ipconfig — IP Configuration#

What it is#

ipconfig is a built-in Windows command that displays the TCP/IP configuration of every network adapter installed on the machine. Its extended form (/all) adds MAC addresses, DHCP lease details, DNS suffixes, and gateway information. Beyond display, ipconfig can release and renew DHCP leases (/release, /renew) and manipulate the DNS resolver cache (/flushdns, /displaydns, /registerdns) — making it the first-stop diagnostic for network connectivity issues. The PowerShell equivalent is Get-NetIPAddress / Get-NetAdapter.

Availability#

ipconfig ships as C:\Windows\System32\ipconfig.exe on every Windows version since 95. No installation required.

ipconfig /?

Output:

USAGE:
    ipconfig [/allcompartments] [/? | /all |
                                 /renew [adapter] | /release [adapter] |
                                 /renew6 [adapter] | /release6 [adapter] |
                                 /flushdns | /displaydns | /registerdns |
                                 /showclassid adapter |
                                 /setclassid adapter [classid] ]

Syntax#

ipconfig [/all] [/release [adapter]] [/renew [adapter]] [/flushdns] [/displaydns] [/registerdns]

Output: (network configuration report)

Essential options#

Switch	Meaning
(none)	IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway per adapter
`/all`	Full details: MAC, DHCP, DNS servers, lease times, suffixes
`/release [adapter]`	Release DHCP lease for adapter (or all if omitted)
`/renew [adapter]`	Request a new DHCP lease
`/release6 [adapter]`	Release IPv6 DHCP lease
`/renew6 [adapter]`	Renew IPv6 DHCP lease
`/flushdns`	Clear the DNS resolver cache
`/displaydns`	Show cached DNS records
`/registerdns`	Re-register DNS names with the DNS server

Basic output#

Running ipconfig without arguments shows the essential IP information for every adapter.

ipconfig

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::1a2b:3c4d:5e6f:7a8b%5
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Ethernet adapter VPN:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Full details (/all)#

/all adds the MAC address, DHCP enabled/server, lease obtained/expires, DNS server list, and connection-specific suffix search list for every adapter.

ipconfig /all

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : myhost
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Ethernet Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-2B-3C-4D-5E
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, April 28, 2026 6:00:00 AM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, April 29, 2026 6:00:00 AM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8
                                       8.8.4.4
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Releasing and renewing DHCP leases#

/release drops the current DHCP lease (setting the IP to 0.0.0.0); /renew requests a fresh assignment from the DHCP server. Both can target a specific adapter by partial name match.

rem Release and renew all adapters
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1 while it has its media disconnected.

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
   ...

rem Target a specific adapter by name fragment
ipconfig /release "Ethernet"
ipconfig /renew "Ethernet"

Output:

Windows IP Configuration
...

DNS cache operations#

/flushdns clears the local DNS resolver cache — the first step when a name resolves to a stale or wrong IP. /displaydns shows what is currently cached. /registerdns forces the machine to re-register its DNS records with the configured DNS server (useful after a hostname change).

ipconfig /flushdns

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

ipconfig /displaydns

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

    myhost
    ----------------------------------------
    Record Name . . . . . : myhost
    Record Type . . . . . : 1
    Time To Live  . . . . : 86400
    Data Length . . . . . : 4
    Section . . . . . . . : Answer
    A (Host) Record . . . : 192.168.1.100
    ...

ipconfig /registerdns

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

Registration of the DNS resource records for all adapters of this computer has been initiated. Any errors will be reported in the Event Viewer in 15 minutes.

DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) on Windows 11#

Windows 11 24H2 ships with DNS-over-HTTPS enabled in Auto mode for any well-known resolver in Microsoft’s encrypted-DNS list (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Google 8.8.8.8, Quad9 9.9.9.9, and others). ipconfig /all does not show the encryption state — use Get-DnsClientDohServerAddress to confirm what’s actually encrypted, and netsh dns show encryption for per-server detail. ipconfig /flushdns still flushes the local cache regardless of whether queries leave the machine plaintext (UDP 53) or as HTTPS (TCP 443).

Get-DnsClientDohServerAddress | Format-Table ServerAddress, DohTemplate, AutoUpgrade, AllowFallbackToUdp -AutoSize

Output:

ServerAddress  DohTemplate                              AutoUpgrade AllowFallbackToUdp
-------------  -----------                              ----------- ------------------
1.1.1.1        https://cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query           True              False
8.8.8.8        https://dns.google/dns-query                   True              False
9.9.9.9        https://dns.quad9.net/dns-query                True              False

To register a custom DoH resolver that is not in the built-in list (PowerShell 5.1+):

Add-DnsClientDohServerAddress -ServerAddress '94.140.14.14' `
    -DohTemplate 'https://dns.adguard-dns.com/dns-query' `
    -AllowFallbackToUdp $false -AutoUpgrade $true

Output:

(none — registration persists in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters\DohWellKnownServers)

Then opt an interface into encryption-required mode (Windows 11 24H2+ only):

Set-DnsClientDohServerAddress -InterfaceAlias 'Ethernet' -DohFlags Required

Output:

(none — exits 0 on success)

Confirm the resolver is actually using DoH by inspecting the resolver state:

netsh dns show encryption server=1.1.1.1

Output:

Server: 1.1.1.1
DoH template: https://cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query
Auto upgrade: yes
UDP fallback: no

Extracting just the IPv4 address with findstr#

Pipe ipconfig into findstr to pull a specific line without parsing the full report.

ipconfig | findstr /C:"IPv4 Address"

Output:

   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100

rem Default gateway only
ipconfig | findstr /C:"Default Gateway"

Output:

   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Saving output to a file#

Redirect ipconfig /all to a file for a network inventory or support ticket.

ipconfig /all > C:\Audit\netconfig_%COMPUTERNAME%.txt
echo Saved.

Output:

Saved.

IPv6 operations#

ipconfig has dedicated switches for IPv6 DHCP — /release6, /renew6 — that mirror their IPv4 counterparts. They are necessary on dual-stack networks because the v4 and v6 leases are issued by independent DHCP services (DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 / SLAAC).

ipconfig /release6 "Ethernet"
ipconfig /renew6 "Ethernet"

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:
   ...
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:db8::abcd
   ...

Inspecting just the IPv6 picture:

Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv6 |
    Where-Object { $_.SuffixOrigin -ne 'Link' } |
    Select-Object InterfaceAlias, IPAddress, PrefixOrigin, ValidLifetime

Output:

InterfaceAlias IPAddress              PrefixOrigin   ValidLifetime
-------------- ---------              ------------   -------------
Ethernet       2001:db8::abcd         RouterAdv      29.23:59:42
Ethernet       fd12:3456:789a::5      Dhcp           7.00:00:00

All compartments#

/allcompartments shows every network compartment on the machine — each VPN, container, or Hyper-V network gets its own compartment with isolated routing tables. Without /allcompartments, ipconfig only shows the default (compartment 1).

ipconfig /allcompartments /all

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

==============================================================================
Network Information for *Compartment 1*
==============================================================================
   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : MYHOST
   ...

==============================================================================
Network Information for *Compartment 2*
==============================================================================
   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : MYHOST
   ...

DNS class IDs#

DHCP class IDs allow a DHCP server to hand out different options to different classes of client (e.g. printers vs laptops). /showclassid lists the class IDs currently set on an adapter; /setclassid registers a new one.

ipconfig /showclassid "Ethernet"

Output:

DHCP Class ID for Adapter "Ethernet":

   DHCP ClassID Name        :  Default Routing and Remote Access Class
   DHCP ClassID Description :  User class for remote access clients

rem Set a custom DHCP class ID — used by some enterprise DHCP scopes
ipconfig /setclassid "Ethernet" KIOSK_CLASS

Output:

DHCP ClassId successfully modified for adapter "Ethernet"

PowerShell equivalents#

The NetTCPIP and NetAdapter PowerShell modules supersede ipconfig on Windows 8+/Server 2012+. They return structured objects, integrate with the pipeline, and expose every setting that ipconfig shows plus many it does not (RDNSS, MTU, link-local zones, prefix policies).

Get-NetIPConfiguration is the closest one-shot equivalent of ipconfig — it composes adapter, address, gateway, and DNS info into a single view.

Get-NetIPConfiguration -Detailed

Output:

InterfaceAlias       : Ethernet
InterfaceIndex       : 12
InterfaceDescription : Intel(R) Ethernet Connection
NetAdapter.Status    : Up
NetProfile.Name      : corp.example.com
IPv4Address          : 192.168.1.100
IPv6Address          : 2001:db8::abcd
IPv4DefaultGateway   : 192.168.1.1
DNSServer            : 8.8.8.8
                       8.8.4.4

Individual building blocks for finer-grained queries:

Get-NetAdapter -Physical | Select-Object Name, Status, LinkSpeed, MacAddress
Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 | Select-Object InterfaceAlias, IPAddress, PrefixLength
Get-NetRoute -AddressFamily IPv4 -DestinationPrefix 0.0.0.0/0
Get-DnsClientServerAddress -AddressFamily IPv4

Output:

Name      Status  LinkSpeed   MacAddress
----      ------  ---------   ----------
Ethernet  Up      1 Gbps      00-1A-2B-3C-4D-5E

InterfaceAlias   IPAddress       PrefixLength
--------------   ---------       ------------
Ethernet         192.168.1.100   24

ifIndex DestinationPrefix    NextHop        RouteMetric
------- -----------------    -------        -----------
12      0.0.0.0/0            192.168.1.1    25

InterfaceAlias  AddressFamily  ServerAddresses
--------------  -------------  ---------------
Ethernet        IPv4           {8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4}

DHCP lease via PowerShell#

Get-DhcpClientV4Lease (on a DHCP-configured adapter) gives the same lease detail as ipconfig /all in object form, plus the lease state machine. Invoke-DhcpClientV4Renew is the structured equivalent of ipconfig /renew.

Get-DhcpClientV4Lease | Format-List

Output:

InterfaceAlias  : Ethernet
IPAddress       : 192.168.1.100
SubnetMask      : 255.255.255.0
DhcpServer      : 192.168.1.1
T1Expiration    : 5/25/2026 6:00:00 AM
T2Expiration    : 5/25/2026 9:00:00 AM
LeaseExpiration : 5/25/2026 12:00:00 PM
State           : Bound

Static configuration via PowerShell (replacement for netsh interface ip set address):

New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceAlias 'Ethernet' `
    -IPAddress 192.168.1.50 `
    -PrefixLength 24 `
    -DefaultGateway 192.168.1.1
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias 'Ethernet' -ServerAddresses 8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4

Output:

IPAddress         : 192.168.1.50
InterfaceIndex    : 12
InterfaceAlias    : Ethernet
AddressFamily     : IPv4
Type              : Unicast
PrefixLength      : 24
PrefixOrigin      : Manual
SuffixOrigin      : Manual
AddressState      : Tentative

Revert to DHCP:

Set-NetIPInterface -InterfaceAlias 'Ethernet' -Dhcp Enabled
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias 'Ethernet' -ResetServerAddresses
Restart-NetAdapter -Name 'Ethernet'

Output:

(none — adapter restarts and pulls DHCP lease)

Output parsing#

Parsing the human-readable ipconfig output is brittle (localized strings, line wrapping). For automation, prefer PowerShell objects. When stuck with ipconfig text, anchor on the : separator and trim dots.

ipconfig | Select-String -Pattern 'IPv4 Address' |
    ForEach-Object { ($_ -split ':')[-1].Trim() }

Output:

192.168.1.100

A fully-parsed approach when you genuinely cannot use PowerShell:

@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f "tokens=2 delims=:" %%I in ('ipconfig ^| findstr /C:"IPv4 Address"') do (
    set IP=%%I
    set IP=!IP: =!
    echo IPv4: !IP!
)

Output:

IPv4: 192.168.1.100

Common pitfalls#

/release drops connectivity — releasing DHCP on a remote session cuts the connection; always have a backup access path before releasing on a remote machine.
Loopback adapter clutter — ipconfig lists every virtual adapter including Hyper-V, WSL, and VPN adapters; use findstr /C:"IPv4" to filter signal from noise.
/flushdns requires elevation on some versions — run from an elevated cmd.exe if it reports access denied.
/registerdns may not take effect immediately — DNS propagation can take up to 15 minutes; check the Event Viewer for errors.
APIPA addresses (169.254.x.x) — an APIPA address means DHCP failed; check the DHCP server, cable, or VLAN configuration rather than re-running ipconfig /renew in a loop.
Localized output — on non-English Windows the field labels are translated (e.g. Adresse IPv4); scripts relying on findstr /C:"IPv4 Address" break. Prefer PowerShell on multilingual fleets.
/displaydns shows the DNS Client cache only — entries cached at the application layer (browser, Java JVM, Node DNS) are not visible; restarting the app may still hit a stale lookup.
DNS Client service disabled — if the Dnscache service is stopped, /flushdns and /displaydns both report “Could not display the DNS Resolver Cache”; restart with sc start dnscache.
Loopback 127.x.x.x and APIPA show as Preferred — ipconfig /all marks every active address as Preferred whether it’s reachable or not; don’t infer connectivity from the label alone.
VPN adapters reorder — ipconfig lists adapters in interface metric order; a freshly connected VPN can shuffle the output and confuse scripts that hard-code position.
24H2 WcmSvc/DNS startup regression — under specific driver combinations Windows 11 24H2 has shipped builds where WcmSvc / Dnscache / WLAN AutoConfig fail to start, surfacing as event 7001 and the “some settings are managed by your organization” banner. ipconfig /all will show an APIPA address and no DNS servers; restart the Dnscache service or apply the latest 2026 cumulative update to clear it.
ipconfig does not reveal DoH state — even with Windows 11 24H2 sending queries over HTTPS, /all still prints the resolver as 8.8.8.8 with no marker that traffic is encrypted; use Get-DnsClientDohServerAddress or netsh dns show encryption to confirm.

Real-world recipes#

Quick connectivity diagnostic#

@echo off
echo --- IP ---
ipconfig | findstr /C:"IPv4 Address"
echo --- Gateway ---
ipconfig | findstr /C:"Default Gateway"
echo --- DNS ---
ipconfig /all | findstr /C:"DNS Servers"

Output:

--- IP ---
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
--- Gateway ---
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
--- DNS ---
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8

Reset network adapter (release + flush + renew)#

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew
echo Network reset complete.

Output:

...
Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.
...
Network reset complete.

Capture network info for a support ticket#

(
    echo ===== ipconfig /all =====
    ipconfig /all
    echo.
    echo ===== DNS cache =====
    ipconfig /displaydns
) > %TEMP%\net_%COMPUTERNAME%.txt
echo Report saved to %TEMP%\net_%COMPUTERNAME%.txt

Output:

Report saved to C:\Users\alicedev\AppData\Local\Temp\net_MYHOST.txt

Wait for a DHCP lease to come up#

A common provisioning step is to wait until DHCP hands out a real IP (not APIPA) before continuing. Polling ipconfig from a batch script keeps the boot script linear.

@echo off
:waitdhcp
ipconfig | findstr /C:"169.254" >nul && (
    echo Waiting for DHCP lease...
    timeout /t 5 /nobreak >nul
    goto waitdhcp
)
echo DHCP lease acquired.
ipconfig | findstr /C:"IPv4 Address"

Output:

Waiting for DHCP lease...
Waiting for DHCP lease...
DHCP lease acquired.
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.50

PowerShell — connectivity health check#

A one-liner version of the diagnostic recipe above, but returning structured data fit for Export-Csv, JSON, or a monitoring agent.

Get-NetIPConfiguration | ForEach-Object {
    [PSCustomObject]@{
        Interface = $_.InterfaceAlias
        IPv4      = $_.IPv4Address.IPAddress
        Gateway   = $_.IPv4DefaultGateway.NextHop
        DNS       = ($_.DNSServer | Where-Object AddressFamily -eq 2).ServerAddresses -join ','
        Profile   = $_.NetProfile.Name
    }
} | Format-Table -AutoSize

Output:

Interface  IPv4           Gateway      DNS                Profile
---------  ----           -------      ---                -------
Ethernet   192.168.1.100  192.168.1.1  8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4    corp.example.com
Wi-Fi

Flush DNS + clear connection cache + re-register#

When troubleshooting DNS-related outages, do all four invalidations in sequence rather than one at a time.

ipconfig /flushdns
Clear-DnsClientCache
Clear-DnsServerCache -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue  # only on servers
ipconfig /registerdns

Output:

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Windows IP Configuration

Registration of the DNS resource records for all adapters of this computer has been initiated. Any errors will be reported in the Event Viewer in 15 minutes.

Discover what’s on a NIC with no IP#

When ipconfig shows Media disconnected but the cable looks plugged in, dig into the adapter state.

$nic = 'Ethernet'
Get-NetAdapter -Name $nic | Format-List Name, Status, MediaConnectionState, LinkSpeed, MtuSize, DriverDescription
Get-NetAdapterStatistics -Name $nic | Format-List ReceivedBytes, SentBytes, ReceivedDiscardedPackets

Output:

Name                  : Ethernet
Status                : Disconnected
MediaConnectionState  : Disconnected
LinkSpeed             : 0 bps
MtuSize               : 1500
DriverDescription     : Intel(R) Ethernet Connection

ReceivedBytes            : 0
SentBytes                : 0
ReceivedDiscardedPackets : 0

Zero bytes plus Disconnected confirms a Layer-1 problem (cable, switch port, NIC hardware) — no amount of ipconfig /renew will help.

Tool	Purpose
`Get-NetIPConfiguration`	Modern PowerShell replacement (recommended)
`Get-NetAdapter`	Adapter status, MAC, link speed
`Get-NetIPAddress`	Per-address detail
`Get-NetRoute`	Routing table
`Get-DnsClientServerAddress`	Per-adapter DNS servers
`Get-DnsClientCache`	DNS resolver cache as objects (replaces `/displaydns`)
`netsh interface ip`	Static IP configuration (write side)
`getmac`	MAC address only — much shorter output
`route print`	Routing table only
`arp -a`	MAC ↔ IP cache (other machines)

Sources#

Microsoft Learn — ipconfig — official syntax reference.
Microsoft Learn — Get-DnsClientDohServerAddress — PowerShell view of the DoH registration list.
Microsoft Learn — DNS-over-HTTPS client support on Windows — covers Auto/Required modes shipped in 24H2.
Microsoft Q&A — Windows 11 24H2 network access regression — documented WcmSvc/Dnscache failure pattern referenced in pitfalls.

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ipconfig — IP Configuration#

What it is#

Availability#

Syntax#

Essential options#

Basic output#

Full details (/all)#

Releasing and renewing DHCP leases#

DNS cache operations#

DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) on Windows 11#

Extracting just the IPv4 address with findstr#

Saving output to a file#

IPv6 operations#

All compartments#

DNS class IDs#

PowerShell equivalents#

DHCP lease via PowerShell#

Output parsing#

Common pitfalls#

Real-world recipes#

Quick connectivity diagnostic#

Reset network adapter (release + flush + renew)#

Capture network info for a support ticket#

Wait for a DHCP lease to come up#

PowerShell — connectivity health check#

Flush DNS + clear connection cache + re-register#

Discover what’s on a NIC with no IP#

Related references#

Sources#