install NWLink
IPX/SPX, you will see 7 additional sections, for a total of 17. Below is an example heading of one of the new
sections:
Also, each of the new sections that are created by installing NWLink IPX/SPX start with "MSAFD." Therefore,
there are still only two sections that do not start with those letters.
If the Netdiag test fails, or if you determined that there is Winsock corruption by looking at Msinfo32, you
must repair the Winsock2 key by using the steps in the next section.
Manual steps to recover from Winsock2 corruption for Windows Vista users
Winsock corruption can cause connectivity problems. To resolve this issue by using Network Diagnostics in
1. Click ,
3. In the Network and Sharing Center box, click Diagnose and Repair.
Note You may also access the Network and Sharing Center in Control Panel.
If the Network and Diagnostic tool was unable to find a problem, you can manually repair or reset Winsock.
1. Click
, type cmd in the Start Search box, right-click cmd.exe, click Run as administrator, and
2. Type netsh winsock reset at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
Note If the command is typed incorrectly, you will receive an error message. Type the command
again. When the command is completed successfully, a confirmation appears, followed by a new
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
For more information about how to troubleshoot network and Internet connection problems in Windows
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/33307acf-0698-41ba-b014-
ea0a2eb8d0a81033.mspx
APPLIES TO
• SUMMARY
• MORE INFORMATION
○ Command syntax
○ Command samples
Example 1
Example 2
• REFERENCES
Expand all | Collapse all
SUMMARY
If you click the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) entry in the This connection uses the following items list
that is displayed in the Local Area Connection properties, you may notice that the Uninstall button is
unavailable (disabled). This behavior occurs because the Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP) stack is a core component of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and cannot be removed.
In some scenarios, you may want to reinstall TCP/IP to return the TCP/IP stack to its original state. You can
use the Netsh.exe utility to reset the TCP/IP stack to the same conciliation that it was when you first
MORE INFORMATION
The Netsh.exe utility (netsh) is a command-line scripting tool that you can use to configure and monitor
Windows Server 2003 networking. This tool gives you an interactive network shell interface.
You can use the reset command in the Internet Protocol (IP) context of this utility to rewrite the following
• SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
• SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DHCP\Parameters\
If you run this command, you get the same result as if you removed and reinstalled the TCP/IP protocol.
Warning The netsh int ip reset command will reset all IP information, default gateway information, and
DNS server information. Before you restart the computer after you run this command, you must configure
your TCP/IP settings. Otherwise, you may not be able to connect to the computer remotely.
Command syntax
To use the netsh command to reset the TCP/IP stack, you must specify a log file name in which the results
of the command are recorded. If you enter either of the commands that are described in the "Command
Samples" section of this article, the TCP/IP stack on the current computer is reset, and the activities of that
action are recorded in the Resetlog.txt file that is specified in the command line. In the first example, the log
file is created in the current folder; in the second example, a complete path to the Resetlog.txt log file is
specified.
Note If an existing log file with the same name is present in the target folder, the new log file information is
Command samples
The following examples describe how to use the netsh command to reset the TCP/IP protocol stack.
Example 1
3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
NOTE: In the preceding command, "int" is the shortened form of the interface command.
Example 2
3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
To view help for the command, type the command, type a space, and then type ?. Additional help is
available for commands in the sub-contexts of the netsh command. For example, to view help for the netsh
commands that are described in the preceding section, type the following commands at the command
prompt:
• Type netsh ?, and then press ENTER.
The following text is an example of the log file that is generated by netsh if you run the ip reset command.
The actual log file may vary depending on the configuration of the computer on which you run the
command. Typically, no actions are logged in the file if the TCP/IP registry keys have not been altered from
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters\Interfaces\Tcpip_{2DDD011E
-B1B6-4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\NetbiosOptions
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters\Interfaces\Tcpip_{BAA9D128
-54BB-43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\NetbiosOptions
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters\Interfaces\Tcpip_{BD2859BA
-B26A-4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\NameServerList
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
10.1.1.2
deleted SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters\EnableLmhosts
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\AddressType
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\DefaultGatewayMetric
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\DisableDynamicUpdate
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\DontAddDefaultGateway
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\EnableDhcp
old REG_DWORD = 0
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\NameServer
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\RawIpAllowedProtocols
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\TcpAllowedPorts
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2DDD011E-B1B6-
4886-87AC-B4E72693D10C}\UdpAllowedPorts
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\DisableDynamicUpdate
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\EnableDhcp
old REG_DWORD = 0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\IpAddress
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
12.12.12.12
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\IpAutoconfigurationAddress
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\IpAutoconfigurationMask
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\IpAutoconfigurationSeed
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\RawIpAllowedProtocols
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\SubnetMask
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
255.255.255.0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\TcpAllowedPorts
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{5B3675C3-6EB9-
4936-B991-04DA31024C4E}\UdpAllowedPorts
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
0
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\AddressType
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\DefaultGatewayMetric
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\DisableDynamicUpdate
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\DontAddDefaultGateway
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\EnableDhcp
old REG_DWORD = 0
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\NameServer
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\RawIpAllowedProtocols
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\TcpAllowedPorts
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BAA9D128-54BB-
43F6-8922-313D537BE03E}\UdpAllowedPorts
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\DefaultGateway
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
10.1.1.2
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\DefaultGatewayMetric
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
0
added
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\DisableDynamicUpdate
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\EnableDhcp
old REG_DWORD = 0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\IpAddress
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
10.1.1.1
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\IpAutoconfigurationAddress
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\IpAutoconfigurationMask
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\IpAutoconfigurationSeed
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\NameServer
old REG_SZ = 10.1.1.2,10.1.1.3
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\RawIpAllowedProtocols
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\SubnetMask
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
255.255.255.0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\TcpAllowedPorts
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
0
reset
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{BD2859BA-B26A-
4E2B-A3FE-3D246F90A81A}\UdpAllowedPorts
old REG_MULTI_SZ =
0
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DontAddDefaultGatewayDefau
lt
deleted SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\EnableIcmpRedirect
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\EnableSecurityFilters
deleted SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\SearchList
deleted
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\UseDomainNameDevolution
<completed>
Note In Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, you can use the netsh winsock reset command to repair
Winsock.
Warning Programs that access or monitor the Internet, such as antivirus programs, firewall programs, or
proxy clients may be negatively affected when you run the netsh winsock reset command. If you have a
program that no longer functions correctly after you use this resolution, reinstall the program to restore
functionality.
REFERENCES
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
811259 How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows
APPLIES TO
On This Page
• INTRODUCTION
• MORE INFORMATION
Basic tools
Advanced tools
○ Troubleshooting
Automated troubleshooting
Manual troubleshooting
Additional resources
• REFERENCES
Expand all | Collapse all
INTRODUCTION
There are tools that can provide useful information when you are trying to determine the cause of TCP/IP
networking problems under Microsoft Windows XP. This article lists recommendations for using these tools to
diagnose network problems. Although this list is not complete, the list does provide examples that show how
you can use these tools to track down problems on the network.
MORE INFORMATION
TCP/IP troubleshooting tools
The following list shows some of the TCP/IP diagnostic tools that are included with Windows XP:
Basic tools
Contains detailed information about the network configuration and the results of automated
tests.
Contains information and configuration for all network connections on the computer. To locate
the Network Connections folder, click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network and
Internet Connections.
• IPConfig command
Displays current TCP/IP network configuration values, updates, or releases, Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allocated leases, and display, register, or flush Domain Name
• Ping command
Sends ICMP Echo Request messages to verify that TCP/IP is configured correctly and that a
Advanced tools
• Hostname command
• Nbtstat command
Displays the status of current NetBIOS over TCP/IP connections, updates the NetBIOS name
• PathPing command
Displays a path of a TCP/IP host and packet losses at each router along the way.
• Route command
• Tracert command
• Event viewer
• Computer Management
Troubleshooting
The procedure that you use to troubleshoot TCP/IP issues depends on the type of network connection that
you are using and the connectivity problem that you are experiencing.
Automated troubleshooting
For most issues that involve Internet connectivity, start by using the Network Diagnostics tool to identify the
2. Click the link to Use Tools to view your computer information and diagnose problems,
3. When you click Scan your system, Network Diagnostics gathers configuration information and
4. When the process is completed, look for any items that are marked "FAILED" in red, expand
those categories, and then view the additional details about what the testing showed.
You can either use that information to resolve the issue or you can provide the information to a network
support professional for help. If you compare the tests that failed with the documentation in the Manual
Troubleshooting section later in this article, you may be able to determine the source of the issue. To
interpret the results for TCP/IP, expand the Network Adapters section of the results, and then expand the
Manual troubleshooting
To manually troubleshoot your TCP/IP connectivity, use the following methods in the order that they appear:
To use the IPConfig tool to verify the TCP/IP configuration on the computer that is experiencing the problem,
click Start, click Run, and then type cmd. You can now use the ipconfig command to determine the host
computer configuration information, including the IP address, the subnet mask, and the default gateway.
The /all parameter for IPConfig generates a detailed configuration report for all interfaces, including any
remote access adapters. You can redirect IPConfig output to a file to paste the output into other documents.
To do this, type:
The output receives the specified file name and is stored in the specified folder.
You can review the IPConfig output to identify issues that exist in the computer network configuration. For
example, if a computer is manually configured with an IP address that duplicates an existing IP address that
If your local IP address is returned as 169.254.y.z with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0, the IP address was
assigned by the Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) feature of Windows XP Professional. This
assignment means that TCP/IP is configured for automatic configuration, that no DHCP server was found,
and that no alternative configuration is specified. This configuration has no default gateway for the interface.
If your local IP address is returned as 0.0.0.0, the DHCP Media Sensing feature override turned on because
the network adapter detected its lack of connection to a network, or TCP/IP detected an IP address that
If you do not identify any issues in the TCP/IP configuration, determine whether the computer can connect
to other host computers on the TCP/IP network. To do this, use the Ping tool.
The Ping tool helps you verify IP-level connectivity. The ping command sends an ICMP Echo Request
message to a destination host. Use Ping whenever you want to verify that a host computer can send IP
packets to a destination host. You can also use Ping to isolate network hardware problems and incompatible
configurations.
Note If you ran the ipconfig /all command, and the IP configuration appeared, you do not have to ping the
loopback address and your own IP address. IPConfig has already performed these tasks to display the
configuration. When you troubleshoot, verify that a route exists between the local computer and a network
ping IP address
NoteIP address is the IP address of the network host that you want to connect to.
1. Ping the loopback address to verify that TCP/IP is installed and correctly configured on the local
ping 127.0.0.1
If the loopback test fails, the IP stack is not responding. This problem may occur if any one or
2. Ping the IP address of the local computer to verify that the computer was correctly added to the
network. If the routing table is correct, this procedure just forwards the packet to the loopback
If the loopback test succeeds but you cannot ping the local IP address, there may be an issue
3. Ping the IP address of the default gateway to verify that the default gateway is working and that
you can communicate with a local host on the local network. To do this, type the following
command:
If the ping fails, you may have an issue with the network adapter, the router or gateway device,
4. Ping the IP address of a remote host to verify that you can communicate through a router. To do
If the ping fails, the remote host may not be responding, or there may be a problem with the
network hardware between computers. To rule out an unresponsive remote host, use Ping again
5. Ping the host name of a remote host to verify that you can resolve a remote host name. To do
Ping uses name resolution to resolve a computer name into an IP address. Therefore, if you
successfully ping an IP address but you cannot ping a computer name, there is a problem with
host name resolution, not with network connectivity. Verify that DNS server addresses are
configured for the computer, either manually in the properties of TCP/IP, or by automatic
assignment. If DNS server addresses are listed when you type the ipconfig /all command, try
to ping the server addresses to make sure that they are accessible.
If you cannot use Ping successfully at any point, verify the following configurations:
• Make sure that the local computer's IP address is valid and that it is correct on the General tab
of the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box or when it is used with the Ipconfig
tool.
• Make sure that a default gateway is configured and that the link between the host and the
default gateway is working. For troubleshooting purposes, make sure that only one default
gateway is configured. Although you can configure more than one default gateway, gateways
after the first gateway are used only if the IP stack determines that the original gateway is not
working. The purpose of troubleshooting is to determine the status of the first configured
gateway. Therefore, you can delete all the other gateways to simplify your task.
• Make sure that Internet Protocol security (IPSec) is not turned on. Depending on the IPSec
policy, Ping packets may be blocked or may require security. For more information about IPSec,
Important If the remote computer that you are pinging is across a high-delay link such as a satellite link,
response may take longer. You can use the -w (wait) parameter to specify a longer timeout period than the
The PathPing tool detects packet loss over multiple-hop paths. Run a PathPing analysis to a remote host to
verify that the routers on the way to the destination are operating correctly. To do this, type the following
command:
If you can ping both the loopback address (127.0.0.1) and your IP address but you cannot ping any other IP
addresses, use the Arp tool to clear out the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache. To view the cache
arp -a
arp -g
arp -d IP address
computer cannot be forwarded outside the local network. If the gateway address is on the same network as
the local host, make sure that the default gateway address is correct. Make sure that the default gateway is
a router, not just a host. And make sure that the router is enabled to forward IP datagrams.
Method 6: Use the Tracert tool or the Route tool to verify communications
If the default gateway responds correctly, ping a remote host to make sure that network-to-network
communications are working correctly. If communications are not working correctly, use the Tracert tool to
trace the path of the destination. For IP routers that are Microsoft Windows 2000-based or Microsoft
Windows NT 4.0-based computers, use the Route tool or the Routing and Remote Access snap-in to view the
IP routing table. For other IP routers, use the vendor-designated appropriate tool or facility to examine the
IP routing table.
Most frequently, you receive the following four error messages when you use Ping during troubleshooting:
This error message means that the number of required hops exceeds the Time to Live (TTL). To increase
TTL, by use the ping -i command. A routing loop may exist. Use the Tracert command to determine
This error message means that no local or remote route exists for a destination host at the sending host or
This error message means that the Echo Reply messages were not received in the designated timeout
period. By default, the designated timeout period is four seconds. Use the ping -w command to increase the
timeout.
This error message means that the destination host name cannot be resolved. Verify the name and the
IPSec can improve security on a network, but changing network configurations or troubleshooting problems
more difficult. Sometimes, IPSec policies require secured communication on a Windows XP Professional-
based computer. These requirements can make it difficult to connect to a remote host. If IPSec is
implemented locally, you can turn off the IPSEC Services service in the Services snap-in.
If the difficulties end when you stop the IPSec services, IPSec policies are either blocking the traffic or
requiring security for the traffic. Ask the security administrator to modify the IPSec policy.
Because of mistakes in packet filtering, address resolution or connectivity may not work. To determine
whether packet filtering is the source of a network problem, turn off TCP/IP packet filtering. To do this,
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click
Network Connections.
2. Right-click the local area connection that you want to modify, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab, in the This connection uses the following items list, click Internet
5. In the Optional Settings dialog box, click TCP/IP Filtering, and then click the Properties
tab.
6. Click to clear the Enable TCP/IP Filtering (All adapters) check box, and then click OK.
To ping an address, use its DNS name, its NetBIOS computer name, or its IP address. If the ping succeeds,
the packet filtering options may be misconfigured or too restrictive. For example, the filtering can allow the
computer to act as a Web server, but, to do this, the filtering may turn off tools such as remote
administration. To restore a wider range of permissible filtering options, change the permitted values for the
To determine the cause of connectivity problems when you are trying to connect to a specific server through
NetBIOS-based connections, use the nbtstat -n command on the server to determine what name the server
The nbtstat -n output command lists several names that the computer has registered. The list will include
a name that looks similar to the computer's name that is configured on the Computer Name tab under
System in Control Panel. If not, try one of the other unique names that the nbtstat command displays.
The Nbtstat tool can also display the cached entries for remote computers from #PRE entries in the Lmhosts
file or from recently resolved names. If the name that the remote computers are using for the server is the
same, and the other computers are on a remote subnet, make sure that the other computers have the
To determine why a TCP/IP connection to a remote computer stops responding, use the netstat -a
command to show the status of all activity for TCP and UDP ports on the local computer.
Typically, a good TCP connection shows 0 bytes in the Sent and Received queues. If data is blocked in
either queue or the state of the queues is irregular, the connection may be faulty. If data is not blocked, and
the state of the queues is typical, you may be experiencing network or program delay.
Method 11: Use the Route tool to examine the routing table
For two hosts to exchange IP datagrams, both hosts must have a route to each other, or they must use
default gateways that have a route. To view the routing table on a Windows XP-based host, type the
following command:
route print
Tracert sends ICMP Echo Request messages that have incrementally higher values in the IP header TTL field
to determine the path from one host to another through a network. Then Tracert analyzes the ICMP
messages that are returned. With Tracert, you can track the path from router to router for up to 30 hops. If
a router has failed, or the packet is routed into a loop, Tracert reveals the problem. After you locate the
problem router, you can contact the router administrator if the router is offsite, or you can restore the router
If you receive the following error message during configuration, determine whether the default gateway is
Your default gateway does not belong to one of the configured interfaces
Compare the network ID part of the default gateway IP address with the network IDs of the computer's
network adapters. Specifically, verify that the bitwise logical AND of the IP address and the subnet mask
equals the bitwise logical AND of the default gateway and the subnet mask.
For example, a computer that has a single network adapter that is configured with an IP address of
172.16.27.139 and a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 must use a default gateway of the form 172.16.y.z. The
Additional resources
The following resources contain additional information about how to troubleshoot Microsoft TCP/IP:
See the "Configuring TCP/IP" topic in the documentation for the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource
Kit.
See "Introduction to TCP/IP" in the TCP/IP Core Networking Guide of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Resource Kit for general information about the TCP/IP protocol suite.
See "Unicast Routing Overview" in the Internetworking Guide of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
See "TCP/IP Troubleshooting" in the TCP/IP Core Networking Guide of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server