Article ID: 299357 - Last Review: April 30, 2012 - Revision: 13.0

How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

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Introduction

One of the components of the Internet connection on your computer is a built-in set of instructions called TCP/IP. TCP/IP can sometimes become damaged or corrupted. If you cannot connect to the Internet and you have tried all other methods to resolve the problem, TCP/IP might be causing it.

Because TCP/IP is a core component of Windows, you cannot remove it. However, you can reset TCP/IP to its original state by using the NetShell utility (netsh).

This article describes two ways to reset TCP/IP. You must be logged on to the computer as an administrator. The first method uses a Fix it automated solution to reset TCP/IP. This method is designed for beginning to intermediate users.

The second method describes how to use a command to reset TCP/IP manually. This method is designed for advanced users.

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the “Fix it for me” section. If you’d rather fix this problem yourself, go to the “Let me fix it myself” section.
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Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50199

Note this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Now go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.
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Let me fix it myself

Use a manual method to reset TCP/IP for Windows XP

Note This section is intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, ask someone for help or contact Support. For information about how to contact Support, see the Microsoft Help and Support contact information Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus)
The reset command is available in the IP context of the NetShell utility. Follow these steps to use the reset command to reset TCP/IP manually:
  1. To open a command prompt, click Start and then click Run. Copy and paste (or type) the following command in the Open box and then press ENTER:
    cmd
  2. At the command prompt, copy and paste (or type) the following command and then press ENTER:
    netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
    Note If you do not want to specify a directory path for the log file, use the following command:
    netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
  3. Reboot the computer.
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Use a manual method to reset TCP/IP for Windows Vista and Windows 7

Note This section is intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, ask someone for help or contact Support. For information about how to contact Support, see the Microsoft Help and Support contact information Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus)
The reset command is available in the IP context of the NetShell utility. Follow these steps to use the reset command to reset TCP/IP manually:
  1. To open a command prompt, click Start and then type CMD in the Search programs and files.
  2. Right-click CMD.exe icon in Programs and choose Run as administrator.
  3. When the User Account Control box pop up, click Yes.
  4. At the command prompt, copy and paste (or type) the following command and then press ENTER:
    netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
    Note If you do not want to specify a directory path for the log file, use the following command:
    netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
  5. Reboot the computer.
When you run the reset command, it rewrites two registry keys that are used by TCP/IP. This has the same result as removing and reinstalling the protocol. The reset command rewrites the following two registry keys:
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\ 
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DHCP\Parameters\
To run the manual command successfully, you must specify a file name for the log, in which the actions that netsh takes will be recorded. When you run the manual command, TCP/IP is reset and the actions that were taken are recorded in the log file, known as resetlog.txt in this article.

The first example, c:\resetlog.txt, creates a path where the log will reside. The second example, resetlog.txt, creates the log file in the current directory. In either case, if the specified log file already exists, the new log will be appended to the end of the existing file.
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More Information

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314067  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314067/ ) How to troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity with Windows XP
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
811259  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259/ ) How to determine and recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista
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REFERENCES

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314053  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314053/ ) TCP/IP and NBT configuration parameters for Windows XP

Sample Log File for NETSH INT IP RESET

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Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus) .
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V
  • Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
  • Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard
  • Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista Business
  • Windows Vista Enterprise
  • Windows Vista Home Basic
  • Windows Vista Starter
  • Windows Vista Ultimate
  • Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Ultimate
  • Windows 7 Home Basic
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Keywords: 
kbmsifixme kbfixme kbhowto kbenv kbnetwork kbcip KB299357
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