Use Pathping to locate a fault between a device and IP address or URL

Pathping is a Windows command used via the command prompt to trace routes.

This helps to locate problems between a device and an IP address or URL and provides more information than a standard Windows tracert command. You can use Pathping to locate a fault, as it tests connectivity between two IP hosts and sends multiple requests, whereas a tracert only sends a single packet. This helps to determine at which hop packet loss is occurring and whether it is intermittent.

To start a pathping just open a command prompt and type pathping followed by an address e.g. pathping www.google.com or pathping {IP address}

The trace will begin and once complete it will load the statistics for all the hops as below:

Computing statistics for 50 seconds…

Hop       RTT     Source to Here                 This Node/Link                 Address

                             Lost/Sent=pct                   Lost/Sent=pct

0                                                                                                                              Initial Device

1              0ms        0/100 = 0%                          0/100 = 0%                          ‘Address of hop’

2              0ms        0/100 = 0%                          0/100 = 0%                          ‘Address of hop’

3              0ms        100/100 = 100%                 100/100 = 100%                  ‘Address of hop’

When looking at the statistics you are able to see at which hop the packet loss is occurring, showing where the issue lies.  In this instance, the packet loss is occurring at hop 3.

Now that you know how to use Pathping to locate a fault between a device and IP address or URL, browse our archive for more useful support articles.