Developer(s) | Microsoft, ReactOS Contributors, Apple Inc. |
---|---|
Written in | C |
Operating system | Windows, ReactOS, macOS |
Platform | Cross-platform |
Type | Command |
License | Windows:
Proprietary
commercial software ReactOS: GPLv2 |
ipconfig
(standing for "
Internet Protocol configuration") is a
console application program of some computer
operating systems that displays all current
TCP/IP network configuration values and refreshes
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and
Domain Name System (DNS) settings.
[1] IPCONFIG
The command is available in Microsoft Windows, ReactOS, and in Apple macOS. The ReactOS version was developed by Ged Murphy and is licensed under the GPL. [2]
The ipconfig
command supports the
command-line switch /all
. This results in more detailed information than ipconfig
alone.
An important additional feature of ipconfig
is to force refreshing of the DHCP IP address of the host computer to request a different IP address. This is done using two commands in sequence. First, ipconfig /release
is executed to force the client to immediately give up its lease by sending the server a DHCP release notification which updates the server's status information and marks the old client's IP address as "available". Then, the command ipconfig /renew
is executed to request a new IP address.
[3]
[4] Where a computer is connected to a cable or DSL modem, it may have to be plugged directly into the modem network port to bypass the router, before using ipconfig /release
and turning off the power for a period of time, to ensure that the old IP address is taken by another computer.
[5]
The /flushdns
parameter can be used to clear the Domain Name System (DNS)
[6] cache to ensure future requests use fresh DNS information by forcing hostnames to be resolved again from scratch.
[7]
ipconfig
in
Mac OS X serves as a wrapper to the IPConfiguration agent, and can be used to control the
Bootstrap Protocol and DHCP client from the command-line interface.
[8] For example, you can release and renew an IP address if it happened to be assigned incorrectly by the DHCP server during the automated assignment process.
[9] Like most
Unix-based operating systems, Mac OS X also uses
ifconfig
for more direct control over network interfaces, such as configuring static IP addresses. The Ifconfig command in Linux has been replaced by the IP command