Print - Cool Things to Do with Netsh

The Netsh command is a powerful command-line tool for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. Netsh is available in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit and is standard in Windows 2003 and XP. Netsh lets you change almost any network configuration setting as well as document network configurations. You can use the command in a batch file or from its own command shell. Netsh has a useful Help system that you can access by adding /? to almost any of its subcommands. Here are 10 cool things that you can use Netsh to do.

10. Show TCP/IP settings—The command

netsh interface ip show config

shows the system's current TCP/IP configuration settings. You can see whether the system is using DHCP or static addressing as well as view the system's current IP address, subnet mask, gateway address, and DNS servers.

9. Change network configuration—Netsh can change the current network configuration. The command

netsh interface ip set
  address "Local Area 
  Connection" static 
  192.168.0.10 255.255.255.0
  192.168.0.254

sets the IP address of the system configuration Local Area Connection to 192.168.0.10, the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0, and the gateway address to 192.168.0.254. This use of Netsh comes in handy for laptops that must switch between static and dynamic addressed networks.

8. Use a dynamic DHCP assigned address—The command

netsh interface ip set
  address "Local Area 
  Connection" dhcp

sets the IP address of the Local Area Connection system configuration to use DHCP addressing.

7. Change a DNS server address—When you change the system's IP address type, you almost always have to change the DNS server's address as well. The command

netsh interface ip set dns
  "Local Area Connection" 
  static 192.168.0.2

configures the Local Area Connection to use a DNS server whose address is 192.168.0.2.

6. Dynamically assign the DNS server address—When you switch to dynamic DHCP addressing, you typically also want the DNS server address to be assigned dynamically. The command

netsh interface ip set dns 
"Local Area Connection" dhcp

sets the Local Area Connection interface to use a DHCP-assigned DNS address.

5.Configure a WINS server—Netsh also lets you configure WINS servers. The following command configures a system's Local Area Connection interface to use a WINS server that has the IP address 192.168.100.3.

netsh interface ip set wins 
  "Local Area Connection" 
  static 192.168.100.3

4. Work with other interfaces—Netsh works with DHCP, Internet Authentication Service (IAS), and RAS interfaces as well as the local network interface. The command

netsh dhcp dump > dhcpcfg.dat

dumps the local DHCP server's configuration to the dhcpcfg.dat file. You can use this file in conjunction with Netsh to recreate the DHCP server.

3. Work with remote systems—One of Netsh's best hidden features is its ability to work with remote systems. The command

netsh set machine remotecomputer

sets the current computer to a different system on the network.

2. Save the current configuration—The Interface Dump subcommand saves your current network configuration and generates a script that you can use to regenerate the configuration. The command

netsh interface dump > 
  mycfg.dat

redirects the Dump command to the mycfg.dat file.

1. Restore network configuration—The Netsh Exec command runs a Netsh script file. The command

netsh exec mycfg.dat

restores to your system the network configuration data that the preceding sample command saved.

How do you use netsh to set more than one DNS server? We've been able to use the following to set multiple WINS servers: netsh interface ip set wins name="Local Area Connection" static 192.168.1.1 netsh interface ip add wins name="Local Area Connection" 192.168.1.2 However, this syntax doesn't work for setting multiple DNS servers. Thanks in advance for any help.

In order to add multiple DNS servers, use the following syntax: add dns "Local Area Connection" 10.0.0.1 add dns "Local Area Connection" 10.0.0.3 index=2 index=2 adds the IP as a secondary dns server.

The sentence "The Netsh command is a powerful command-line tool for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. Netsh is available in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit and is standard in Windows 2003 and XP." should be changed to "The Netsh command is a powerful command-line tool that is installed by default for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000." Netsh is included with Windows 2000, not as part of the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit. Thanks.

How migrate DHCP and Wins of Windows 2000 Active Directory to Windows 2003 Active Directory

Roger, could you please provide the complete statement for doing the multiple DNS bit that you wrote, please... I can be PM'd at wyc@bigfoot.com THANKS!

Is it possible to use netsh to disable and then enable an interface? Been trying to figure out a way do do that from a cmd line. thx

tschreier: I'm not sure if Devcon can do this, but I've done this before using another powerful command line utility: DevCon.exe (check out http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q311272 for a copy). Devcon DDK (Device/Driver Developer Kit) Tool is a command line version of Device Manager. To disable a network connection, you're actually disabling the network adapter associated with the connection. Using some customized scripting and devcon.exe, you can identify the adapter and enable or disable it on the fly. One word of advice, be sure to "escape" the ampersands (&) in the device IDs using the "hat" charector (^) when running it from the command line by specifying them as ^& otherwise you could end up in a major bind!

The commands in the article need to be corrected as follows: 10. netsh interface ip show config 09. Netsh interface ip set address name=”Local Area Connection” source=static addr=192.168.0.10 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.0.1 gwmetric=1 08. Netsh interface ip set address name=”Local Area Connection” source=dhcp 07. Netsh interface ip set dns name=”Local Area Connection” source=static addr=192.168.0.2 register=none 06. netsh interface ip set dns name="Local Area Connection" source=dhcp 05. Netsh interface ip set wins name=”Local Area Connection” source=static addr=192.168.100.3 To configure WINS from DHCP: Netsh interface ip set wins name=”Local Area Connection” source=dhcp 04. netsh dump dhcp > dhcpcfg.dat 03. OK 02. netsh dump interface > mycfg.dat 01. OK

This DEVCON.EXE don't exit with ad usable errorlevel...in every cases it return "0" :-( I can't find a IFCONFIG porting for win32 :-) ...

re tmsm: the problem occur because you stop the "remote registry service".start it!Everything will be ok.

Thanks to the help here I figured out how to do multiple DNS servers. from the command line it will look like this: C:\>netsh netsh>interface ip interface ip>add dns "Local Area Connection" 10.0.0.1 Ok. interface ip>bye __________ Once you go into netsh.exe it seems to go into some ftp type commands. You need to go to : interface ip . From there you can add or delete DNS servers, as many as you like. To put a DNS server in a specific location add on the end of the command: index= (and the number, 2 or 3 or whatever). You do not have to specify the position to delete them, it finds it by number.

sorry, that doesn't look right, I'll try again. C:\>netsh netsh>interface ip interface ip>add dns "Local Area Connection" 10.0.0.1 Ok. interface ip>bye

To add multiple DNS entries you need to type: netsh interface ip set dns name="Wireless Network Connection" source=static addr=192.168.1.200 register=PRIMARY netsh interface ip add dns name="Wireless Network Connection" addr=192.168.1.5 index=2 Just for fun I tried to just add the Secondary DNS (index=2) without first having a Primary and netsh put the IP address in the primary position. I guess you need to have a Primary DNS entered before you can add Secondary and Tertiary DNS entries.

Find your interface name & set multiple dns entries like this: C:\WINNT\system32>netsh netsh>interface interface>show interface Admin State State Type Interface Name ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enabled Dedicated Local Area Connection Enabled Internal Internal Enabled Loopback Loopback (Note: Look for "Dedicated" connection types with any name other than a GUID) interface>ip interface ip>delete dns "Local Area Connection" all interface ip>set dns "Local Area Connection" static 10.10.10.2 interface ip>add dns "Local Area Connection" 10.10.10.3 index=2

Wow, that came out ugly, let me try again: C:\WINNT\system32>netsh netsh>interface interface>show interface Admin State State Type Interface Name ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enabled Dedicated Local Area Connection Enabled Internal Internal Enabled Loopback Loopback (Note: Look for "Dedicated" connection types with any name other than a GUID) interface>ip interface ip>delete dns "Local Area Connection" all interface ip>set dns "Local Area Connection" static 10.10.10.2 interface ip>add dns "Local Area Connection" 10.10.10.3 index=2

I am unable to use netsh to access a remote computer. Has anyone actually done this with NETSH on Windows 2000 Pro?

how can i change the "workgroup" also? i need to use my laptop in three different home networks (peer to peer), in which the workgroup name is different... tnx in advance rosanna italy

Is it possible in WIN 2000 to "disable" "Local Area Connection" using NetSh? What are the commands?

I have the same problem connecting to remote computers using either set machine or netsh -r. It changes the command prompt to the remote computer but it is actually still controlling the local computer

I am unable to get this to work when I try to specify the interface name. "Local Area Connection" is considered invalid, and gets me no where. When I dump the netsh info, it lists all my interfaces as some gibberish like "{ADB7473C-C67B-49DE-B0D9-A25E990A39F5}", but even using that, and otherwise following the examples, the interface is called invalid. i have enabled remote registry service then it's working but can some one hlep me to resolve this without enabling remote registry service becaue some security issue i can not enable remote registry service RSDS

Does anybody know a hack allowing to set 127.0.0.1 as DNS server? The netsh command claims that 127.0.0.1 is not an acceptable value for addr. Thanks.

This works great for Win2k Pro. I put this in a batch file and run it together. Set IP address subnet gateway Set DNS Primary Set DNS Secondary netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" static 10.1.1.15 255.255.255.0 10.1.1.1 1 netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" static 172.16.0.5 primary netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr=172.16.0.15 index=2

Well, I'm not really sure, the last comment was in reply to the one before (that I've posted anonymously ;) ). But if it is, I want just to say that I was talking about the loopback (127.0.0.1) address. netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" static 127.0.0.1

Use: DEVCON FIND =NET To find network devices. Use DEVCON disable @ROOT\NET\0000 to disable and DEVCON enable @ROOT\NET\0000 to enable.

I too ran into this problem. Do this: 1. Create a batch file called netsh.bat ( for example ) with the netsh commands you would like to run ( just as they would run locally on your PC ) 2. Copy netsh.bat to C:\ (for example) on all of the nodes that need the change ( you can copy netsh.bat across your LAN via another batch file ). 3. With another batch file, schedule an AT job on each node that needs the change: this at job should run c:\netsh.bat ( that has already been copied to each node that needs the change ). This works becuase the job is running locally on each PC, rather than being pushed from another. Thanks, and good luck. -LP

Great it is very very usefull. It is great subject for IT people. How to use NETSH command explained very very intresting. Thanks to all to producing such a kind of technical services

usage of devcon to disable network adapter use the 'hwids =net' to find the compatible id for your adapter c:\devcon hwids =net PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&SUBSYS_01511028&REV_02\4&1C660DD6&0&60F0 Name: Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Connection Hardware ID's: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&SUBSYS_01511028&REV_02 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&SUBSYS_01511028 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&CC_020000 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&CC_0200 Compatible ID's: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&REV_02 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E PCI\VEN_8086&CC_020000 PCI\VEN_8086&CC_0200 PCI\VEN_8086 PCI\CC_020000 PCI\CC_0200 c:\devcon disable "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&REV_02" PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&REV_02\3&1070020&0&40 : Disabled 1 device(s) disabled.

wow that came out crappy try this c:\devcon hwids =net C:\devcon>devcon hwids =net PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&SUBSYS_01511028&REV_02\4&1C660DD6&0&60F0 Name: Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Connection Hardware ID's: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&SUBSYS_01511028&REV_02 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&SUBSYS_01511028 Compatible ID's: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1229&REV_08 PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E PCI\VEN_8086&CC_020000 c:\devcon disable "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1229&REV_08" PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_100E&REV_02\3&1070020&0&40 : Disabled Disabled 1 device(s) disabled.

This is how to Disable and enable an interface using Netsh netsh int set interface name="Local Area Connection 3" admin=disabled netsh int set interface name="Local Area Connection 3" admin=enabled This

Can you change only the subnet mask using netsh without changing the ip address also?

I want to use the netsh command to view a remote computer's current dns settings. However, even though I am connecting to the remote computer (using -r computername) and run the "show dns" command, it returns my computer's dns settings and not the remote pc. I have tried this on multiple computers and same response. Is this right?

Windows XP has DHCP server but it's disabled. Is any way to enable it and configure it in netsh? THX.

Both commands work fine ARTICLE-04. netsh dhcp dump > dhcpcfg.dat KALIDOR-04. netsh dump dhcp > dhcpcfg.dat But the second one goes in more detail with services. Cool!!

Would anyone know why I am getting the following error with #3, which is the remote command. When I run "netsh set machine virtual2000" I get the following response "WARNING: Could not obtain host information from machine: [10.1.2.106]. Some commands may not be available. Access is denied" The result is identical when I try "netsh -r virtual2000" I have tried physical servers as well, but I get the same result. I tried to google the error, but I don't see anything. The netsh interface works fine until you get to the "set IP address" portion". At that point, the available commands are blank.

Another helpful article is Mark Minasi's "Netsh Tricks"-- also at Windows IT Pro: see http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/50425/netsh-tricks.html or go to the top of this page and type in 50425 in the InstantDoc ID box. Cheers!