Winsock 2 Repair

WinXP Tips & Trix - Winsock 2 Repair

Repairing Damaged Winsock2

The symptoms when Winsock2 is damaged show when you try to release and renew the IP address using IPCONFIG...

And you get the following error message:

An error occurred while renewing interface 'Internet': An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket.

Also Internet Explorer may give the following error message:

The page cannot be displayed Additionally, you may have no IP address or no Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, and you may be receiving IP packets but not sending them.

There are two easy ways to determine if Winsock2 is damaged:

From the XP source files, go to the Support / Tools directory

Winsock Test Method 1

Run netdiag /test:winsock

The end should say Winsock test ..... passed

Winsock Test Method 2

Run Msinfo32

Click on the + by Components

Click on the by Network

Click on Protocol

There should be 10 sections if the Winsock2 key is ok

MSAFD Tcpip [TCP/IP]

MSAFD Tcpip [UDP/IP]

RSVP UDP Service Provider

RSVP TCP Service Provider

MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...

MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...

MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...

MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...

MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...

MSAFD NetBIOS [\Device\NetBT_Tcpip...

If the names are anything different from those in this list, then likely Winsock2 is corrupted and needs to be repaired.

If you have any 3rd party software installed, the name MSAFD may be changed.

There should be no fewer than 10 sections.

To repair Winsock2

Run Regedit

Delete the following two registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2

Restart the computer

Go to Network Connections

Right click and select Properties

Click on the Install button

Select Protocol

Click on the Add button

Click on the Have Disk button

Browse to the \Windows\inf directory

Click on the Open button

Click on the OK button

Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Click on the OK button