tracert

tracert

Command: tracert <destination>

Category: Network

Type: CMD

Purpose

Traces the route that packets take from your computer to a destination host on the internet or local network. It shows each hop (router) along the path, how long each hop takes, and helps identify where network delays or failures occur.

Quick Summary

See the complete path your data takes across the internet. Tracert shows every router your packets pass through, the time for each hop, and where problems occur. Essential for diagnosing slow connections, identifying network bottlenecks, and troubleshooting routing issues.

How to Use

Basic usage:

tracert google.com
tracert 8.8.8.8

1. Open Command Prompt (no admin rights required).
2. Type tracert followed by a domain name or IP address.
3. Press Enter and wait for the trace to complete (may take 30-60 seconds).

Common options:

• tracert -d google.com - Don't resolve IP addresses to hostnames (faster)
• tracert -h 15 google.com - Set maximum hops (default is 30)
• tracert -w 2000 google.com - Set timeout in milliseconds (default 4000ms)

Tips and Best Practices

• Use -d parameter for faster results without hostname resolution.
• Asterisks (*) indicate timeouts, not necessarily failures (some routers don't respond to traceroute).
• High latency at early hops affects all subsequent hops.
• Compare traces to multiple destinations to isolate problems.
• Run multiple times to account for route changes and temporary issues.
• Combine with ping to determine if delays are consistent or intermittent.
• Save output for comparison: tracert google.com > trace.txt

Common Use Cases

• Slow internet connection: Identify where delays occur in the network path.
• Website not loading: Determine if the destination is unreachable and where the break occurs.
• Network diagnostics: Troubleshoot routing problems between your network and destination.
• ISP issues: Identify if problems are within your ISP's network.
• VPN troubleshooting: See how VPN affects routing paths.
• Gaming lag: Identify high-latency hops affecting game performance.
• Network planning: Understand typical routes to important destinations.

Prerequisites

• Windows Command Prompt or PowerShell
• No administrator rights required
• Internet or network connectivity
• Available on all Windows versions
• ICMP packets must not be blocked by firewalls (common issue)

Understanding the Output

Example output:

Tracing route to google.com [142.250.185.46]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2    10 ms     9 ms    10 ms  10.100.0.1
  3    15 ms    16 ms    15 ms  203.0.113.1
  4    25 ms    26 ms    24 ms  198.51.100.1
  5    30 ms    28 ms    29 ms  142.250.185.46

Columns explained:

• Hop number: Position in route (1 is your router, increasing numbers are farther away)
• Three time values: Round-trip time for three test packets (in milliseconds)
• IP address or hostname: Router or gateway at this hop

Special indicators:

• * * * - Request timed out (router didn't respond or filtered ICMP)
• Destination host unreachable - Can't reach destination
• Request timed out - No response from a hop
• High times (>100ms) - Potential latency issue at that hop

Troubleshooting

• All asterisks (*) after certain hop - Firewall blocking ICMP, or routers configured not to respond (not always a problem).
• Very slow trace - Use -d to skip DNS lookups: tracert -d destination
• "Unable to resolve target system name" - Check destination address spelling; try IP instead of hostname.
• Times inconsistent across runs - Normal for internet; routes and congestion change.
• High latency at specific hop - Problem may be at that router or network segment.
• "Destination net unreachable" - Routing problem; destination network can't be reached.

Interpreting Results

Healthy trace:

• Consistent, low times (<50ms for domestic, <150ms international)
• All hops respond (or few skipped hops)
• Destination reached successfully

Problems indicated by:

• Sudden spike in latency - Problem at or near that hop
• All hops timeout after specific point - Blockage or filtering at that hop
• Increasing latency - Each hop adds delay (normal up to a point)
• Timeout at destination only - Host may be down or blocking ICMP

Example problem:

1    1 ms     1 ms     1 ms   192.168.1.1
2    10 ms    10 ms    10 ms  10.0.0.1
3    200 ms   198 ms   205 ms  isp-router.net   <- Problem here
4    201 ms   199 ms   203 ms  backbone.net

Hop 3 shows high latency; all subsequent hops inherit this delay.

Common Parameters

• -d - Don't resolve addresses to hostnames (faster)
• -h maximum_hops - Maximum number of hops (default 30)
• -w timeout - Timeout in milliseconds for each reply (default 4000)
• -4 - Force IPv4
• -6 - Force IPv6

Examples:

tracert -d -h 15 google.com  (faster, only 15 hops)
tracert -w 1000 8.8.8.8      (1 second timeout)
tracert -6 google.com        (force IPv6)

Comparing Routes

Compare to different destinations:

tracert google.com
tracert cloudflare.com
tracert microsoft.com

If one is slow but others are fast, problem is likely near the slow destination.

Compare over time: Run tracert multiple times to see if route changes or if delays are consistent.

Linux/Mac Equivalent

On Linux or Mac, the command is traceroute (not tracert):

traceroute google.com

Syntax and output are similar but not identical.

Advanced Usage

Continuous monitoring: Use batch script to run tracert repeatedly:

@echo off
:loop
tracert google.com >> trace-log.txt
echo --- %date% %time% --- >> trace-log.txt
timeout /t 300
goto loop

Save with timestamp:

tracert google.com > trace-%date:/=-%_%time::=-%.txt

When Tracert Can't Help

Tracert won't solve:

• Application-specific issues
• DNS problems (use nslookup instead)
• Bandwidth saturation (use iperf or similar)
• Local network configuration issues
• Firewall or security software blocking

Related Tools

• ping - Test connectivity and latency to single destination
• pathping - Combination of ping and tracert with statistics
• nslookup - Query DNS to resolve hostnames
• netstat - Display active network connections
• ipconfig - Display network configuration
• mtr (Linux/third-party) - Continuous traceroute with statistics
• Online traceroute tools - Test from different locations worldwide