Ping IP How To

Last Updated 9/3/2010

Use the Ping tool to test your connectivity

If you do not identify any issues in the TCP/IP configuration, determine whether the computer can connect to other host computers on the TCP/IP network. To do this, use the Ping tool.

The Ping tool helps you verify IP-level connectivity. The ping command sends an ICMP Echo Request message to a destination host. Use Ping whenever you want to verify that a host computer can send IP packets to a destination host. You can also use Ping to isolate network hardware problems and incompatible configurations.

When you troubleshoot, verify that a route exists between the local computer and a network host. To do this, use the following command:

    ping IP address

IP address is the IP address of the network host that you want to connect to.

To use the Ping command, follow these steps:

1. Ping the loopback address to verify that TCP/IP is installed and correctly configured on the local computer. To do this, type the following command:

    ping 127.0.0.1

If the loopback test fails, the IP stack is not responding. This problem may occur if any one or more of the following conditions is true:

• The TCP drivers are corrupted.
• The network adapter is not working.
• Another service is interfering with IP.

2. Ping the IP address of the local computer to verify that the computer was correctly added to the network. If the routing table is correct, this procedure just forwards the packet to the loopback address of 127.0.0.1. To do this, type the following command:

    ping IP address of local host

If the loopback test succeeds but you cannot ping the local IP address, there may be an issue with the routing table or with the network adapter driver.

3. Ping the IP address of the default gateway to verify that the default gateway is working and that you can communicate with a local host on the local network. To do this, type the following command:

    ping IP address of default gateway

If the ping fails, you may have an issue with the network adapter, the router or gateway device, the cabling, or other connectivity hardware.

4. Ping the IP address of a remote host to verify that you can communicate through a router. To do this, type the following command:

    ping IP address of remote host

If the ping fails, the remote host may not be responding, or there may be a problem with the network hardware between computers. To rule out an unresponsive remote host, use Ping again to a different remote host.

5. Ping the host name of a remote host to verify that you can resolve a remote host name. To do this, type the following command:

    ping Host name of remote host

Ping uses name resolution to resolve a computer name into an IP address. Therefore, if you successfully ping an IP address but you cannot ping a computer name, there is a problem with host name resolution, not with network connectivity. Verify that DNS server addresses are configured for the computer, either manually in the properties of TCP/IP, or by automatic assignment.