MS-DOS and Windows command line tracert command

Updated: 06/07/2019 by Computer Hope

The tracert command is used to see a network packet being sent and received, as well as the number hops required for that packet to get to its destination. Users with Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP who need additional network latency and loss information should also consider using the pathping command.

Availability
Tracert syntax
Tracert examples

Availability

Tracert is an external command that is available for the following Microsoft operating systems as tracert.exe.

Windows Vista, 7, and 8 syntax

tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j host-list] [-w timeout] [-R] [-S srcaddr] [-4] [-6] target_name

Options

-d	Do not resolve addresses to hostnames.
-h maximum_hops	Maximum number of hops to search for the target.
-j host-list	Loose source route along host-list (IPv4-only).
-w timeout	Wait timeout in milliseconds for each reply.
-R	Trace round-trip path (IPv6-only).
-S srcaddr	Specifies the source address to use (IPv6-only).
-4	Force using IPv4.
-6	Force using IPv6.

Windows XP and lower syntax

tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j host-list] [-w timeout] target_name

Options

-d	Do not resolve addresses to hostnames.
-h maximum_hops	Maximum number of hops to search for the target.
-j host-list	Loose source route along host-list.
-w timeout	Wait timeout in milliseconds for each reply.

Tracert examples

Below is an example of the result when we used the tracert command on www.computerhope.com. As you can see, the packet had very few hops and short reply times on its way to its destination due to our close location.

tracert computerhope.com

1	169 ms	190 ms	160 ms	slc1-tc.xmission.com [166.70.1.20]
2	159 ms	160 ms	190 ms	cisco0-tc.xmission.com [166.70.1.1]
3	165 ms	189 ms	159 ms	www.computerhope.com [166.70.10.23]

Additional information

See our trace definition for further information and related links on this term.