Gathering network details

Background

Student IT will sometimes request network details in order to assess the configuration on your device, and locate it on our systems, helping us troubleshoot network connectivity.

  • Every device has a Media Access Control (MAC) address, which can uniquely identify it
  • When a device is connected to a network, the router assigns it a local Internet Protocol (IP) address, required to send and receive data to other devices on the network
  • When accessing the internet, a device will use DNS (Domain Name System) servers to translate domains (e.g. unimelb.edu.au) into global IP addresses

Instructions

  1. Click the Start menu, or press the Windows key
  2. Type cmd into the search box, and select Command Prompt or Windows Powershell as it appears
  3. In the window that appears, type ipconfig /all and press Enter
  4. Scroll until your primary network adapter is visible (e.g. Wireless LAN Adapter if using Wi-Fi)
  5. The Physical Address field will display the device's MAC address
  6. The IP address field will display your current IP address
  7. The DNS Servers field will list the DNS servers currently used by the device
  1. Open System Preferences ( > System Preferences) and select the Network pane
  2. Select the interface (e.g. Wi-Fi, Ethernet, etc) that appears at the top of the left-side list (this is your primary network connection)
  3. Click the ‘Advanced...’ button at the bottom right of the pane
  4. The TCP/IP tab will display your current IP address
  5. The Hardware tab will display the device’s MAC address
  6. The DNS tab will list the DNS servers currently used by the device