Name

Windows IP Configuration — \windows\system32\ipconfig.exe

Synopsis

Display the current IP address(es) of the active connection(s).

To Open

Command Prompt → ipconfig

Usage

ipconfig [/command] [adapter]

Description

The Windows IP Configuration tool, used without any options, displays your computer’s current IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. Knowing your computer’s IP address is important for many reasons, such as allowing other users to connect to you using Remote Desktop Connection or calling you with Microsoft NetMeeting.

Windows IP Configuration takes the following parameters:

adapter

Used with some of the commands listed below, adapter specifies the name of a network connection (see Network Connections, earlier in this chapter) on which to act. Adapter can contain wildcards, such as *. Omit adapter (if allowed) to act on the default connection.

/all

Displays all available configuration information.

/release [ adapter ]

Releases the IP address(es) for the specified connection, effectively disconnecting that connection from all network communication. Use /renew to re-establish communication.

/renew [ adapter ]

Renews the IP address for the specified adapter, effectively reestablishing communication for the connection.

/flushdns

Purges the DNS Resolver cache. See NSLookup, discussed earlier in this chapter, for details. See see /displaydns to show the contents of the DNS cache.

/registerdns

Refreshes all DHCP leases and reregisters DNS names

/displaydns

Displays ...

Get Windows XP in a Nutshell now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial