The command shell in Windows can be used to find your IP, refresh your IP or to find your MAC address.
NOTE: See the article on interpreting the IP addresses to determine what the IP address indicates.
Instructions to launch the command shell in Windows XP
1. Press start and select “Run…”
2. Type in “cmd” and hit “Enter” or “OK”
3. The black Command Shell window will appear. Type “ipconfig” and hit enter.
4. You will be given information, in this case I am connected to the UVM network with a 132.198 IP address.
5. Sometimes you may need to refresh the connection if you should have one but do not. To do this type in “ipconfig /release” and hit Enter
6. This will give a display to show that all connections have been cut. If there was no connection to begin with, it may say something to that effect.
7. To reconnect to the network, type: “ipconfig /renew” and hit Enter
8. If all is successsful, you will get a valid IP address and be shown the connection
9. If a MAC address is required, the ipconfig /all command can be used. This will bring up a list of network adapters and the corresponding
MAC/Physical Address.