In fact, the most advanced users of the Redmond operating system make use of this same CMD on many occasions to get the most out of windows. And it is that this will not only be of enormous help when it comes to solving problems with the Internet connectionbut it goes much further. If we regularly use CMD and we do not want to go with the right mouse button continuously to run it with administrator permissions to be able to make changes to the computer, we can access the properties of this command, click on the Shortcut tab and then on Advanced Options to check the Run as Administrator box. The next time we run it, CMD will open with these permissions automatically.
Commands to check the connection
Next, we will talk about some of the most important and useful commands that we can use here for these tasks that we are discussing. These commands that we will talk about will help us to be able to work in the best way with the connectivity of the PC.
Ipconfig, know everything about the network card
The command ipconfig It is one that any user should know. This command helps us to quickly see all the network cards installed on the computer (both physical and virtual) and the configuration of each of them. Very useful, for example, to find out the IP of our computer very easily.
To use this command, we simply have to write the following:
ipconfig
We will be able to see all the logical information of the network cards of our PC. In case you want to obtain more detailed information (such as the MAC of the Windows network card), then the command that we must execute is:
ipconfig /all
A useful command to solve DNS-related problems, and it never hurts to know, is:
ipconfig /flushdns
As you can see first hand, this is a very complete command to know in detail many of the technical sections of our network connection. In fact, ipconfig could be considered one of the most used commands in these environments. Of course, perhaps a little more complicated is being able to interpret, correctly and accurately, all the information that we are going to find on the screen here. To this we must add that we should also know the best way to take advantage of all this.
If we are having problems with our network connection, through the ipconfig command we can reset the operation of our network card, either ethernet or via Wi-Fi and, automatically, our equipment will request a new IP address from the router to which connect. To perform this action, we must accompany the ipconfig command with the renew parameter
ipconfig /renew
Getmac, know the MAC of our PC
It is not widely known or used, but if you want to know the MAC of any PC, this command can help you save time. The MAC of the equipment is used to limit network connections, so that if the physical address of the network component with which we try to connect is not included in the router, we will never be able to connect. Instead of seeing all the information that ipconfig shows us, the command getmac It basically focuses on showing us only the physical address, or MAC, of all the network cards connected to the PC.
We can also know the MAC address of the network elements connected to our equipment through the ipconfig /all command. The MAC number of each device will be shown in the details of each available connection (Ethernet or Wi-Fi) in the section Physical address.
Ping, check if we are connected to the Internet
Internet not working or slow? Is this website down? Are we correctly connected to the network? Or is it our DNS that is causing problems? Surely we have ever asked ourselves these questions. And luckily, they are very easy to solve.
The command “ping” It allows us to very easily check the status of our connection and, if we have problems, even identify the cause in a matter of seconds. This command focuses on sending ICMP data packets to a server that we indicate and measuring the response time until this server responds.
For example, to see if our Internet connection is working we can execute the command:
ping www.google.es
CMD will indicate that there is a connection to the server, and it will also show us the response time that has taken since we have sent the package until we have received a response. A very high ping time can be a sign that something is wrong (for example, that we have a bad Wi-Fi signal).
In case the server does not respond, it may be that the problem is in our DNS. And to find out, it is enough to ping any IP. For example, that of Google’s DNS:
ping 8.8.8.8
Since we are entering the IP manually (8.8.8.8), the ICMP packet does not have to go to the DNS, making sure that this is not responsible for the problem.
Tracert, find out where the problem is
We may be connected to the Internet but, for some reason, the connection is not working correctly. And in that case it is difficult to know if it is our problem or that of some intermediate point in the network. It can also happen that the ping is triggered when we try to connect to a server. And in that case, we must find out where exactly it is triggered in order to solve it.
The command tracert traces a route from our PC to the destination server and shows us each and every one of the hops that the connection makes. In this way we can find out where our connection is cut or which is the point where the most ping is added.
tracert www.google.es
If we want to get more information about the trace, then the command we need to know is pathping. This command is, roughly speaking, a vitaminized version of tracert, which will take longer to complete but, in return, will show us more complete and detailed information.
pathping www.google.es
netstat: check all open connections
A little more advanced than the previous ones, the NETSTAT command is one of the essentials when it comes to controlling, analyzing and diagnosing a network. This command allows us to know all the connections that are open on our PC, both local and remote.
netstat
Open connections are not always active, but they do help us see which connections are open waiting to send or receive traffic across the Internet. If we use P2P programs, for example, the active connections skyrocket, and it is one of the reasons why the Internet connection is usually slow, because the PC is not capable of managing all of them at the same time. Therefore, if we are regular users of P2P networks and their corresponding clients to download files in torrent format, perhaps this command can be very helpful.
nslookup: check your DNS
If we have doubts about whether our DNS is working correctly, then the command we must execute is nslookup. This command for CMD will allow us to find out if the DNS server we have configured is correctly translating the URLs to their corresponding IP addresses.
If we execute the “nslookup” command in a CMD window as it is, we will be able to translate all the domains we want into their corresponding IP addresses.
Route: Modify routing tables
This command is very useful for system administrators since it allows us to see and modify the device’s route table. Thanks to it, we will be able to have much more control over the operation of the network on our computer, being able to solve possible problems with wrong routes.
ARP: to find out who is on the network
From a Windows command prompt window we can carry out a multitude of tasks using all kinds of commands. If we focus on the connectivity and network of our equipment, another of the very useful orders is ARP. Basically this is a command that focuses on letting us know in the first instance the equipment that is operating in the network in which we are.
In the event that we type only the command as such, the screen shows us the options that we can execute, as usual. Perhaps the one that interests us the most in this case is the -a parameter that shows us the connected devices with their corresponding addresses. PI and MAV. In this way we will obtain a complete list to see the equipment connected to our same network with its own information. All this will allow us to interact with them through other commands.
nbtstat: get TCP/IP statistics
Another command designed for advanced users who need to have much more exhaustive control over the network. The nbtstat command allows us to see the statistics of the TCP/IP protocol, as well as all the current connections that are established. To do this, it makes use of the NetBIOS protocol executed over TCP/IP. This command will be extremely useful to all those who want to know first-hand specific data of their connection from CMD. In addition, the parameters that we can use here, as it happens in many of the commands seen in these lines, ostensibly increase its functionality.
How to fix connection problems
With the previous commands we will surely have identified the problem for which we do not have Internet, or the connection is working badly. But how do we solve it?
Depending on the problem we have, we will surely have to proceed with the solution in one way or another. The first thing will be Check that the cable is correctly connected to the PC and the router, or that the Wi-Fi connection, if we do it wirelessly, is well established. We must also make sure that the computer does not have a firewall, or firewall, that may be blocking the connection. If the problem occurs only in one application, the problem is not with the computer itself, but with the firewall that is blocking the application from accessing the Internet. There is also the possibility that it is the router that blocks access because the application wants to connect using a port that the router does not have open. The solution to this problem is to open the port from the router options.
Another troubleshooting tip is to check that the IP address is set correctly. This address must be on the same network as the router, and have the correct subnet mask set. We also need to make sure that the gateway points directly to the router, and that the DNS servers are correct and working.
If we do not know which IP to use or which is the subnet mask, we can let Windows take care of carrying out the process, modifying the Windows configuration so that it carries out the process automatically without us having to do anything else on our part. We just have to click on the drop-down box in the Edit IP configuration section and select Automatically. Finally, click on Save and wait a few seconds until Windows reconfigures the network connection of our computer.
There are times when problems do not come…
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