10 Useful Windows Networking Commands

windows-commandWindows has some very useful networking utilities that are accessed from a command line (cmd console).

On Windows 10 type cmd in the search box to open a command console.

open-command-prompt

These basic networking commands are mainly used for getting system information and troubleshooting networking problems.

Here we look at 10 commands that I use most often.



1. Ping Command

The ping command is one of the most often used networking utilities for detecting devices on a network and for troubleshooting network problems.

When you ping a device you send that device a short message, which it then sends back (the echo).

The general format is ping hostname or ping IPaddress.

Example

ping www.google.com or ping 216.58.208.68

This article covers the ping command in more detail.

2. ipconfig Command

Another indispensable and frequently used utility that is used for finding network information about your local machine like IP addresses, DNS addresses etc

Basic Use: Finding Your IP Address and Default Gateway

Type the command ipconfig at the prompt.

The following is displayed

router-internet-setup-3

Ip config has a number of switches the most common are:

ipconfig /all – displays more information about the network setup on your systems including the MAC address.

ipconfig /release – release the current IP address

ipconfig /renew – renew IP address

ipconfig /? -shows help

ipconfig/flushdns – flush the dns cache

3. Hostname Command

A very simple command that displays the host name of your machine. This is much quicker than going to the control panel>system route.

windows-network-command-hostname

4. getmac Command

Another very simple command that shows the MAC address of your network interfaces

windows-network-command-getmac

5. arp Command

This is used for showing the address resolution cache. This command must be used with a command line switch arp -a is the most common.

windows-network-command-arp

Type arp at the command line to see all available options.

See using arp in the basic networking course

6. NSlookup

Used for checking DNS record entries. See Using NSlookup for more details

7. Nbtstat

Diagnostic tool for troubleshooting netBIOS problems. See This technet article.

8 Net Command

Used for managing users,service,shares etc see here

9. Netstat Command

Used for displaying information about tcp and udp connections and ports. See tcp and udp ports and sockets and how to use the netstat command

10. TaskKill Command

View a list of running tasks using the tasklist command and kill them by name or processor ID using the taskKill command- See this tutorial.

Resources:

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4 comments

  1. These are some commonly used commands. I am searching for something more deep if you know what I mean. like commands that show you used ports in case if you tried to install something and the Port in need to be used is already in use by another application due to changing the listening port during installation.
    There are some commands that can be highly effective if you can explore.
    I hope next, you will include a more of to-learn list of commands. Your work is greatly appreciated and waiting for better options next time.

    Thanks

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