Windows ipconfig does not show anything

Mon Jan 05 18:32:50 -0800 2009

I had a Windows XP system (service pack 2) that would only return “Windows IP configuration” and then nothing, no indication of network disconnection nothing, well, there’s a good fix for it.

The system wouldn’t pickup an IP address from DHCP, it was like it was just confused.

You can do the following at a CMD prompt to reset the network configurations:

1
2

C:\> netsh winsock reset catalog
C:\> netsh int ip reset reset.log

The first line resets all the WINSOCK entries to their defaults, the second line resets all the TCP/IP entries to their defaults.

The first one will ask you to reboot, don’t. Do both commands and then reboot your system.

Once I did this, the computer got it’s DHCP address again quite happily.

blogLater

Mikel

  1. Ben Says:
    Mon Jan 19 23:52:48 -0800 2009

    This worked perfectly! Thanks for the solution.

  2. rberke Says:
    Sat Jan 24 21:28:18 -0800 2009

    I could only get to the internet in safe mode with networking. Even running msconfig and disabling all non microsoft services didn’t work. I spent 4 hours on the problem with no luck. 3 minutes after finding your website the problem was solved. Thanks, thanks and more thanks

  3. Martin Says:
    Mon Feb 02 04:20:15 -0800 2009

    Thanks a lot!

    After many many attepts to solve this problem and reading many forums, this is the only one working solution!

    thanks again

  4. rberke Says:
    Fri Feb 06 13:56:37 -0800 2009

    I have discovered that a reboot is not always required.

    I suggest adding a 3rd command like: netsh winsock reset catalog netsh int ip reset reset.log ipconfig /renew

    Also, future researchers might those 3 commands useful in resolving these related error messages on an XP Pro service pack 3 machine: “connection failed” and “there was a problem connecting to the TPM (security device) on this computer” I also suspect the problem might originate from Trend Worry Free anti virus, but I have not pinned it down.

  5. Rayne Says:
    Thu Mar 12 15:20:58 -0700 2009

    only two words… thank you.

  6. Rolly Says:
    Thu Jun 04 10:01:35 -0700 2009

    awesome man.. this actually solved my problem. thanks man!

  7. Mike Hamilton Says:
    Mon Jun 08 07:34:10 -0700 2009

    I had tried just aboiut everything and was ready to give up. Then I found your resolutiuon. Thanks I haven’t run it yet because I’m at work but as soon as I get home I’ll run it.

  8. RS Says:
    Fri Jul 17 12:10:59 -0700 2009

    Wow! This worked like a charm! I changed the keyboard on my dell laptop and I was afraid I fried the network adapter in the process. But, the steps outlined here had me up and running in a couple minutes. Thanks so much!!!

  9. Aaron Says:
    Thu Aug 27 07:22:12 -0700 2009

    Really pleased that this worked for me! These simple steps helped get me back online. Thanks!

  10. Micheal Says:
    Mon Sep 07 15:15:14 -0700 2009

    Thanks for the tip, worked like a charm.

  11. Warren Stark Says:
    Thu Oct 01 10:24:55 -0700 2009

    That was great. Thanks for the fix.

  12. Khim Says:
    Thu Oct 15 10:26:50 -0700 2009

    Thank you very much!!!!!!!! Tried everything the whole day and you solve this in 10 Minutes!!!!!!

    You save the world!!!

  13. John H Says:
    Sat Oct 17 14:13:54 -0700 2009

    Thanks. After10 minutes of panic I did a search and found this solution and problem resolved in 5 min. This happened after apply Oct. round of windows patches.

  14. ciprian Says:
    Mon Feb 01 07:28:43 -0800 2010

    It works great!
    Thank you!

  15. Shobhan Says:
    Sat Mar 27 23:44:56 -0700 2010

    I have vista.
    First command returns this.
    “The requested operation requires elevation.”

    Still facing the same problem.

  16. mike k Says:
    Sun May 02 14:22:31 -0700 2010

    Thanks! This worked perfectly and quickly! McAfee installed a new version on my desktop yesterday and upon rebooting, I could no longer connect to the internet. McAfee was absolutely no help. They told me it was my internet provider’s issue even though I had a laptop (with the new McAfee) working without issue.

    This was a godsend! Thanks again!

  17. Sherko Says:
    Wed May 26 11:33:42 -0700 2010

    This was the only solution that really worked.
    THANK YOU

  18. JBoy Says:
    Sun Jun 06 06:58:38 -0700 2010

    Magic…thank you

  19. Rafael Miranda Says:
    Sat Jun 26 20:35:32 -0700 2010

    Thanks man.

    I have tried a lot of things and nothing help me

    I was thinking about format my pc and u save me ;)

    Thanks a lot.

  20. Linda K Says:
    Mon Aug 16 04:50:33 -0700 2010

    Thank you! This really helped one of my colleagues today.

  21. Michael T Says:
    Mon Aug 23 22:41:13 -0700 2010

    Well done – this worked perfectly. Fixed my issues immediately after an hour or so of frustration. Thanks again

  22. autodveja Says:
    Tue Nov 08 19:59:46 -0800 2011

    I had tried just aboiut everything and was ready to give up. Then I found your resolutiuon. Thanks I haven’t run it yet because I’m at work but as soon as I get home I’ll run it.

  23. niloy Says:
    Tue Nov 16 04:54:02 -0800 2010

    hello

    this did not work for me …. I can surf in safe mode so I know my drivers are ok maybe winsock is messed up but not sure where to start..

    Plz advice

  24. wawan Says:
    Thu Dec 23 00:39:04 -0800 2010

    Thank you.. work perfectly on my boss toshiba laptop

  25. Momo Says:
    Wed Jan 19 20:00:44 -0800 2011

    Thank you man … works like charm

  26. Ray Says:
    Sat Jan 22 18:53:00 -0800 2011

    Thanks very much. Great tip!

  27. Jim Miller Says:
    Sun Mar 06 01:13:16 -0800 2011

    Thanks for the tip worked great! I wish i found it sooner :)

  28. Mark Chuah Says:
    Tue Mar 15 08:21:32 -0700 2011

    I was having issues with my Linksys wireless adapter which keeps on saying “You are connected to the access point but not the Internet”. I also could not see anything when I run ipconfig. After running the two lines and rebooting, ipconfig and internet connection is back and up. Thanks!

  29. Jeff Says:
    Wed Dec 07 20:30:02 -0800 2011

    Add me to your grateful list .. fixed a ThinkPad R51.

  30. vj Says:
    Mon Apr 18 20:08:58 -0700 2011

    I had this problem in my virtual box. This fixed the problem. Thanks.

  31. joe Says:
    Thu Aug 11 07:05:58 -0700 2011

    thanks mate that was awsome phone some tech company and they tried charging 109.99 thanks again

  32. Anja Says:
    Mon Sep 19 07:41:45 -0700 2011

    Worked for us as well!

  33. rberke Says:
    Tue Oct 04 10:10:25 -0700 2011

    Mikel, your post saved me so many times that I put the following macro onto my desktop
    =====

    Echo off
    echo .
    echo This will reset Window IP configuration, then SHUTDOWN your machine.
    Echo FIRST make sure Outlook and other applications are closed then hit Enter to shutdown.
    echo .
    pause
    echo If the machine does not shutdown after 1 minute, reboot it manually.
    netsh int ip reset reset.log
    netsh winsock reset catalog
    shutdown -s -f -t 02

    ======

    I take my Lenovo t43p home every night, so it gets turned off and on twice a day. About every 2 weeks the ipconfig problem reoccurs so I put together the batch file. Yesterday I gave it to a friend who had the same problem on a Lenovo t61 and it saved him also.

  34. sheila Says:
    Fri Oct 14 12:55:22 -0700 2011

    Great! works perfect – gateway xp service pack 3

  35. Herc Says:
    Sat Oct 22 16:00:28 -0700 2011

    Thanks for your help. It worked.

  36. dfhdfh Says:
    Thu Dec 22 18:36:22 -0800 2011

    I had tried just aboiut everything and was ready to give up. Then I found your resolutiuon. Thanks I haven’t run it yet because I’m at work but as soon as I get home I’ll run it.otwcroec sd vistanekol gh puxdipve gh gkantinlen

  37. Bin Patoo Says:
    Wed Jan 11 03:59:40 -0800 2012

    Perfect! It has worked.
    Thanks.

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