In the light of the necessity of detecting winding fault of HV shunt reactor, this paper proposes a winding fault detection method based on bushing capacitive coupling sensor. This method is based on the basic principle of impulse frequency response method, relies on the structural characteristic of HV shunt reactor, and adopts the coupling approach to realize the injection and measurement of signals. The electrical simulations of HV shunt reactor winding faults preliminary demonstrate the feasibility of detection method. The test analysis of field 750 kV healthy reactor experiment and fault emulation experiment, further indicate the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed detection method, laying the foundation for the field application of this method and the promotion of online application in the future.