Thanks John,

The problem turns out to be how Microsoft manufactures the A/X control. It can only be used in VFP (as far as I can tell) on a form. Larry Miller hit the nail right on the head with this code:

oform = createobject('form')
oform.NewObject('owinsock','MyWinsockSubclass','MyWinsockclasslib')
lcIP = oform.owinsock.LocalIP
release oform
return lcIP

An aweful lot to go through inside a .DLL, but it will have to do.

Mike
PS "Being John Kozial" That's funny!