How to improve network speed in Windows 10 by increasing IRPStackSize

This is a summary of the good parts from the excellent article written by Mark Kaelin over on Techpublic.

The default network configuration settings in Microsoft Windows 10 are notorious for being programmed to what are considered safe, stable values. Predictably, safe and stable does not always equal fast and high-performance, especially with regard to network connections.

This tutorial shows you how to edit the Windows 10 Registry file to change an obscure setting known as IRPStackSize. Increasing that parameter’s value should considerably increase the overall network performance of your Windows 10 personal computer.

The I/O Request Packet Stack Size (IRPStackSize) refers to how many 36-byte receive buffers your computer can use simultaneously. A larger number of buffers means your computer can handle more data simultaneously, which, in theory, should make your computer perform more efficiently.

While there is little official Microsoft documentation concerning this parameter, the default setting is 15, which is adequate for most normal speed (10 Mbps) network connections. The maximum number is limited to 50, and Microsoft warns that choosing values in the 33 to 38 range can cause stability issues. For our example, we are going to increase the value to 32.

How to improve network speed in Windows 10 by increasing IRPStackSize

Open a command prompt with Administrator access.

At the prompt, query the registry to see if this value already exists and set with a value: of 32 (0x20)

reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters /v IRPStackSize

If it does not exist or has a smaller number then 0x20 (decimal 32), use the following command to add or change it:

reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters /v IRPStackSize /t REG_DWORD /d 32 /f

Verify the value took using the previous “reg query” command.

reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters /v IRPStackSize

To complete the change, reboot your PC. For extra measure, verify the value took using the previous “reg query” command.

~ by bwsd on March 19, 2021.