Using netsh command to reset the TCP/IP stack in Windows

Use a manual method to reset TCP/IP

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:

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.

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