COMMAND
tracertTrace the route to a host
tracert shows the sequence of routers (hops) a packet passes through to reach a destination and the round-trip time to each. It works by sending packets with increasing TTL values so each router in turn reports itself. It reveals where along the path latency rises or packets stop.
Purpose
tracert (trace route) maps the path from your machine to a destination and measures how long each leg takes. When a site is slow or unreachable, it shows whether the problem is on your network, at your ISP, or further out, and where latency accumulates.
How it works
It sends packets with a Time To Live of 1, then 2, then 3, and so on. Each router decrements the TTL; when it hits zero the router returns an ICMP "time exceeded" message, revealing itself. The destination returns a different message, ending the trace.
Syntax
tracert [-d] [-h max_hops] [-w timeout] [-4] [-6] target| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
-d | Do not resolve router names (faster) |
-h max_hops | Maximum hops (default 30) |
-w timeout | Milliseconds to wait per reply |
-4 / -6 | Force IPv4 or IPv6 |
Reading the output
tracert example.comTracing route to example.com [93.184.215.14] over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 12 ms 11 ms 12 ms 10.0.0.1
3 13 ms 13 ms 14 ms ae-1.core1.isp.net [203.0.113.1]
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 24 ms 23 ms 24 ms 93.184.215.14
Trace complete.- Hop 1 is your gateway; private (RFC 1918) addresses here are your own network.
- Rising times that persist indicate where latency is added.
- Asterisks at one hop but replies afterward mean that router simply does not answer; the path is fine.
- Asterisks to the end mean the trace cannot get past that point: a real break, a firewall dropping the probes, or the destination filtering ICMP.
When to use it
- A site is slow: see whether latency rises at your ISP or deep in the path.
- A site is unreachable: find the last hop that answers.
- Diagnosing a 504 Gateway Timeout or general packet loss between two known points.
Common mistakes
- Reading a silent middle hop as a fault. Only a break that continues to the destination matters.
- Comparing tracert latency to application latency. Routers deprioritise ICMP; the numbers are indicative, not precise service timings.
- Expecting a symmetric path. The return route may differ from the outbound one; tracert shows only the forward direction.
pathping
For intermittent packet loss, pathping example.com sends many probes to each hop over about five minutes and reports loss percentages per hop, pinpointing a flaky router that tracert would miss. See pathping.
Frequently asked questions
Why do some tracert hops show *?
That router did not reply to the probe, usually because it is configured not to send ICMP time-exceeded messages, or it deprioritises such traffic. If later hops still respond, the path is fine; the silent router is just not reporting. Only asterisks all the way to the destination indicate a real break.
tracert vs pathping?
tracert shows the path once, quickly. pathping sends many probes over time to each hop and reports packet loss per hop, which is better for diagnosing intermittent loss, but takes minutes.
Why is one hop slow but the rest fast?
A single high-latency hop that does not raise the latency of hops after it usually means that router deprioritises ICMP replies, not that traffic through it is slow. Rising latency that persists to the destination is the real signal.