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The ipconfig (short for IP Configuration) is a basic, yet popular, Windows network command-line utility used to display the TCP/IP network configuration of a computer. If you are familiar with Linux, this tool is similiar to ifconfig. This tool is often used for troubleshooting network connectivity issues. With ipconfig, you can identify the types of network adapaters on your computer, the computer's IP address, the IP addresses of the DNS (Domain Name System) servers being used, and much more. These commands shown here are tested on a comptuer with Windows 10 but most will work in other versions of Windows as well. Table of Content
OverviewThe ipconfig is a Windows command-line utility used often to troubleshooting computer network issues. If you are a Linux user, this utility is similar to ifconfig. This is often used to determine the local IP address, subnet mask, the gateway address, and other network configuration of a computer. Additionally, this tool is used to refresh DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) and DNS (Domain Name System) settings While most of the information provided by the ipconfig command-line utility can be found via a more user-friendly graphical interface, sometimes that interface may not be available and command prompt is your only available option. If you are a help desk technician or a network professional, it is recommended that you understand the command-line method of retrieving a computer's network configuration, and it some cases, performing network functions. How to Open Command PromptTo use this utility, you will need to launch the Command Prompt window. The three common ways to launch the Command Prompt window are:
Ipconfig Syntax
Ipconfig Parameters
Example UsageThere are a variety of switches (sub commands) available with the ipconfig utility that will either display certain information or perform certain network functions. At the most basic, the ipconfig displays a computer's IP address, subnet mask and the default gateway (which is typically the IP address of your router or network firewall). ipconfig - Retrieve Basic TCP/IP Network InformationTo get basic network information from your computer, type the following in the command window then press Enter: The screenshot example below is the ipconfig output of a particular computer. The output of your ipconfig result will differ depending on your network setup and the type of network adapters installed on your computer. In our screenshot example, it shows the following basic networking information about the computer from which ipconfig was ran.
Please note that unless your computer is connected directly to the Internet (this is rare), the IP address reported by ipconfig will be your local network IP, not your public external IP address. While other network details can be retrieved by the ipconfig utility, for most network troubleshooting, this is what is typically needed. ipconfig /all - Retrieve All TCP/IP Network InformationAnother useful switch with ipconfig is to have it report all TCP/IP network details for all network adapters on a computer. This is accomplished by using the This will show a detailed report of various network details for the computer. Again, your report will differ depending on your network setup and the network adapters installed on your computer. This report includes information such as:
As you can see, ipconfig /release - Releases the IPv4 Address of All Network AdaptersThe To release your IP address from your computer, type the following in the command window then press Enter: Note, if you have a statically assigned (manually assigned) IP address, this command will not release it. See example ipconfig /renew for related information. ipconfig /release6 - Releases the IPv6 Address of All Network AdaptersThe command is similar to ipconfig /release except it renews the IPv6 address on the adapters. ipconfig /release <adapter> - Releases the IPv4 Address for a Specific Network AdaptersThe To release the IP address for a specific network adapter on your computer named "Local Area Connection 3", type the following in the command window then press Enter: Note, if you have a statically assigned (manually assigned) IP address, this command will not release it. See example for ipconfig /renew for related information. ipconfig /renew - Get a New IPv4 Address for All Network AdaptersThe To renew the IP address of your computer, type the following in the command window then press
Enter: See example for ipconfig /release for related information. ipconfig /renew6 - Get a New IPv6 Address for All Network AdaptersThe command is similar to ipconfig /renew except it renews the IPv6 address on the adapters. ipconfig /renew <adapter> - Get a New IPv4 Address For a Specific Network AdapterThe To renew the IP
address for a network adapter on your computer named "Local Area Connection 3", type the following in the command window then press Enter: See example for ipconfig /release for related information. ipconfig /all | findstr /v 00-00-00 | findstr Physical - Display MAC Address of Only Physical Connected Network AdaptersThe ipconfig utility, with the The Windows findstr utility is used to search for patterns of text. By feeding the output of
This command is actually a series of three commands, namely:
The vertical bar (|), more commonly referred to as the pipe, is a 'command' that takes the output from the left side of the pipe and feeds it as input to the command on the right, bypassing the computer screen. As the above command shows, the output of The result from the first findstr will still contain a lot of information that we can further filter out, such as DHCP lease information. To further reduce clutter to ultimately end up with an output that lists only MAC address of physical adapters, we will need to funneled the output of the first findstr into a second findstr command. This second findster will filter out every line of text except those that has the word Physical. This series of commands produce an output that is concise to show only the MAC address of connected network adapters. As the illustration below shows, this is a much
more easier report to read as oppose to using just using ipconfig /displaydns - View DNS CacheWhen you visit a website using it's domain name (e.g., www.meridianoutpost.com), your computer will need to know the IP address for that website in order for it to find it the server hosting it on the Internet. The process of identifying the IP address is called DNS lookup (analogous to looking up a number in a phone book). Once your computer learns the associated IP address for the website you want to visit, it will cache it (store it) on your computer. The purpose of caching it is to improve performance by not having your computer perform a DNS lookup each time you access a web page on the website. This command will list all the currently cached IP addresses on your computer (also referred to as the DNS resolver cache). If you've accessed a lot of websites since turning on your computer, this list can be very lengthy. The illustration below shows just a few entries out of many for a particular computer. If you just turned on our computer and have not access websites or servers on the network on the Internet, then you list will only show a "localhost" setting in your local hosts file. To display cached DNS entries on your computer,
type the following in the command window then press Enter: This command is typically used to troubleshoot specific DNS lookup issues. See example for ipconfig /flushdns for related information. The information displayed on the list include:
ipconfig /flushdns - Purge DNS CacheThis command will purge the cached DNS entries on your computer. You would typically do this to troubleshoot DNS related problems. An example of this is when you try to access a website but you encounter an error message stating the website is not found. For most people, executing this command does not have adverse effect on your computer. See example for ipconfig /displaydns for related information. To delete all the cached DNS entries on your computer, type the following in the command window then press Enter: Other Usages and Getting HelpThe example usage described in the article shows only some of the functions available with ipconfig. To get a list of the available switches, type the following in the command window then press Enter: TipsRedirect Output to Text File
Recommended Reading
To learn more about this topic, we are providing you with recommendations to help you further your knowledge. These are our affiliate links to Amazon where you can purchase them and also explore a variety of other relevant books. SummaryThe ipconfig utility can provide a wealth of information for troubleshooting network issues. This utility is a valuable resource for computers that obtains an IP address automatically. If you are helpdesk technician, network administrator, or system administrator, this is a great utlity to become familiar with. What is the name of Windows command line utility that can be used to display TCP IP configuration settings?The ipconfig (short for IP Configuration) is a basic, yet popular, Windows network command-line utility used to display the TCP/IP network configuration of a computer. If you are familiar with Linux, this tool is similiar to ifconfig. This tool is often used for troubleshooting network connectivity issues.
Which command line command in MS Windows is used to display the contents of a routing table?The -r option of netstat displays the IP routing table. On the command line, type the following command. The first column shows the destination network, the second the router through which packets are forwarded. The U flag indicates that the route is up; the G flag indicates that the route is to a gateway.
Which of the following Windows command line utilities can be used to renew an IP address?The ipconfig command
On a Windows computer, use the following information to release and renew your IP address: Go to "Start > Run" and type " cmd " (no quotes), then select "OK" Type " ipconfig /release " (no quotes) and press "Enter" Once the prompt returns, type " ipconfig /renew " (no quotes), then hit "Enter,"
Which of the following utilities would you use to display TCP IP components?Netstat, short for “network statistics,” allows you to display the network connections for TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol).
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