Apparently in Windows Vista, Microsoft still enforce and hard-limit (hard coded in tcpip.sys) the maximum simultaneous half-open (incomplete) outbound TCP connection attempts per second that the system can make, as in Windows XP SP2, in order to protect the system from being used by malicious programs, such as viruses and worms, to spread to uninfected computers, or to launch distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). When the limit is hit, in Event Viewer, there will be such an entry:
Windows Vista tcpip.sys Connection – protect the system from being used by malicious programs
Apparently in Windows Vista, Microsoft still enforce and hard-limit (hard coded in tcpip.sys) the maximum simultaneous half-open (incomplete) outbound TCP connection attempts per second that the system can make, as in Windows XP SP2, in order to protect the system from being used by malicious programs, such as viruses and worms, to spread to uninfected computers, or to launch distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). When the limit is hit, in Event Viewer, there will be such an entry:

EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts
Unless Windows XP SP2 which has 10 maximum incomplete concurrent connection attempts limit per second, Windows Vista default limit is based on which edition of Vista users are using. For example, Home Basic has maximum limit of 2, and Vista Ultimate is 25 per second. Normal Windows Vista users should not face any problem or slow network connection with the half-open connections limit. However, heavy P2P (peer-to-peer) applications users such as uTorrent, BitTorrent, BitComet, Azureus, ABC, eMule (eDonkey network), etc, or P2PTV such as TVants, PPLive, PPStream, Sopcast, etc may face some error or slow download and upload speed due to this limit.
Due to enhanced security, to fix or crack the TCP concurrent connection limit in Vista is not as easy as in Windows XP. To remove maximum concurrent half-open connection limits in Windows Vista, apply the patched tcpip.sys with the following steps:
- Download patched tcpip.sys: Vista TCP/IP and UAC Auto Patcher (patched tcpip.sys is contained inside the archive)
64-bit tcpip.sys or 32-bit tcpip.sys. Alternative download link for 32-bit and 64-bit.
1. takeown /f c:windowssystem32drivers cpip.sys
2. cacls c:windowssystem32drivers cpip.sys /G “username”:F
Replace username with the actual user name that used to log on to Windows Vista currently.
The second command can also used improved lcacls:
icacls c:WindowsSystem32drivers cpip.sys /grant “username”:f
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable
bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
Note: Above command no longer supported, and users require to press F8 on system startup to bypass driver signing integrity check.
HKEY_LOCALL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters
New: Windows Vista Event ID 4226 Auto Patcher
Windows Vista Event ID 4226 Auto Patcher has been renamed as Vista tcpip.sys and UAC Auto Patcher, which now has more than 6 versions of auto patcher download links for different versions of tcpip.sys with the release of various hotfixes and SP1. Visit here for details.
New: Half-Open Limit Fix (Automated tcpip.sys Patch using Test Self-Signed Certificate)
Also Available – Driver Version: CrackTcpip.sys for Vista SP1 v.668 – a non-patching method to bypass TCP connection limit.
Also available is TCP/IP auto patcher for 64-bit (x64) Windows Vista SP1.
Gui Version: VistaTcpPath TCP Auto Patcher which works for Vista RTM (non-SP1) version of tcpip.sys.
Old Version:
Version 1.0
Version 1.2
Version 1.3
Version 1.4
Version 1.5
With thanks to YaronMaor for batch script.
The TCP connection limit which trigger Event ID 4226 has now increased to 500 (or any other value you set), and will likely fix the error for re-occurring again
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