I can’t connect to online services or multiplayer games

Ipe manoj 0 Reputation points
2025-11-04T13:10:27.8133333+00:00

My internet connection works perfectly for browsing and streaming, but no multiplayer games such as Steam or Epic Games can connect online—titles like Elden Ring and Palworld always fail to reach servers even though tracert, ping, and DNS resolution all succeed. I’ve already reset Winsock, TCP/IP, DNS, and the Windows Firewall, changed DNS to Google and Cloudflare, verified that no proxy is active, repaired Epic Online Services, cleared Steam and Epic caches, and even tried a mobile hotspot to bypass my router. I fully uninstalled Kaspersky Premium, confirmed its drivers (klif, klwfp) were gone using PowerShell, and verified all network services like Epic Online Services, Xbox Live Auth Manager, and IP Helper are running automatically. Port checkers show most ports closed, but traceroutes complete normally. Safe Mode with Networking produces the same issue, so it’s not a third-party background process. Internet works fine, but game traffic—especially UDP—seems blocked or corrupted within Windows. I suspect a damaged network stack or a leftover driver/filter that normal resets don’t remove, and I’d like Microsoft’s help rebuilding the entire Windows networking system or identifying any hidden filters still activeScreenshot (62).png

Windows for home | Other | Gaming
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  1. Rez 6,225 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-11-04T16:06:56.54+00:00

    Thanks for reaching out Ipe. This seems to be a network issue. Have you tried creating another local account and try to download and install the games?

    Do you also have another machin/PC/laptop that you can try to download and install the said games? Just to see if it will get the same error.

    How about trying the "network reset" in the settings page.

    Reinstalling or clean install of Windows is what I can recommend as well.

    Try contacting your ISP if any of the ports mentioned from your screenshot and the statement below is blocked on their end.

    Steam requires TCP ports 80 and 443 for HTTP and HTTPS traffic, and a range of TCP and UDP ports from 27015 to 27050 for its client and game servers. Some games or specific features like Steam Link streaming may also require additional ports, such as TCP/UDP ports 27031 and 27036 for streaming, so you may need to open these as well. 

    Let me know what results you get.

    All the best,

    Rez

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