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How to find the IP address of my computer?

Question:

How to find the IP address of my computer? Is there any command?

Sure there are commands.

But I have to ask you a question first:

Which IP address do you want?

Your Computer

Each machine connected to a TCP/IP network is assigned an IP address; this we already know. It’s not that difficult to determine what that IP address is.

In versions of Windows from Windows 2000 and later, run the Windows Command Prompt (Typically in Start, All Programs, Accessories). In the command prompt, type IPCONFIG and you’ll get something similar to this:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

“… since I’m behind a router, this is not the IP address that will actually be used when I access the internet.”

As you can see, the IP address of this computer is listed as “192.168.1.5”.

(In Windows 98 and 95, you can Start->Run a program called “winipcfg” and get roughly the same information without using a command prompt.)

Now it’s important to note that this is the IP address of the computer. In fact, since I’m behind a router, this is not the IP address that will actually be used when I access the internet. The IP address shown here is my computer’s IP address on my local network only.

Your Internet IP Address

The IP address assigned to your internet connection is most easily
seen by visiting any of the many “show me my IP address” pages on the internet. The one I remember most often is ipchicken.com, but there are others.

Including my own: http://ask-leo.com/whats_my_ip_address.html 
will show you your internet IP address and a few additional bits of information.

Even better, since any web site you visit gets the information, your IP address is: 17.241.219.124.

Why are they different?

Sometimes they’re not. If your computer is connected directly to the internet, then your machine is assigned an internet IP address. The IP address you see using ipconfig will be the same as that which you see reported by the “what’s my IP” sites.

If you’re behind a router (or a modem that is acting as a NAT router) then the internet IP address is actually assigned to the router. The router then hands out “local” IP addresses to the individual machines connected to it. Those are the “192.168.” addresses you’ll commonly see when running ipconfig. In fact, “192.168.x.x” is an invalid internet IP address, as that range, and a couple of others, are reserved exclusively for local network use.

When you’re behind a NAT router, “ipconfig” will report your machine’s local IP address, and the IP reporting web sites will show you your internet IP address.

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15 comments on “How to find the IP address of my computer?”

  1. Strictly speaking, ‘machines’ don’t have IP addresses, it’s network adapters that have an IP address! You’ll have an IP address for each network card installed; thus your computer could have two or three!

    Reply
  2. Another way to find the IP Address is to go to the Internet and type in http://www.whatismyip.com. This works for only one networkcard. With more than one networkcard I don’t know if it would show multiple IP Addresses.

    As mentioned in the article services like whatismyip.com only show you your internet IP address, they do not and can not show you the IP address of your machine (er, your machine’s network card) on your local LAN if you have a router.

    – Leo
    13-Nov-2008
    Reply
  3. This new web site will tell you BOTH your external address (like the other sites) but also the local IP address of your computer, and the IP address of your router. Now you don’t need IPCONFIG!

    Reply
  4. @Koushal
    The real IP number is a binary number. What you see is the decimal representation of that binary number. Each group of 3 digits represents a group of 8 binary digits from 00000000 to 11111111. 11111111 base 2 = 255 therefor the highest number in that group of 3 can only be 255.

    Reply
  5. hi,
    ipconfig/all
    but appears blank
    no ip address

    if i type ipconfig/renew
    all i can see is the router ip address
    pls help

    make sure you are running in a command shell that has administrative privileges. By that I mean you are you clicked on “run as administrator”.

    Leo
    30-Aug-2011
    Reply
  6. I ran ipconfig (on XP) but the resulting info flashes on screen for maybe about 1/10th sec. so unreadable. Tried several times.

    You need to run it in a Windows Command Prompt. Start, Run “cmd”, and then in the resulting window run ipconfig.

    Leo
    27-Dec-2011
    Reply
  7. Sir Leo, how can I view my friend’s IP address, we are in network (company), I know his username,example: cuteface — her username.. tnx a lot i’ll be waiting for your reply..

    Reply
  8. hello sir someone is sending me some mails and i want to know that from which exact location they are sending me these mails and i have trakked the ip address so please tell me how to get there address

    Reply
  9. I did a search to help me find out my ip address. Some were command prompt links , others “show me” links, so I kept getting two different addresses. Your article, succinct and easy for a newbie like me to understand, cleared it nicely for me. I’ve bookmarked your site and flagged it as “go to”. Thanks for the good job!

    Reply

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