If your are trying to connect to the internet on windows XP using a wireless protocol like WiFi, you will not be able to access the internet, because windows XP does not come with pre installed Wifi drivers. The easiest and fasted way to resolve this is to use a wireless adapter (a USB dongle or an internal card) plus the corresponding drivers for your specific USB or card.
On any shopping site like Amazon, flipkart etc you can simpley search fo a specification which suits you OS. For example for my Windows XP machine a search as below gives me multips options.
USB WiFi Adapter for PC, 150Mbps, 2.4GHz Wireless Dongle for Laptop & Desktop, USB Wireless Adapter Compatible with Windows XP / 7/8.x /10/11 & Mak OS (Black) (Pack of 1)
I purchased the one below for Rs 699. (approx $6.5 as per USD-INR exchange rate on 15-Dec-25). This dongle will come with a CD with the required drivers for your OS.
If your laptop has a CD drive (as new laptops dont come with a CD drive any longer), you can copy these drivers to a local drive on your hard disc. When you plug in the dongle, it will ask the specific location of the drivers for which you can specify the path in which these driver files are copied. if you are unable to access these drivers from CD you can download the drivers from the internet according to the specification of your wifi dongle.
Once the drivers are installed and you restart you machine, with the USB dongle connected, your machine will scan for available wifi networks and you can select the wifi you are familiar with, in the same way as a regular wifi connecttion.
The other issues you might face when trying to connect to the internet are browser compatibility issues.
When I try with Internet Explorer browser which has come by default with my windows XP installation I get error as below
So I download and install a version of google chrome for windows 32 bit machine.I will only gve the as you can get the installation exe from a number of sites.
Google_Chrome_(32bit)_v49.0.2623.112.exe
I install this Google chrome. On runniing it I get "Your clock is Ahead" error.
I reset my system clock (on right lower end panel) of the machine) to the current date and time. I restart the machine and I try again.I get error as below
This site can’t be reached
www.google.com took too long to respond.
I then try to run network diagnostics on my machine.
For this you have to go the the network diagnostics folder. On the cmd prompt type
D:\Documents and Settings\pc>cd %windir%\network diagnostic\
D:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic>dir xp*
Volume in drive D has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 94E6-FDD3
Directory of D:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic
07/27/2025 07:58 PM 558,080 xpnetdiag.exe
07/27/2025 07:58 PM 1,692 xpnetdiag.xsl
2 File(s) 559,772 bytes
0 Dir(s) 104,456,310,784 bytes free
D:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic>xpnetdiag.exe
Windows diagnostics gives following diagnosis
Windows cannot connect to the intenet using HTTP, HTTPS or FTP. This is probably caused by firewall setting on your computer.
Check the firewall settings for the HTTP port 80, HTTPS port 43 and FTP port 21.
You might need to contact your ISP or the manufacturer of your firewall software.
You can try to disable firewall setting on you machine.
I get error there is no internet connection
Click Start > Run, type cmd, and press Enter.
Type the following commands one by one, pressing Enter after each:
netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset reset.log
ipconfig /flushdns
Restart your computer.
Disable Proxy Settings
A common cause for this specific diagnostic error is an old or malicious proxy setting.
Open Internet Explorer.
Go to Tools > Internet Options > Connections tab.
Click LAN Settings.
Uncheck all boxes, including Automatically detect settings and Use a proxy server.
Click OK and restart the browser.
Windows diagnostics gives following advice
Windows cannot connect to the intenet using HTTP, HTTPS or FTP. This is probably caused by firewall setting on your computer.
Check the firewall settings for the HTTP port 80, HTTPS port 43 and FTP port 21.
You might need to contact your ISP or the manufacturer of your firewall software.
To enable TLS 1.2
Phase 1: The POSReady Registry Hack
This tells Windows that your computer is a POSReady 2009 system, allowing it to accept the necessary security updates.
Open Notepad.
Copy and paste the following exactly:
registry
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001
Use code with caution.
Save the file as PosReady.reg (make sure it doesn't end in .txt).
Double-click PosReady.reg and select Yes to merge it into your registry.
Phase 2: Install Required Updates
You must manually download and install these updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog.
KB4019276: This is the core update that adds TLS 1.1 and 1.2 support to the system.
KB4230450: If you use Internet Explorer 8, this update adds the checkboxes to enable TLS 1.2 in browser settings.
Phase 3: Enable TLS 1.2 in the Registry
After installing the updates, you must explicitly tell Windows to use the new protocols.
Create another .reg file (e.g., EnableTLS.reg) with this content:
registry
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client]
"DisabledByDefault"=dword:00000000
"Enabled"=dword:00000001
Merge this file into your registry and restart your computer
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