DOS and Windows network commands

When using DOS or Windows, you have a number of powerful commands to manage and analyze your network connection and IP traffic.
To use these while in windows, simply open a command prompt (Hit Win-R, type 'cmd' and hit enter, or Start > Run > All programs > Accessories > Command prompt)
Note: If you are running an earlier version of windows such as 98, ME or 95 you open a command window by selecting Run and typing 'command'.

Type the commands without quotes and hit enter.

IP Configuration

Display all network connections

'ipconfig /all' or just 'ipconfig'

Display DNS Cache Info

'ipconfig /displaydns'

Release all IP Addresses

'ipconfig /release'
To release a specific connection, type 'ipconfig /release *connection name*'
To release IPv6 connections, type 'ipconfig /release6'

Renew all IP Addresses

'ipconfig /renew'
To renew a specific connection, type 'ipconfig /renew *connection name*'
To renew IPv6 connections, type 'ipconfig /renew6'

Register the DNS connections

'ipconfig /registerdns'

Clear DNS Cache

'ipconfig /flushdns'

Display DHCP Class info

'ipconfig /showclassid'
To display DHCP Class info for IPv6 type 'ipconfig /showclassid6'

Modify DHCP Class id

'ipconfig /setclassid'
To Modify DHCP Class id for IPv6 type 'ipconfig /setclassid6'

Show information about all compartments

'ipconfig /allcompartments'
For detailed information type 'ipconfig /allcompartments /all'

Manage network connections

'control netconnections'

Network analysis

Display host name (computer name)

'hostname'

Display local route

'route'

Display Resolved MAC Addresses

'arp -a'

Displays the TCP/IP protocol sessions

'netstat'

Ping another host (to test connection)

'ping www.google.com'
To ping another computer in a network, type 'ping *host*' where *host* is the computer name or IP

Trace IP address route

'tracert *hostname*' Where hostname is the computer or domain you want to trace the path to

Netsh

Windows XP and later has a powerful tool called netsh, which allows you to display or modify the network configuration of a computer either locally or remotely.
To use netsh, simply type 'netsh' in the command prompt. To see a list of available commands, then type 'help' and hit enter.
Netsh can for example be used to clean all network connections from errors and save it all to a log file. To do this, type:
'netsh int ip reset log.txt' (without quotes) and hit enter

To read more about netsh, please visit the Microsoft website

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