Windows 7 / Networking

---

Table-1 Network Troubleshooting Tools

Table-1 lists the most important tools for troubleshooting network problems.

Tool	Purpose	Membership Required	Description
Arp	Displays and clears the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache, which affects communications with hosts on the local network.	Users or Administrators, depending on the commands used	Operating system, command line
IPConfig	Displays network configuration information about the local computer, requests new dynamically assigned IP addresses, manages the Domain Name System (DNS) client resolver cache, and registers new DNS records.	Users or Administrators, depending on the commands used	Operating system, command line
Nblookup	Tests Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) name resolution	Users	Free download, command line
Nbtstat	Displays and clears network basic input/output system (NetBIOS) names.	Users	Operating system, command line
Net	Displays information about shared resources and connects to shared resources.	Users	Operating system, command line
Netsh	Views and modifies network configuration settings.	Users or Administrators, depending on the commands used	Operating system, command line
Netstat	Displays detailed information about open connections	User	Operating system, command line
Network Monitor	Captures and displays network traffic sent to and from the local computer.	Administrators	Free download, graphical user interface (GUI)
Nslookup	Diagnoses DNS name resolution problems.	Userrs	Operating system, command line
PathPing	Diagnoses network connectivity, routing, and performance problems.	Users	Operating system, command line
Performance Monitor	Displays detailed information about hundreds of network performance counters.	Administrators	Operating system, GUI
PortQry	Identifies the availability of network services from a client that has the tool installed.	Users	Free download, command line
Resource Monitor	Displays information about network utilization.	Administrators	Operating system, GUI
Route	Displays and modifies the local computer's IP routing tables, which is primarily useful when multiple gateways are on the local network.	Users or Administrators, depending on the commands used	Operating system, command line
Task Manager	Quickly determines current network utilization, identifies processes that are using the network, and identifies processes that are consuming processor time.	Users or Administrators, depending on the commands used	Operating system, GUI
Telnet Client	Identifies the availability of network services from a client that does not have PortQry installed. This tool is an optional feature and is not installed by default.	Users	Operating System, command line
Test TCP	Tests TCP connectivity between two computers.	Users	Operating System, command line
Windows Network Diagnostics	Automatically diagnoses some network problems and provides a user-friendly interface for resolving them.	Users	Operating System, GUI

Note In Windows 7, troubleshooting IPv6 is identical to troubleshooting IPv4. Most of the same tools work, including Ping, PathPing, Nslookup, IPConfig, Route, Netstat, Tracert, and Netsh. To use them, simply specify IPv6 addresses instead of IPv4 addresses. Unfortunately, PortQry does not currently support IPv6. However, you can use Telnet instead. Additionally, you cannot use the Route tool to add or delete IPv6 addresses. Instead, you should use the netsh interface ipv6 add route and netsh interface ipv6 delete route commands.