How to Find IP Address in Windows 11

Someone asked for “your IP address” (a help desk, a printer setup screen, a game, a friend helping remotely) and Windows 11 shows several numbers. For anything on your own home network, give the IPv4 Address listed under your connected Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter: press Windows + X, choose Terminal, and run ipconfig. For a website or a helper outside your home, give your public address from your router or a lookup site.

Applies to: Windows 11 Home and Pro, 24H2 and later.

Which number are they asking for?

Your PC has a local (private) address that your router hands out, and your whole household shares one public address that the internet sees. Match the request to the right one before you send anything.

Local addresses almost always start with 192.168, 10, or 172.16 through 172.31. If the number someone asks for starts that way, it’s a local one. ipconfig may also show a longer IPv6 address with colons; unless a setup screen asks for IPv6, give the IPv4 address.

Who’s asking	Give them	Where to read it
A printer, smart TV or app setup on the same Wi-Fi	Local IPv4 address	ipconfig, line IPv4 Address
A person connecting with Remote Desktop from inside your home or office	Local IPv4 address, or the PC name	ipconfig on the PC being reached
Another PC mapping a shared folder	Local IPv4 address of the PC that shares	ipconfig on the sharing PC
You, logging in to the router	The router’s address	ipconfig, line Default Gateway
A website, a game server allowlist, an outside helper	Public address	A lookup site or your router’s status page
Your company’s IT team	Ask which one; often the local address or the computer name	ipconfig or hostname

Worked example: Alex is adding a Wi-Fi printer and the setup page wants “the PC’s IP.” That’s the local IPv4 address, something like 192.168.1.42. If Alex instead sent the public address, the printer would never find the PC.

If you plan to set up Remote Desktop on Windows 11 or map a network drive in Windows 11, the local IPv4 address can stand in for the PC name when the name doesn’t connect.

Read it in seconds from Terminal

1. Press Windows + X and select Terminal. Command Prompt works too if you’d rather open Command Prompt in Windows 11.
2. Type ipconfig and press Enter.
3. Find the block for the adapter you’re connected through, usually Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter Ethernet.
4. Read the IPv4 Address line in that block. The Default Gateway two lines below is your router.

A typical Wi-Fi block looks like this (example numbers):

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.42
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Microsoft’s ipconfig reference confirms that the plain command lists the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, subnet mask and default gateway for every adapter. Add /all (ipconfig /all) when someone also needs the DNS servers, the adapter description or whether DHCP is on.

In PowerShell, this one line lists only IPv4 addresses with the adapter name beside each: Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 | Format-Table InterfaceAlias, IPAddress. Skip the Loopback entry (127.0.0.1); it always points back to the PC itself.

Copy it from Settings without retyping

Settings is the better choice if you’d rather not use a command, and it lets you copy the details instead of reading digits aloud.

1. Right-click the network or Wi-Fi icon on the taskbar and select Network and internet settings. (You can also go to Start > Settings > Network & internet.)
2. On Wi-Fi, select Wi-Fi, then the network you’re connected to. On a cable, select Ethernet.
3. Look for IPv4 address in the list of properties. Microsoft’s network settings page shows the same path.
4. Select Copy next to the properties block to copy them all, then paste into the chat or email and delete the lines you don’t need.

From Terminal, ipconfig | clip copies the whole output to the clipboard instead.

Three backup routes inside Windows

These help when Settings is managed or you’d rather click than type.

• Network Connections: press Windows + R, type ncpa.cpl, double-click your Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter, and select Details. The IPv4 Address appears with the gateway and DNS servers.
• Task Manager: press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, open Performance, and select Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are listed with the adapter’s other details.
• System Information: type msinfo32 in the Run box, then expand Components > Network > Adapter. Every adapter is listed with its IP address, which is useful when you need to save everything to a report.

When ipconfig lists five adapters

VPN apps, virtual machines, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct each add an adapter, so the output can scroll for a while. Use these rules to pick the right block:

• The adapter you’re using has a Default Gateway filled in. Most of the others show it blank.
• Blocks marked Media disconnected aren’t in use. Ignore them.
• Names containing vEthernet belong to Hyper-V or WSL virtual networks, and Local Area Connection* entries under Wireless LAN are usually Wi-Fi Direct. Neither is the address a printer or another PC needs.
• With a VPN connected, its adapter gets its own address from the VPN. Give that one only to someone on the same VPN, such as your company’s IT team.

If the person needs the adapter’s hardware address too, here’s how to find your MAC address on Windows 11.

Find the address of another device on your network

Sometimes the request is the other way around: the PC needs the printer’s or the phone’s address.

• Router app or web page: the list of connected or attached devices shows each device’s name and local address. This is the most reliable source.
• The device itself: most network printers can print a network configuration page from their own menu, and phones show their address in the details of the connected Wi-Fi network.
• From the PC: run arp -a in Terminal. It lists addresses this PC has recently talked to on the network, with their physical addresses, which helps match a printer you just used.

If you’d like to reach a device by a name instead of a number, you can edit the hosts file in Windows 11 to pair a name with its address.

Get your public address, and why it may not match

Windows doesn’t display your public address, because it belongs to your router’s internet connection rather than to the PC.

• Lookup: search for what is my ip in Bing or Google; the result shows the address the search engine sees.
• Router: the router’s app or status page shows it as the WAN or internet address.
• Command: run nslookup myip.opendns.com resolver1.opendns.com. The Address line under Non-authoritative answer is your public address. This relies on OpenDNS, a public DNS service run by Cisco, not on a Microsoft service.

Three common reasons the lookup and the router disagree: a VPN is on (the lookup shows the VPN server), the lookup shows your IPv6 address while the router shows IPv4, or your provider shares one address among many customers, so the router’s WAN address isn’t the one the internet sees. That last case also affects online games, so check your NAT type in Windows 11 if a game reports connection problems.

Your public address can reveal your rough location and provider, so share it only with a service or person who actually needs it.

Fixes when the address is missing or starts with 169.254

An address beginning with 169.254 means Windows didn’t hear back from the router and gave itself a placeholder. No IPv4 line at all usually means the adapter isn’t connected.

1. Confirm the Wi-Fi shows Connected or the cable is seated at both ends.
2. Restart the router, wait until its lights settle, then run ipconfig again.
3. Warning before this step: ipconfig /release drops the connection on every automatic adapter until you renew, so don’t run it over Remote Desktop or a remote support session. Open Terminal as administrator and run ipconfig /release, then immediately ipconfig /renew.
4. If the address is still wrong, reset network settings in Windows 11, or work through the checks for Wi-Fi not working in Windows 11.

When the address looks fine but websites won’t load by name, the problem is more likely DNS; flushing the DNS cache in Windows 11 is a quick first test.

Work PCs and locked settings

On a company laptop, some Settings pages can be managed by your organization, but ipconfig runs for a standard user and is still the fastest way to read the address. Two things are different at work: the address may come from the office network or the company VPN, and IT often prefers your computer name, which hostname prints. Don’t change adapter settings on a managed PC; if a fixed address is needed there, IT sets it.

Questions that come up after you have the number

Can I show only the IPv4 line in ipconfig?

Yes. Run ipconfig | findstr IPv4. You’ll see one line per adapter that has an IPv4 address, which is quicker to read but loses the adapter names, so use the full output when several appear.

What does the subnet mask line tell me?

It shows which addresses count as your local network. With 255.255.255.0 and an address of 192.168.1.42, devices from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254 are neighbors the PC can reach directly.

Does a remote helper need my IP address?

Usually not. Microsoft’s Quick Assist connects with a 6-digit code, and most other remote support tools use a code or an invitation link, so you never type an address. A helper who insists on your public address for remote access deserves a second look.

Can I make the router always give this PC the same address?

Yes, with a DHCP reservation in the router’s settings. Routers hand out local addresses that can change after a restart. The safest fix is a reservation in the router; you can also change your IP address in Windows 11 manually if you know which addresses your network allows.

Now you know which number goes where, and the next request takes ten seconds. On an older PC, the steps to find your IP address in Windows 10 are similar.