Today I am going to share with you a simple but useful tip for Windows which I’ve just learned. Many of us are already using fast broadband connection and this is fairly important to know when there is an error in sending or receiving packets. If there is always error in sending packets but none in receiving, most likely you have a bad network card.
Error information can be an important first step in troubleshooting a connection. You can view a network connection’s status, connection duration, speed, and packets sent and received for the connection by double-clicking the status icon on the system tray. You can also display the Status dialog box by double-clicking the connection’s icon in the Network And Dial-Up Networking folder. But the Status dialog box by default doesn’t display errors for the connection.
Before using sophisticated or tough to use packet sniffer to detect packet loss and error, you can just enable a hidden setting in Windows to show you errors in your connection. Here’s how to do it with a quick registry change and the information will be added to the status dialog box.
Before proceeding, I’d like to warn you that modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. So please follow the instructions carefully.
1. Go to Start > Run and type regedit.
2. Navigate to the following registry location
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\Connections\StatMon
If StatMon is not there, right click on Connections, select New > Key and enter the value as StatMon.
3. Inside StatMon key, set the ShowLanErrors DWORD value as 1.
If ShowLanErrors is not there, right click at the right pane New > DWORD value. Set the DWORD value as ShowLanErrors. Double click at ShowLanErrors and set the value data as 1.
4. Restart your computer to take effect. You will now see an additional Errors information in your connection status.
To turn error count off, just set the ShowLanErrors DWORD value as 0. Microsoft claims that because most users do not need this information and might find it confusing or misleading, error counts do not appear by default. I think that this is useful in diagnosing the network reliability and should be enabled by default.
When connected via VPN, the connection status window also shows the error. I guess as long as you have a connection that goes through your network interface card (NIC), it will show the error information. I am not sure about USB ADSL modem… Can anyone with USB ADSL modem share or confirm with me whether the error information shows or not when connected via USB modem?
Update: I’ve tested and it is working on XP and Vista. If you couldn’t get it right, just download this registry file and run it to import to your registry. No reboot required.
Useful post. Thank you =)
Anyone know how to enable this for windows 7?
the registry edit does not cause the errors to be shown.
yes it work with USB ADSL also
Saya menggunakan modem vodafone dgn simcard simpati
tetapi stiap mencba koneksi, slalu “disconected or unavaible” please bantu
where do i install the registry files
tell me the path exactly
i expect your reply soon
manikandan
im getting a lot of errors in the received packets on my comp whereas other comp dont give any errors while connected to the same lan
please help
I have the error bar up on the status screen for my VPN connection (using a e160g 3 modem, mobile broadband) and i have a lot of errors. How can i fix them or is this something to do with this ISP that is out of my control? Also could this be the reasoning as to why i keep getting disconnected ? As i dont get disconnected on my Vista laptop and that has 0 errors, just on my XP SP2 desktop.
Any info or help would be highly appreciated, been trying to fix this for 5days now, thanks in advance.
Gostei da dica.
Vou usar no meu cotidiano.
Obrigado
Hey can u plz state it step by step…. Tnx
works on my vista business (SP1) and without restart. thanks ray :)
Eh, folks… This works perfectly fine on any Windows starting with 2000 and ending with 2008. If it doesn’t work for you, then either learn how to cut’n'paste or see comment #20.
Any chance you have a security software protecting your registry? Is the key still after you reboot your computer?
srry ray its not working on vista ultimate i tried it many times even after downloading the registry file but it failed !!! ny clue???
Thanks Rymond ,, it worked with me perfectly
Yeah it works in Vista Ultimate SP1 and also XP Professional. There are some people that report that it doesn’t work, I suspect that “maybe” the basic version of Vista is not supported.
it works in vista ultimate Sp1.
Thanks!
unavailable with USB ADSL modem.
Hi,
I tried the registry file but still not working.I am also using Marvell Yukon.Should I delete the extra registry entries created?
I have Vista64 Ultimate and its activated by default! When I enter “Broadband Connection Status” it shows me the error information right under compression information and the amount of data transferred! :)
Tried using the reg file….still no go! maybe its the Network adaptor?
Marvell Yukon
I’ve included a registry file which you can just run it and it should include the error count in your connection status dialog box.
very nice!
Yeah, I did the same steps on Vista SP1 Business here, no luck. Guess it’s not working anymore.
Excellent,works fine in XP.
Thanks
Hi,
It did not work on Vista Home Basic.StatMon and ShowLanErrors were not initially present.I created DWORD(32-bit value).
I seem to be having a problem with Vista too
Connections
Added: StatMon
Added:
ShowLanErrors REG_DWORD 0×00000001 (1)
No luck?
hi raymond
im using home premium sp1
maybe the service pack is blocking it?
cheers
FYI: no need for a reboot on WinXP here.
It showed up after adding the Regkey.
You dont need to restart your system. After editing the registry (XP SP3) it showed the Errors right away. Just needed to close/open the status window.
@or: I am sure you didn’t do it correctly because it works on my Vista. It can even work in Wireless Network Connection Status. Please see the screenshot below.
raymond.cc/images/vista-lan-status-error.png
hi
it doesnt seem to work with vista
ive been using wirelees connection, with router
no usb
nice idea though…