To trace a path by using the tracert command

Open Command Prompt, and type the following:

tracert host_name

Or, type tracert ip_address

where host_name or ip_address is the host name or IP address, respectively, of the remote computer.

For example, to trace a connection route from this computer to www.microsoft.com, type the following at a command prompt:

tracert www.microsoft.com 

If you do not want the tracert command to resolve and display the names of all routers in the path, use the -d parameter. This expedites the display of the path. For example, to trace a path from this computer to www.microsoft.com without displaying the router names, type the following at a command prompt:

tracert -d www.microsoft.com 

Note

To open command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt

The tracert command traces the path by sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request and Echo Reply messages (similar to the ping command) to produce command-line report output about each router that is crossed and the roundtrip time (RTT) for each hop. Packet filtering policies on routers, firewalls, or other types of security gateways might prevent the forwarding of this traffic.

If tracert is unsuccessful, you can use the command output to help determine at which intermediate router forwarding failed or was slowed.

For details about packet forwarding and packet loss at each router and link in the path, use the pathping command.

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Related Topics

Tracert

Test TCP/IP connections by using the ping and net view commands

Test a TCP/IP configuration by using the ping command


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