How to repair and fix Winsock error in Windows XP

Posted on October 20, 2008 at 5:34 am

Winsock is a specification that is used in Windows and it determines how network applications communicate with network services, such as TCP/IP. It basically defines how two network programs will communicate with each other. For example, in order for an FTP client to work correctly, it uses Winsock.

However, Winsock can become corrupted on a Windows machine during the removal of spyware or adware. You may begin to get strange errors relating to Winsock or socket errors and basic commands such as IPCONFIG will not work correctly. You may also get errors like Page cannot be displayed when trying to browse the Internet.

In order to fix the Winsock error, you have to reset the entire TCP/IP protocol on your Windows computer. There are currently several ways you can try to fix the problem: using the command line, downloading a third party app, etc.

Winsock XP Fix

Winsock Fix is a freeware program that can be used as a last resort to fix your Internet connectivity problems. It will try to repair a corrupted Internet connection due to missing registry entries.

You can also back up the registry using the program, so it’s safe to use. The program is kind of old, so it may or may not actually work.

Reset TCP/IP Network Stack

The first thing to try if the above program does not work is to reset the TCP/IP network stack. Open the command prompt by going to Start, Run and typing in CMD. Now type the following command:

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

This will basically rewrites two registry keys that are required for TCP/IP to work correctly. If this does not work, read below!

Reset Winsock using netsh

If resetting TCP/IP does not work for you, try to reset the TCP/IP stack using the reset command. First open the command prompt by going to Start, Run and typing CMD.

Now type the following command below:

netsh winsock reset catalog

The Winsock catalog will be reset to it’s default configuration. If you have a LSP that is corrupted and causing network connectivity problems, this command should repair that. Note that if you run this command, you may have to re-install several programs that had LSPs installed previously, such as Google Desktop Search, etc.

You can also check out the Microsoft Knowledge Base article below that details more steps you can take to fix Winsock2 corruption in Windows XP and Windows Vista:

Recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows

Hopefully, one of the methods above has solved your network problem! If not, then you may have to reinstall Windows as it could simple be too corrupted. Another error that is common is Ineternet Explorer encountered a problem and needs to close.

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

16 Responses to “How to repair and fix Winsock error in Windows XP”

Vivian said on : December 11th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

Last week my computer was attacked by adware. After cleaning the system, my computer couldn’t get any internet connection! I’m so frustrated until I find this post! Everything is fixed! Thank you very much for sharing the solution!!

Jobey Nabalarua said on : January 13th, 2009 at 11:14 pm

I have a pc on the network and the ip is assigned via DHCP and still it cant access resources like internet, email, database applications on our network etc. How can I resolve this

ethan said on : February 26th, 2009 at 2:58 am

wow best fix yet thank you

tracey said on : April 1st, 2009 at 2:02 pm

oh my God! Thank you so much! This totally fixed what I have been working on for 5 days! Dell sucks…..

Larry Baker said on : April 7th, 2009 at 1:40 am

Thank you the Winsock XP Fix worked. you saved me.

Tim Chirik said on : May 13th, 2009 at 11:54 am

Thank you very much! worked perfectly!

Glenys said on : August 27th, 2009 at 3:39 am

I have tried it all including the download and still no luck, it was working fine with IE until I downloaded google chrome now nothing, other computers on the network have no issues. also hasnt run firefox for about a year, really dont want to reboot entire system any other ideas?

Thanks

Kathy said on : October 14th, 2009 at 8:51 am

Thank you Winsock XP fixed my internet connection problem..

issam said on : November 22nd, 2009 at 9:54 pm

thank you, it’s now working after following the step to Reset Winsock using the netsh command.

Joseph said on : December 8th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Thank you soooooooooo much! This fixed my limited connectivity error. I was fooling with this for hours until I came across your steps. Thanks.

steve said on : January 15th, 2010 at 2:09 pm

Thanks mate, my LAN got wiped out after “Internet Security 2010″ worm infection, zapped the infection with Combofix.exe and you did the rest, thanks

Steve

Kate B said on : January 22nd, 2010 at 4:54 pm

Ahhh wonderful! I was having all kinds of network problems before resetting Winsock. I kept getting disconnected and my IP address would not renew! Thanks!

brett said on : January 24th, 2010 at 11:28 am

I got infected with internet security 2010, Jan 2010. Along with adding the malware it disabled my internet connection. After cleaning with malwarebytes anti malware,still could not connect to internet. But with this solution to reset winsockets, connection is now back up. thanks much.

potato said on : January 26th, 2010 at 11:33 pm

just like to say thanks, I fix my Internet problem with netsh…catalog.

How to fix “Cannot renew IP address” in Windows Says:

[...] If you get this error when trying to renew your IP address, you have a problem with the WinSock configuration on your computer. Luckily, you can read my post from Online Tech Tips on how to repair Winsock errors in Windows. [...]
November 5th, 2008 at 4:47 am
Can connect to wireless router, but not to the Internet? Says:

[...] Reboot your computer and see if the Internet connection works. If you have more serious problems with Winsock, read my post from OTT on how to repair Winsock errors in Windows. [...]
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:32 am