Summary#

This post contains notes for resetting the TCP/IP and WinSock stacks on Windows Systems. Doing so can generally be a good troubleshooting step when you’re having issues with network connectivity and network interfaces.

The need for this can stem from a corrupt or misconfigured TCP/IP or WinSock stack.

Before performing the commands in this article. An Administrator CMD or PowerShell prompt will need to be opened.

Reasons For This#

There are some valid reasons for needing to do this.

  • Post Malware removal.
  • DNS lookup issues. (Sort of.)
  • Limited or no connectivity errors.
  • If network connectivity keeps dropping on the workstation. But, seems to keep working on every other workstation on the network. Though, do make sure to check for other issues.
  • BSOD messages that indicate an issue with the tcpip.sys driver.

If I run into something and remember about this post. I’ll provide an update to an issue that’s performing this operation has fixed.

Resetting WinSock#

This command will reset the Winsock Catalog.

Winsock Catalog registry path is below.

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinSock2\Parameters\Protocol_Catalog9

Performing the command below will return the Winsock Catalog to a clean stated. Uninstalling all Winsock Layered Service Providers.

netsh winsock reset

Resetting TCP/IP#

Generally used when you’re having network connectivity issues.

The following command will rewrite the registry keys below. I’ll provide more data later on this.

  • SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
  • SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DHCP\Parameters\
netsh interface ip reset

Release, Renew, and Flushdns#

One good thing to do after you reset the WinSock and TCP/IP Stacks on Windows boxes is reset the IP address configuration in DHCP. This is only if it’s configured of course. If you have a static configuration. You should just be able to reboot.

I have another article for this. That I’m showing below.

Conclusion#

After you’ve gone through this article. Reboot your workstation so the changes apply properly.