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Resetting/Repairing/Reinstalling Winsock2 / Testing for corruption

Anonymous
2010-03-02T02:02:52+00:00

I've recently run into a bad virus which (I believe) has corrupted my Winsock2.  In old versions of Windows, you could easily delete the Winsock files from the registry, reboot and reinstall from the inf folder.  However, this does not appear to be the same with Windows 7.

My questions:

1.  How do you test to determine if Winsock2 is corrupt? In XP, there was a NetDiag command, which no longer works in Win 7.

2.  Are there third-party programs for fixing Winsock2 in Win 7?

3.  Will running a "netsh winsock reset" command reset both Winsock AND Winsock2?  If not, is there an alternative method to resetting only Winsock2?

4.  Are there registry settings listed anywhere on the web for what Winsock2 registry settings SHOULD look like?

5.  Is there a means of completely reinstalling Winsock2 in Win 7?

If you could answer any (or all ;-) of these, I would be deeply indebted.

Thank you,

Bill

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-07-27T23:03:47+00:00

    It is SO frustrating in these replies from Windows "experts" when the question is clearly asked IN THE CONTEXT OF WINDOWS 7 to be referred to help articles THAT ARE NOT FOR WINDOWS 7!!! Banging my head against the wall here.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-13T07:41:37+00:00

    Same issue here.......definitely malware that breaks the Winsock and sometimes the firewall, leaving no ability to update windows either, as it halts the Windows Update service and prevents it from being started.  

    Malwarebytes removed 26 infections

    Nasty bugger!

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-06-12T08:28:36+00:00

    Are you looking at step #3 of Manual steps to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted for Windows Vista users ?

    If so, what you see is probably OK.  My 64-bit Windows 7 system doesn't have the MSAFD NetBIOS entries, either.  My 32-bit Windows 7 system does.

    Note that the KB article doesn't apply to Windows 7.

    Boulder Computer Maven

    Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-06-10T13:02:58+00:00

    I was told my winsock was bad by Mozy support. I found this post looking for a method to repair it.

    You refer to the Vista section as the same as Windows 7 in 811259.

    **I did a "**netsh winsock reset" and it said it worked.

    I checked using the 811259 procedure and under the Protocol in the referenced KB article,   I have the first 8 of the headings but none of the ones referencing "netbios".  Is this OK?

    Both my Windows 7 systems display the same under Protocol.

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  5. Anonymous
    2010-03-02T23:03:25+00:00

    Hi sumdimguy,

    1.      For the first question, about determining if Winsock 2 and Winsock is corrupt: In the below article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259 (Refer the section “Manual steps to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted for Windows Vista users”. The steps are the same for Windows 7)

    **2.**To reset Winsock2, from the same link above, the next step which has Manual steps to recover from Winsock2 corruption for Windows Vista users(Holds good for Windows 7)

    3.      For your third question: Yes the command will reset both Winsock and Winsock2

    4.         Here is the location of the registry of Winsock and Winsock2:

    Important: The instructions below contain steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information view the article: How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2

    5.      Resetting will delete the Winsock and recreates, which actually is reinstalling it completely.

    Thanks and Regards:

    Samhrutha G S - Microsoft Support.

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