Using the winipcfg Utility

Using the winipcfg Utility

The IP configuration utility for Windows 95/98 is winipcfg. You use it to display the current TCP/IP configuration on a Windows 95/98 workstation. Follow these two steps to display the IP configuration information using winipcfg 

1. Choose Start Run, type winipcfg, and click OK to display the IP Configuration dialog box.

Click the down arrow to choose the network interface for which you want to view statistics.The screen in the graphic above shows this information for the Intel EtherExpress.

2- To display more detailed configuration information, click the More Info button to open the

IP Configuration dialog box shown here.

NOTE:

Even thought ifconfig is not a Windows utility, it is a TCP/IP configuration utility and it naturally fits here. Its use is very similar to the other Windows configuration utilities.

TIP:

If you are using DHCP to get IP address information, click the Release All button to remove all information obtained from a DHCP server (including an IP address). Click the Renew All button to release all DHCP information andrequest new TCP/IP configuration information.

The top of this screen shows the DNS name of the machine and the IP address of the DNS server that this workstation is using. Below that are several lines of NetBIOS over TCP/IP information.
The bottom section contains the same information shown in the first screen but includes such additional information as the addresses of the DHCP and WINS servers (if present) and the lease information (how long the DHCP information is current) for the addresses obtained from a DHCP server.

The winipcfg utility comes in handy when you’re resolving TCP/IP address conflicts and configuring a workstation. For example, if this workstation is experiencing duplicate IP address errors, you can run winipcfg to determine the IP address of this station. Also, if the address was obtained from a DHCP server, you can release it and obtain a new IP address by clicking the Renew All button.