Since this is my laptop, I have an Ethernet and a WiFi connection available – both using the same default gateway. Open a Command Prompt (PowerShell works just as well), type “ipconfig”, and press Enter. When in DOS (Shell, Command Prompt, etc), you’ll end up using the ipconfig command to determine the IP address of the Default Gateway. Depending on the complexity of your Internet connection though, this may produce the wrong result though. They will do a good attempt to determine the IP address of your router, which commonly is also your Default Gateway.

Since most users that are willing to go this deep into their OS, I’ll start with the command line (Shell/Terminal/DOS) method, if available, followed by the graphical method. In the next few paragraphs, I’ll describe how to get the IP address of your default gateway for several platforms. įind the IP Address of your Default Gateway Once I know the IP address, I can retrieve the MAC address, for example with arp. The most common reason is probably so you can access the modem or router and do some verifications or configurations.īut the default gateway can also be instrumental in fixing problems in your network, as it is the “center” of your (small) network.įor my project, I’m actually researching if I can reliably identify a network based on the MAC address of the Default gateway.

There are several reasons why you’d want to know the IP address of your default gateway. Wiki – A default gateway, is the node in a computer network, using the Internet protocol suite that serves as the forwarding host (router) to other networks when no other route specification matches the destination IP address of a packet. At home, or small offices, this is typically your modem/router. In short: it’s the connection to the Internet for all devices in your network.

How to find default gateway mac