IPCONFIG Command

ipconfig
Is used to find out your current TCP/IP settings. With IPCONFIG you can find out your IP Address,
find your Default Gateway and find your Subnet Mask. This is a very handy network tool for finding
your local IP address.
ipconfig /all
To display all your IP information for all adapters. With ipconfig /all you can also find out your DNS
Server and MAC Address. This will show your full TCP/IP configuration for all adapters on your
Windows machine. You can find out your own IP Address as well as your default gateway.
ipconfig /release
To release your current IP information and obtain a new IP Address from the DHCP server.
ipconfig /renew
Used to renew your IP Address if you have it set to obtain IP Address automatically.
ipconfig /displaydns
This shows your current DNS Resolver Cache Logs.
ipconfig /flushdns
The Flush DNS Command flushes or clears your current DNS Resolver Cache Logs.
ipconfig /registerdns
The register DNS command updates the DNS settings on the Windows computer. It doesnt just
access the local DNS cache, it initiates communication with the DNS server and the DHCP server so
it can re-register the network address. You can use this for troubleshooting problems with connection
to the ISP (Internet Service Provider), like failing to obtain a dynamic IP address from the DHCP
Server or failing to connect to the ISP DNS server.
If you ever wonder "what your IP Address is" you would run an ipconfig as shown above. If you need
to find your IP address, default gateway(router login) or subnet mask ip config is the tool to use.
These numbers can be very helpful when trouble shooting your local network connection. If you have
changed your settings but they are not taking place you may try a ipconfig release and renew. If
youre having problems resolving to a website you may try flushing your DNS Resolver Logs.
PING Command
In all of these examples xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is an example of a Domain Name or an IP Address. You
must fill those out yourself.
ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
To Ping an IP Address you would type the following DOS Command in the Windows Command
Prompt. Ping followed by an IP address. That is how you do an internet ping.
ping site.com (web address)
To ping a website you would type ping followed by the website domain name. If you know the
websites IP Address you can ping it too.
Ping Command Switches
You maybe use the switches together.
ping xxx.xxx.xx.xx -t
Continuous Ping It will keep on pinging forever until you hit Ctrl + C to stop it. This can be great for
troubleshooting intermittent connections. Just open up a Command Prompt(or 3) and run the
continuous ping command on a site like Google.com to see when youre dropping packets. I would
also run one on your router and on another site like site.com for a better data sample control group.

What I mean by this, is if youre pinging your website and losing packets yet not losing packets to
Google, you know the problem is somewhere between you and your hosting company. If you are
losing packets to your own router, the problem is with your local network. It could be the cat5 cable,
your router or your hardware. You will have to do further troubleshooting to figure out where the
problem is. To check if it is your router, do the same ping from another computer and if it is fine, it is
your hardware or cable and not the router. You get the idea, use your head, be logical, troubleshoot.
ping xxx.xxx.xx.xx -n 10
Number of Pings The N Switch is simply for setting the number of pings. By default the ping cmd
sends out 4 packets at 32 bytes each.
ping xxx.xxx.xx.xx -l 1500
Size of Packet By default the packets sent are a small 32 bytes. You can set your own size up to
the max 65500 bytes. This can really help for stress testing your local network.
ping xxx.xxx.xx.xx -w 5000
Time Out This is in milliseconds. The timeout by default is 4,000 milliseconds which amounts to 4
minutes. Just seeing if you were still paying attention. It really is only 4 seconds.
ping -a xxx.xxx.xx.xx
Resolves Hostname Address This is a great one if you are helping someone else and need to find
out what router model they are using. You an resolve the host of an IP Address with this command.
Try pinging your router or your local computer with it. ping -a 127.0.0.1. Note that this switch will only
work in front of the IP Address.
Ping Command Summary
The Ping command is a network tool used to determine if you are able to send packets between
your network computer on the internet to another computer without losing packets along the way. By
doing this you can determine if youre online or if a website is down. It also calculates round trip time
and Time to Live. This can let you know if your NIC card is working properly and if youre able to
reach your router or modem. It is an invaluable command for troubleshooting internal network and
external internet connections.
Networking Basics Command Prompt
tracert site.com
With Trace route you can trace the path your packets take across the internet from you to your
destination. Along the way you can determine the time from hop to hop. You can identify server
problems and latency with this tool. It really helps see where the failure is between you and a
destination. It may very well even be out of your hands.
nslookup site.com
nslookup xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
nslookup is a way to get the IP address for a domain name. You can also do a reverse lookup from
Domain Name to IP Address. It can be a way to find out if your DNS is properly working or if the site
is having problems. You can obtain an IP from a site and try to visit the IP directly, bypassing the
Domain Name Servers that would usually resolve the Domain name to IP name.
netstat
netstat can be used to view your active network connections and TCP/IP connections. You can
determine what ports are open and being used, what programs are using your ports and what kind of
TCP and UDP connections are present. Looking in here for the first time may scare the hell out of
you.
netstat Switches
netstat -a Displays all active TCP connections. And TCP / UDP ports.
netstat -e Displays ethernet statistics.
netstat -b Displays all active programs that are listening.

netsh winsock reset winsock reset

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt TCP/IP reset
netsh is used to reset or rebuild the Windows TCP/IP IP Stack. This can be done if you have a
problem with DNS. Say you are able to browse to a sites IP address but not to its Domain Name.
You can find the sites IP by using nslookup mentioned above.
You may need to run this command as an administrator by right clicking, run as admin for elevated
permissions.
getmac
How do I find my MAC Address you might ask?
If you open up the command prompt you simply type getmac to get your computers local MAC
address.
arp -a
To get the MAC address of your router or other devices on your local network, you may use the arp -a
command. With this information, you can find out what type of router you are connected to by
using this website. Simply plug in the MAC Address of your default gateway(found from IPCONFIG)
and you can get the brand name of your router without looking at it. Pretty neat. Helpful in some
situations.
Access Command Prompt Codes
The best command prompt trick is how easy it is to access it. On Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or
Windows 8 just press and hold the Windows Key + R on your keyboard. The other way to access the
DOS Command prompt is to simply go to your Windows Start menu, Then go to Run. When the
little box pops up you type in cmd. Once the Black Command Prompt pops up you can type any of
these commands in and have some fun!
After all that seriousness and command prompt operating you should take yourself a break and watch
these Networking Computer Nerd Rap videos by Cisco and Scrutinizer.
You will love them!