IPCONFIG or WINIPCFG

Most versions of Windows support both static IP addressing and dynamic IP addressing. Finding your IP address if you are using static addressing is as simple as opening the properties window for TCP/IP. If you are using dynamic IP addressing, you can find your IP address using the command prompt.

There are two commands available that will give you IP addressing information: ipconfig and winipcfg. The command that you use will depend on the version of Windows that you are running. If you are running Windows 2000 or later, you use the IPCONFIG command. If you are running a version of Windows earlier than Windows 2000, you can use the WINIPCFG command.

So let’s take a look at a quick example using Windows 98. To view the IP parameters assigned to your computer by a DHCP server, click Start, click Run, type cmd and click Ok. From the command prompt window, type winipcfg. For more detailed information use the winipcfg command with the /all parameter. If you are running Windows 2000 and later, you can use the same steps to view the IP configuration but use the ipconfig command instead.