Windows CMD: Ping, Tracert, and Pathping
A remote app is slow. Test the local gateway, trace the path without DNS delays, then measure loss by hop. Work through it yourself in the live host terminal below.
Symptom
A remote app is slow. Test the local gateway, trace the path without DNS delays, then measure loss by hop.
Your mission
Inspect, recover, then verify
Format
Windows Command Prompt
Investigate before you configure.
Use the CLI evidence to isolate the fault, make the smallest safe correction, then verify the network state changed.
Observe the symptom and link state.
Diagnose by comparing the protocol evidence.
Verify the expected device state and confirm the original symptom is resolved.
Console access: Command Prompt
This workspace stacks for portrait phones. Rotate to landscape for the full split-screen console.
Need a hint?
Reveal the root cause when you're ready.
Try the investigation first, then use this as your escape hatch, not a dead end.
Lab debrief
Turn the session into a repeatable troubleshooting pattern.
Use this reference after your attempt: first explain the symptom, then verify the evidence, then confirm the repair.
The problem
The laptop reaches its gateway normally, but connections to 203.0.113.20 are slow and intermittent.
What you'll practice
- Use ping to establish local and remote reachability
- Use tracert /d to identify the hop sequence without name lookup delays
- Use pathping /n to measure latency and loss
- Avoid treating one silent ICMP hop as proof of a failed path
The topology
A Windows laptop reaches an application through its LAN gateway and two routed WAN hops. The second WAN link has measurable packet loss.
Commands to run yourself
The real diagnostic commands for this lab, copy-paste ready. Run these in the same order to reproduce the investigation on your own session.
ping 10.20.30.1ping 203.0.113.20Topology diagram
Fact-checked references
The commands and behaviour in this lab were checked against these primary references.
Frequently asked
Does an asterisk in tracert prove that router is down?
No. Some routers forward traffic but do not return the ICMP messages tracert expects. Check whether later hops and the destination still respond.
Why use /d and /n?
They skip hostname lookups, which makes the path test faster and prevents DNS delays from being mistaken for network delay.
Ready to run this lab yourself?
No setup, no image sourcing. Book a session or ask for a live demo.