How to remove the “Ping: Transmit Failed General Failure” error message

When you run into network problems like the “Ping: Transmit failed. General failure” error, pinging can help troubleshoot the underlying issue.

On a Windows machine, we use the ping command to measure an IP address’s response time and, among other things, analyze the statistics of the reply received.

When you execute the ping command, packets of information are sent to devices on the same network or the Internet to determine whether they are available for connection.

But, what do you do if you send a ping and it returns the error “Ping: Transmit Failed. General Failure”?

It can be quite frustrating, especially if you are working on something. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the notification doesn’t show additional information describing the error.

But don’t panic. In this post, we show you how to troubleshoot ping failure so that you can get back to your business.

What Causes the “Ping: Transmit Failes. General Failure” Error?

There are various possible reasons that could cause this problem. Some of the potential ones are as follows:

• Outdated network drivers or firmware;
• A misconfigured firewall;
• Hardware and software issues;
• Issues with the Domain Name System (DNS)

As we noted above, the main reason why the error occurs is not known. Having said that, the following are the most effective solutions to the “Ping: General Failure” error. These solutions worked for other users and are worth trying on your PC.

How to Fix “Ping: Transmit Failed. General Failure”

Fix 1: Temporarily disable your firewall

First, you need to check if your firewall is to blame for the ping general failure error. While this is rarely the case, it’s worth checking this out since we can’t exactly pinpoint the source of the problem.

To do that, temporarily disable the firewall and try running the ping command again. If you use Windows Defender as your security solution, here are the steps to follow:

• Press the Windows logo key + S combination, type Firewall and select Windows Defender Firewall. This will take you directly to the Windows Defender Firewall page in the Control Panel.

• While in this window, look for the Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off option in the left pane and select it.

• Click the radio buttons next to Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended) for each network type.

• Alternatively, you can simply block all the incoming connections by clicking the checkbox under the option to turn on Windows Firewall.

Now check if you’ll run into the ping general failure error. If you do, Windows Defender is not the culprit. Turn it back on to keep your system protected.

Using Auslogics Anti-Malware

If you’re using robust security software like Auslogics Anti-Malware, open its settings and pause protection. Run the ping command again to check if it’s working. If it’s not, then the problem lies elsewhere.

Remember to re-enable the anti-malware program as soon as you’re done checking if it’s blocking your computer from running the ping command.

Fix 2: Configure Windows to use IPv4 instead of IPv6

By default, Windows 10/11 is configured to use IPv6 rather than IPv4. This is made possible by the prefix policies built into the system and programmed to prefer using IPv6 over IPv4.

For some reason, this can lead to the “General failure” error message.

To set Windows to prefer IPv4, follow this guide:

• Go to this Microsoft page and click on Download under Prefer Ipv4 over IPv6 in the prefix policies to download Microsoft Easy Fix 21066.
• After the download completes, open the directory where you saved the file and double-click on it to run it.
• Follow through the on-screen guide to allow the tool to complete the process.
• Once it’s done, restart your computer.

When the system loads, check if you can ping successfully.

Fix 3: Remove any applications that block HTTP traffic

If you’ve installed any applications on your Windows machine that could, in one way or another, be capable of blocking HTTP traffic coming to or from your PC, you must uninstall them.

These applications can block your system from pinging the IP address or website that you’re trying to reach.

Examples of such programs include Simplewall, Peer Guardian, Wireshark, Peerblock, and AnyConnect.

Here is how to uninstall the applications:

• Open the Control Panel, and go to Programs > Uninstall a program.

• Right-click the suspect program and select Uninstall.

Additionally, if you’re using VPN software, disable it when testing to check if it’s causing the error.

Fix 4: Flush your DNS cache

Flushing your computer’s DNS is an effective solution to the “Ping: Transmit failed. General failure” error on Windows 10/11.

When you clear the DNS cache, the old IP records are deleted, allowing your system to get fresh ones when you access the server. In fact, flushing your computer’s DNS cache from time to time is considered healthy.

Clearing your DNS cache will also reset your Winsock catalog, and this might help to fix the problem. To flush the DNS cache, follow the instructions below:

• Launch Windows PowerShell. To do that, press the Win + X Use the keyboard shortcut and select Windows PowerShell (Admin). Alternatively, use the Win + S combination to bring up the Windows search box, type PowerShell, and hit the Enter key.

• Click Yes when prompted by the system.

• In the Windows PowerShell window, type or paste the commands below one by one and press Enter after each one:

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

ipconfig /flushdns

netsh int ip reset c:\tcp.txt

netsh winsock reset

• After all the commands have been executed successfully, reboot Windows and check if your ping issue has been resolved.

Related: [FIXED] ‘Your DNS Server Might Be Unavailable’ Error on Windows 10

Fix 5: Remove All Ipv6 and IPv4 Transition Technologies

Transition technologies have been developed to simplify the task of migrating to IPv6 from IPv4. However, they may cause problems when pinging.

If you’re using any kind of protocol transition technology on your computer, try disabling it to check if this has fixed the issue.

Here are the steps:

• You’ll need to run Windows PowerShell as an admin. To do that, press the Windows logo and X keys simultaneously and select Windows PowerShell (Admin)”. You can also run the Command Prompt with admin rights. Simply press the Win + R keyboard shortcut, type CMD into the text box, and hit the Ctrl + Shift + Enter combination.

• In the elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt window, type or paste the commands below one after the other and press Enter after each one:

netsh int ipv6 isatap set state disabled

netsh int ipv6 6to4 set state disabled

netsh interface teredo set state disabled

• Exit the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell and restart your computer.

Now check if the ping problem still exists.

Fix 6: Reset your PC’s TCP/IP

If you’re still struggling to resolve the ping general failure error, try resetting your PC’s TCP/IP to check if it works this time.

Here’s how:

• Run the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell with admin rights.

• Click Yes when prompted by the system to grant administrator access.

• Type or paste the command netsh i i r r and press Enter.

• Next, type or paste the command netsh winsock reset and hit Enter.

• Exit the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell and restart your computer. This solution should fix the ping failure error.

Fix 7: Reset your PC’s hosts file

If nothing seems to work in your case, you may want to try resetting your computer’s host file.

Here is the step-by-step guide to reset your computer’s host file:

• Go to Start and launch Notepad.
• Paste the following script into a new Notepad page:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
# For example:
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

• Go to File > Save As.

• Assign the file an appropriate title (like hosts1), and click on OK to save it to your preferred location.

• Next, open the “Run” command using the Win + R shortcut.
• Type %WinDir%\System32\Drivers\Etc into the text box and press Enter.

• Search for the original hosts file here.

• Right-click on it and select Rename.

• Rename it to something like hostsOLD and hit Enter.

• Now, move the newly created hosts1 file from where you previously saved it to the %WinDir%\System32\Drivers\Etc directory.

• If you’re prompted to confirm your action, select “Yes”.

• Now restart your PC and try running the ping command again.

 “Ping: Transmit Failed General Failure” Error: Fixed

Hopefully, one of these solutions will help you fix the Ping General Failure error. Have you ever run into ping issues?

If yes, how did you resolve them? Share your experience by commenting below.

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