How to enable or disable IP Helper Service in Windows 11/10

IP Helper Service (iphlpsvc) is a pre-installed program on Windows 11/10 devices. Disabling this service will not affect your system unless you run a remote database or you need tunnel connectivity. On the contrary, it is often found to be effective as iphlpsvc consumes a lot of memory in between all other resources. In this post, we will show you the different ways to enable or disable IP Helper Service on Windows.

What is IP Helper Service?

Basically, iphlpsvc allows for tunnel connectivity through 6to4, ISATAP, Port Proxy, and Teredo, as well as IP-HTTPS. It also helps to recover and modify the network configuration settings of a local computer – to do so, and it creates tunnel connectivity through IPv6 transition technologies. The service also works as a notifier that keeps notifying us of changes in the network configuration of the local computer. When you disable the service, enhanced connectivity will also be stopped.

Enable or disable IP Helper Service on Windows 11/10

The following are the ways you can achieve this task;

1. Via Services console
2. Via Command Prompt
3. Via Registry Editor
4. Via System Configuration utility

Let’s see the description of each of the methods.

1] Enable or disable IP Helper Service via Services console

Do the following:

• Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type services.msc and hit Enter to open Services.
• In the Services window, scroll and locate the IP Helper service.
• Double-click on the entry to open its properties window.
• In the properties window, on the General tab, click the dropdown on Startup type and select Automatic.
• Next, move to the Service status section.
• Click the Start button in order to enable the service.
• To disable this specific service, click the Stop button.
• Click Apply > OK to save changes.

You can now exit the Services console.

2] Enable or disable IP Helper Service via Command Prompt

• Invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type cmd and then press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER to open Command Prompt in admin/elevated mode.
• In the command prompt window, type the command below and hit Enter to enable the IP Helper service.

net start iphlpsvc

Note: You can’t start the service if Startup type is on Disabled.

To change the Startup type of the same service, you can execute the following command:

For Automatic:

REG add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iphlpsvc” /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

For Manual:

REG add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iphlpsvc” /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f

For Disabled:

REG add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iphlpsvc” /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f

For Automatic (Delayed Start):

REG add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iphlpsvc” /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

• To disable the the service, type the command below and hit Enter.

net stop iphlpsvc

You can exit CMD prompt now.

3] Enable or disable IP Helper Service via Registry Editor

Since this is a registry operation, it is recommended that you back up the registry or create a system restore point as necessary precautionary measures. Once done, you can proceed as follows:

• Invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
• Navigate or jump to the registry key path below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iphlpsvc

• At the location, on the right pane, double-click the Start entry to edit its properties.
• In the properties dialog, set the Value data to the following as per your requirement:
  • Automatic: 2
  • Manual: 3
  • Disabled: 4
  • Automatic (Delayed Start): 2
• Click OK to save changes.

You can now exit the registry editor.

TIP: See this post if IP Helper Service (iphlpsvc.exe) process uses high internet data.

4] Enable or disable IP Helper Service via System Configuration utility

Do the following:

• Invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type msconfig and hit Enter to open System Configuration utility.
• In the launched console, switch to the Services tab, and locate the IP Helper service.
• To enable the IP Helper service, check the box and then click Apply > OK.
• To disable IP Helper service, uncheck the box and then click Apply > OK.

A reboot of the device is very necessary for this method because the changes will be accomplished accurately after rebooting.

That’s it!

IP Helper Service is not running

If the IP Helper Service is not running, restart your computer in Clean Boot State and troubleshoot the issue. Also make sure that all the services that this service depends on are running. If this does not help, Run SFC and DISM scans.

What are IP Helper Service dependencies?

The IP Helper Service depends on the following system components: Network Store Interface Service, Remote Procedure Call, TCP/IP Protocol Driver and WinHTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service.

The following system components depend on this IP Helper Service: Intel(R) Dynamic Application Loader Host Interface Service and Network Connectivity Assistant.

IP Helper Service stuck stopping

If the IP Helper Service is stuck stopping, restart your computer in Clean Boot State and try again. If this does not help, Run SFC and DISM scans.