General Network Troubleshooting Tools (Ping, Traceroute)

GENERAL NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING TOOLS

(Ping, Traceroute, PathPing, and PowerShell)

When troubleshooting network connectivity issues between your computer and a remote host (such as a WinHost server), several built-in tools can help determine where a problem may exist. This article covers the most commonly used tools on modern Windows systems.

Purpose:

Ping tests whether a remote host is reachable and measures basic network latency using ICMP echo requests.

How to run:

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
   • Press the Windows key, type "cmd" or "PowerShell", and press Enter.
2. Run the command:
   ping example.com
3. Press Enter.

Optional: Run multiple pings and save output to a file:
ping example.com -n 100 > ping_results.txt

What to look for:

• Successful replies indicate basic connectivity.
• Timeouts or packet loss may indicate routing issues, firewall blocks, or an unreachable host.
• Some servers may block ICMP traffic, which can cause ping to fail even if the site is online.

Purpose:

Traceroute (tracert in Windows) shows each network hop between your computer and the destination. This helps identify where latency or packet loss occurs.

How to run:

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.
2. Run:
   tracert example.com
3. Press Enter.

Output explanation:

• Each numbered line represents a hop.
• High latency or timeouts at a specific hop may indicate network congestion or routing problems.
• The final hop should resolve to the destination server.

Purpose:

PathPing combines ping and traceroute functionality. It analyzes packet loss and latency across the entire route.

How to run:

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.
2. Run:
   pathping example.com
3. Press Enter.

Notes:

• PathPing can take several minutes to complete.
• The final summary provides packet loss statistics per hop.
• This tool is useful for diagnosing intermittent or performance-related issues.

Modern versions of Windows include PowerShell networking cmdlets that provide richer diagnostics than traditional tools.

4a. TEST-NETCONNECTION – RECOMMENDED TOOL

Purpose:

Test-NetConnection is an all-in-one PowerShell command that can:

• Test basic connectivity (ping-like)
• Resolve DNS
• Test TCP ports
• Perform traceroute diagnostics

How to run:

1. Open PowerShell (Run as Administrator if possible).
2. Basic connectivity test:
   Test-NetConnection example.com
3. Detailed diagnostics:
   Test-NetConnection example.com -InformationLevel Detailed

4b. TESTING A SPECIFIC PORT

To test whether a specific TCP port is reachable (for example, HTTPS on port 443):

Test-NetConnection example.com -Port 1433

This is useful for diagnosing issues with SMTP, FTP, HTTPS, database connections, or custom application ports.

4c. TRACEROUTE USING POWERSHELL

To perform a traceroute using PowerShell:

Test-NetConnection example.com -TraceRoute

This produces hop-by-hop route information similar to tracert.

If support requests test results, redirect output to a file:

Command Prompt example:
ping example.com -n 50 > ping.txt

PowerShell example:
Test-NetConnection example.com -InformationLevel Detailed > nettest.txt

Attach the resulting text file to your support ticket.