How to Use Tracert in Windows 11

When your Windows 11 computer can access the internet but a website or online service is slow, unreachable, or unstable, knowing whether the problem is on your PC, local network, ISP, or somewhere along the route can be difficult.

Windows 11 includes a built-in command called tracert that can help you investigate this type of problem. The command shows the network path between your computer and a destination by displaying the intermediate hops that packets encounter along the route.

Learn how to use Tracert in Windows 11 to trace network routes, identify intermediate hops, and troubleshoot connection problems.

In this guide, you will learn how to use tracert in Windows 11, how to read the results, what each hop means, how to use important tracert options, what * * * means, and how to use tracert together with Ping and other network troubleshooting commands.

If you are following our Windows 11 networking series, this article is a natural next step after learning how to reset TCP/IP. You can read How to Reset TCP/IP in Windows 11 before continuing with route diagnostics.

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What Is Tracert in Windows 11?

Tracert is a Windows command-line network diagnostic tool that traces the path from your computer to a specified destination.

It works by sending ICMP requests with progressively increasing Time to Live (TTL) values. As the TTL reaches zero at an intermediate router, that router can return an ICMP Time Exceeded message. Windows uses those responses to identify the routers along the path.

In simple terms, Ping helps answer:

“Can my computer reach this destination?”

Tracert helps answer:

“What route does my connection take to reach this destination?”

This makes tracert particularly useful when you suspect a problem somewhere between your computer and the destination server.

What Can Tracert Help You Diagnose?

Tracert can be useful when investigating:

• Slow connections to a specific website or server.
• Routing problems between your ISP and a destination.
• Unexpected network paths.
• Where latency begins to increase along a route.
• Connectivity problems involving remote servers.
• Problems that affect one destination but not another.
• Potential routing issues beyond your local network.

However, tracert should not be treated as a definitive tool for identifying every network problem. Some routers intentionally do not respond to traceroute probes, so missing responses do not automatically mean that the router or connection is broken.

How Tracert Works

Understanding the basic process makes the output much easier to interpret.

Suppose you run:

tracert example.com

Windows starts with a very low TTL value. The first packet uses a TTL of 1. The first router decreases the TTL and the packet expires, allowing Windows to identify that router.

Windows then increases the TTL and sends another packet. This allows the packet to travel through another router before expiring.

The process continues until the destination responds or the maximum number of hops is reached.

By default, Windows searches through a maximum of 30 hops.

How to Use Tracert in Windows 11

You do not normally need to install any additional software to use tracert. The command is included with Windows 11.

Step 1: Open Command Prompt

Press the Windows key and type:

Command Prompt

Open Command Prompt from the search results.

For a normal tracert test, administrator privileges are generally not required.

Step 2: Run a Basic Tracert Command

Type:

tracert example.com

Press Enter.

Windows will begin tracing the route to the destination.

Step 3: Wait for the Trace to Complete

Depending on the destination and network conditions, the command may take some time to finish.

Do not close Command Prompt while the test is running.

When Windows reaches the destination or reaches the maximum number of hops, it will display a completion message.

Example Tracert Command

You can trace the route to a domain such as Microsoft:

tracert microsoft.com

You can also trace an IP address:

tracert 8.8.8.8

The destination can therefore be specified using either a hostname or an IP address.

How to Read Tracert Results

A typical tracert result contains several columns.

For example:

Tracing route to example.com [93.184.216.34]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     2 ms     1 ms     2 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     8 ms     7 ms     9 ms  10.10.0.1
  3    15 ms    14 ms    16 ms  203.0.113.1
  4    22 ms    21 ms    23 ms  198.51.100.1
  5    35 ms    34 ms    36 ms  93.184.216.34

Trace complete.

The exact results will be different on every network. Do not expect your output to match this example.

Hop Number

The first column shows the hop number.

For example:

1
2
3
4
5

Each hop represents an intermediate network device or router encountered during the trace.

The first hop in a typical home network is often your local router or gateway.

Three Time Measurements

The three columns following the hop number show response times for the probes sent to that hop.

They are displayed in milliseconds.

For example:

  4    22 ms    21 ms    23 ms

This means the three probes received responses of approximately 22 ms, 21 ms, and 23 ms.

These values can help you identify where latency appears to increase, but a single high value does not automatically prove that the router or link is experiencing a persistent problem.

Hostname or IP Address

The final column normally displays the IP address of the router or device that responded.

If Windows can resolve the address to a hostname, you may see both the hostname and IP address.

For example:

router.example.net [203.0.113.1]

When reverse DNS resolution is unavailable, you may see only an IP address.

What Does * * * Mean in Tracert?

One of the most common questions about tracert is the meaning of:

*     *     *

This generally means Windows did not receive the expected response from that hop within the configured timeout.

There are several possible reasons:

• The router does not respond to traceroute probes.
• ICMP traffic is filtered or deprioritized.
• A firewall prevents the response from returning.
• The response took longer than the configured timeout.
• The network device intentionally hides itself.

A single row containing asterisks does not automatically mean your internet connection is broken.

If later hops respond normally and the destination is reached, the missing response may simply indicate that the intermediate router does not provide traceroute responses.

What If Every Hop Shows * * *?

If every hop shows asterisks and the trace never reaches the destination, investigate the problem further.

First check whether you have normal internet connectivity.

Run:

ping 1.1.1.1

Then test DNS resolution:

nslookup example.com

If both tests fail, the problem may be more general than traceroute filtering.

You can also check your IP configuration:

ipconfig /all

For more information, see our guides on How to Check IP Address in Windows 11 and How to Check DNS Settings in Windows 11.

How to Use tracert /d

By default, tracert may attempt to resolve the IP addresses of intermediate routers into hostnames.

You can disable these name-resolution attempts with the /d option.

tracert /d example.com

This can make the command return results faster because Windows does not need to perform reverse DNS lookups for each intermediate address.

The output will generally contain IP addresses rather than resolved hostnames.

How to Increase the Maximum Number of Hops

The default maximum number of hops is 30.

If the destination requires more hops, you can increase the limit using /h.

For example:

tracert /h 50 example.com

This tells Windows to search through a maximum of 50 hops.

You normally do not need to increase the maximum for ordinary internet troubleshooting, but it can be useful for longer routes.

How to Change the Tracert Timeout

The default timeout for tracert is 4,000 milliseconds, or 4 seconds.

You can specify a different timeout using the /w parameter.

For example, to use a 2-second timeout:

tracert /w 2000 example.com

The value is specified in milliseconds.

Keep in mind that increasing the timeout can make the trace take longer to complete.

How to Force IPv4 with Tracert

If your computer has both IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity, you can explicitly request an IPv4 trace using:

tracert /4 example.com

This can be useful when you want to compare IPv4 and IPv6 behavior.

How to Force IPv6 with Tracert

To request an IPv6 trace, use:

tracert /6 example.com

The destination must support IPv6 for the test to be meaningful.

Useful Tracert Commands

Command	Purpose
tracert example.com	Trace the route to a hostname.
tracert 8.8.8.8	Trace the route to an IP address.
tracert /d example.com	Skip reverse DNS name resolution.
tracert /h 50 example.com	Allow up to 50 hops.
tracert /w 2000 example.com	Use a 2-second timeout.
tracert /4 example.com	Use IPv4.
tracert /6 example.com	Use IPv6.

How to Identify a Possible Network Problem

One useful way to analyze tracert output is to compare the latency between consecutive hops.

Imagine the result looks like this:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     2 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     5 ms     6 ms     5 ms  10.0.0.1
  3     7 ms     8 ms     7 ms  203.0.113.1
  4    95 ms    92 ms    97 ms  198.51.100.1
  5   100 ms    98 ms   102 ms  destination

Here, latency appears to increase significantly around hop 4.

However, this should not immediately be interpreted as proof that hop 4 is broken. Some routers may respond to diagnostic packets at a lower priority than they forward normal traffic.

A better approach is to compare the behavior of subsequent hops.

If latency remains elevated from hop 4 onward and the destination is also consistently affected, the trace provides stronger evidence that the path may be experiencing increased delay around that portion of the route.

For more detailed packet-loss and latency analysis, pathping is usually more useful than tracert.

Tracert vs Ping

Ping and tracert are complementary tools.

Tool	Main Purpose
Ping	Tests connectivity and round-trip response time to a destination.
Tracert	Shows the network path and intermediate hops toward a destination.
Pathping	Combines route information with extended latency and packet-loss analysis.

If you want to start with a simple connectivity test, use Ping first.

See:

How to Ping an IP Address in Windows 11

Tracert vs Pathping

Tracert is useful for quickly identifying the route to a destination.

Pathping goes further by sending multiple probes over time and calculating latency and packet-loss information for the hops along the route.

Therefore, if your question is:

“Which routers are between my PC and the destination?”

Use tracert.

If your question is:

“Where along the route am I experiencing persistent packet loss or latency?”

Consider using pathping.

Pathping will be covered in our next Windows 11 networking guide.

How to Use Tracert for Website Troubleshooting

Suppose a website is loading slowly while other websites work normally.

First, test the destination with Ping:

ping example.com

Then run:

tracert example.com

Compare the results with another destination.

For example:

tracert google.com

and:

tracert microsoft.com

Different destinations can use completely different routes, so comparing them can help determine whether the problem appears destination-specific.

What If Tracert Shows a Different Route?

It is normal for different destinations to use different routes.

Even the same destination can sometimes use a different path at another time because internet routing can change.

Therefore, you should not assume that a different route automatically means something is wrong.

Routers and network providers can dynamically choose routes based on network conditions, routing policies, congestion, and availability.

What If Tracert Stops Before Reaching the Destination?

If tracert stops before reaching the destination, investigate the result carefully.

Possible explanations include:

• The destination or intermediate network does not respond to the probes.
• ICMP traffic is filtered.
• The route contains devices that do not return traceroute responses.
• The destination is unreachable.
• The maximum hop limit was reached.
• There is an actual connectivity or routing problem.

Do not conclude that the last visible hop is automatically the broken router.

Use Ping, DNS tests, and eventually Pathping to gather additional evidence.

Check Your Local Network Before Blaming the Internet

Before investigating remote routers, make sure your own local network is functioning correctly.

Run:

ipconfig

Check the Default Gateway.

Then ping your gateway. For example:

ping 192.168.1.1

The address is only an example. Your gateway may be different.

If your computer cannot communicate reliably with the local gateway, troubleshooting remote internet routes with tracert may not be useful yet.

Continue with local network troubleshooting first.

Check Packet Loss Before Drawing Conclusions

Tracert displays several response-time measurements, but it is not designed to provide a comprehensive packet-loss report for every hop.

If you suspect packet loss, perform a dedicated test.

See:

How to Check Packet Loss in Windows 11

After identifying a potentially problematic route, Pathping can also provide more detailed information.

Does Tracert Require Administrator Access?

For ordinary tracert usage, you can generally run the command from a normal Command Prompt window.

Open Command Prompt and execute:

tracert example.com

If you are already performing other troubleshooting tasks that require elevated privileges, you can also use an Administrator Command Prompt.

Does Tracert Use the Internet?

Tracert sends network diagnostic traffic toward the destination, so the result depends on the network path between your computer and that destination.

If your computer has no network connectivity, tracert cannot provide a meaningful route to an internet destination.

Can Tracert Show the Exact Location of a Problem?

Not always.

Tracert can provide valuable clues about where along the path responses stop appearing or where latency changes, but the output alone does not prove that a particular router is responsible for a problem.

Some routers intentionally do not respond to traceroute probes, and some prioritize normal forwarded traffic differently from diagnostic responses.

Use tracert as one piece of evidence rather than a definitive diagnosis.

Common Tracert Mistakes

Assuming Every * Means Packet Loss

An asterisk means Windows did not receive the expected response within the timeout. It does not automatically mean packets are being lost from normal traffic.

Assuming the Last Visible Router Is Broken

The last responding router may simply be the last device willing to respond to traceroute probes.

Judging a Network From One Test

Network conditions can change. Repeat tests when necessary and compare the results with Ping or Pathping.

Ignoring DNS

If you use a hostname, Windows must resolve that hostname before tracing the destination. If DNS is failing, test the destination using its IP address when appropriate.

Changing Network Settings Too Quickly

Diagnostic commands such as tracert do not modify your network configuration. Use them to collect information before performing more disruptive changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the tracert command in Windows 11?

Tracert is a built-in Windows network diagnostic command that traces the path from your computer to a destination by using incrementally increasing TTL values.

How do I run tracert in Windows 11?

Open Command Prompt and run:

tracert example.com

What does tracert show?

It shows the intermediate hops encountered along the route, response times for the probes, and the IP address or hostname of responding network devices.

What does * * * mean in tracert?

It means Windows did not receive the expected response from that hop within the configured timeout. The router may be filtering or deprioritizing diagnostic traffic.

How many hops does tracert check?

The default maximum is 30 hops. You can change the maximum with the /h option.

What does tracert /d do?

The /d option prevents tracert from attempting to resolve intermediate IP addresses to hostnames, which can speed up the trace.

What is the difference between tracert and ping?

Ping primarily tests reachability and round-trip response time to a destination. Tracert shows the intermediate route used to reach the destination.

What is better, tracert or pathping?

They serve different purposes. Tracert is useful for quickly viewing the route, while Pathping is better when you need more detailed latency and packet-loss information along the route.

Does tracert require administrator access?

Normal tracert usage generally does not require an Administrator Command Prompt.

Final Thoughts

Tracert is one of the most useful built-in network diagnostic commands available in Windows 11. It allows you to see the sequence of network hops between your computer and a destination, making it easier to investigate routing and latency problems.

The simplest command is:

tracert example.com

You can also use options such as /d to skip hostname resolution, /h to change the maximum number of hops, /w to change the timeout, and /4 or /6 to select IPv4 or IPv6.

Remember that tracert results require careful interpretation. Asterisks do not automatically indicate packet loss, and the last responding hop is not necessarily the source of a problem.

For a more reliable diagnosis, combine tracert with other tools. Start with Ping, check packet loss, verify your IP configuration, and investigate DNS using our DNS settings guide.

If the network configuration itself appears damaged, you can also review How to Reset TCP/IP in Windows 11 and How to Reset Network Settings in Windows 11.

For deeper route analysis, the next useful tool to learn is Pathping, which can provide additional latency and packet-loss information along the network path.