### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/1 "2006-10-27T01:43:31Z")
Today, when I signed on, I was given a message that my firewall program had detected a new IP address, and asked if I wanted to allow it access.
I thought, “This can’t be good.”
I disallowed access, but I don’t know how to find my own, original IP address.
How do you do that?
Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/2 "2006-10-27T01:55:43Z")
You may have some confusion. Most service providers don’t just give you an IP address for good (that usually costs extra). They dynamically assign them every time you reconnect so a dropped connection may have gotten you a new one. There is no problem with that at all. You probably should have allowed the firewall to do its thing through the new one as well.
You can see your current IP address here:
> **[Show My IP Address](https://www.mediacollege.com/internet/utilities/show-ip.shtml)**
>
> Display your current IP address.
---
### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/3 "2006-10-27T01:56:14Z")
Assuming you are using a Windows machine:
**[Start | run]**
Type in “ **CMD** ” to open a DOS box with prompt.
Once there, if running Win2000 / XP, then type “ **ipconfig** ” and \
You should see something similar to:
```auto
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : ******************
**IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1**
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
```
---
### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/4 "2006-10-27T02:23:46Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
You may have some confusion.
[/quote]
I readily admit to that.
> [@](#):
>
> Most service providers don’t just give you an IP address for good (that usually costs extra). They dynamically assign them every time you reconnect so a dropped connection may have gotten you a new one. There is no problem with that at all.
Huh. I’ve never received that prompt before, so I Googled the IP address it was trying to give me, and I only got one response: A text file in a .ru location. I figured some Russkie was trying to use my computer for his nefarious plans.
If you want to see the website, here it is:
[www.iki.rssi.ru/vprokhor/mmsat/blcamp/200104/gbst0.txt](http://www.iki.rssi.ru/vprokhor/mmsat/blcamp/200104/gbst0.txt)
> [@](#):
>
> You probably should have allowed the firewall to do its thing through the new one as well.
Instead, I did a system restore back a couple of weeks and disallowed the access.
You can see your current IP address here:
> **[Show My IP Address](https://www.mediacollege.com/internet/utilities/show-ip.shtml)**
>
> Display your current IP address.
[/QUOTE]
The IP address it gave me was pretty close to the one that it was trying to install.
What can I tell about an IP address? I mean, does it break down geographically or something?
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/5 "2006-10-27T02:28:09Z")
[QUOTE=Rysdad]
What can I tell about an IP address? I mean, does it break down geographically or something?
[/QUOTE]
They do break down geographically although it isn’t always perfect. You can usually get down to the level of a town and that is about it. It doesn’t always work though. Mine is currently misreporting by a few miles. It is simply due to the way that the service providers like to dole them out to people.
> **[IP Address Locator | Geobytes](https://geobytes.com/iplocator/?GetLocation)**
IP addresses aren’t usually that intrusive but they can sometimes be telling. Many websites log all incoming IP addresses and a very distinct IP address location can hint that a particular person is visiting. I can do that pretty easily on my personal website for example.
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/6 "2006-10-27T02:30:42Z")
BTW, that Russian website just has a number string as part of a data set that looks like your current IP address to Google. It isn’t anything to worry about. If you turn your modem off for a while and then back on, you may get another one yet again.
---
### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/7 "2006-10-27T02:44:53Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
BTW, that Russian website just has a number string as part of a data set that looks like your current IP address to Google. It isn’t anything to worry about. If you turn your modem off for a while and then back on, you may get another one yet again.
[/QUOTE]
I’m going to try that.
BTW…that IP address locator couldn’t find my or the ‘suggested’ IP.
Hm.
---
### Author:  [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/8 "2006-10-27T03:12:06Z")
You might find this website easier to remember: [http://whatismyipaddress.com/](http://whatismyipaddress.com/).
---
### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/9 "2006-10-27T03:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
They do break down geographically although it isn’t always perfect. You can usually get down to the level of a town and that is about it. It doesn’t always work though. Mine is currently misreporting by a few miles. It is simply due to the way that the service providers like to dole them out to people.
[/QUOTE]
Apparantly, my IP lists me as being in PA, yet I am fairly certain I’m in VT.
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/10 "2006-10-27T11:56:50Z")
How about figuring out the IP address of a website? Or an e-mail source?
How does one do that?
---
### Author:  [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/11 "2006-10-27T12:10:23Z")
For Firefox 1.+ but not Firefox 2, [Shazou](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2993/)
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/12 "2006-10-27T12:20:09Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
How about figuring out the IP address of a website? Or an e-mail source?
How does one do that?
[/QUOTE]
Website: easy run CMD and type in **ping [website.address.com](http://website.address.com)** or whatever the address is, missing out the http:// part.
For email, you need to look at the header, which will give you the URL/IP address of all places the email has touched on its way to you. The first one is the originating IP address of the sender. Note, this list is usually in reverse order.
If you want to go backwards - find a website/ISP/whatever from an IP address, it’s a bit tricky, but start at [internic.net](http://www.internic.net/whois.html) and choose the “nameserver” option, pasting the IP address into the box. Sometimes the results will return another registrar (e.g. European ones will tell you to go to [Ripe.net](http://Ripe.net)), in which case go to the suggested site and look for the “whois” info and do it again. Alternatively, [samspade.org](http://samspade.org) has more features to do this, but it’s blocked here so I can’t go into more details.
---
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/13 "2006-10-27T12:30:43Z")
There are thousands of computers scanning other computers on the internet for holes in their security. My firewall logs are disappointingly large. If it was a Russian IP, it was probably one such. What you can do is a **whois** search on the IP address. There are many websites offering such a service, and you should check using several.
How do you connect to the internet? You may have an internal IP address and an external one. I assume you have a PC and it is set to DHCP (get an address automatically).
Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | Command Prompt
Type ipconfig and press Enter
You’re interested in the second line.
This will be the IP address given to you by the ISP or your DSL modem.
For more information, type ipconfig /all
Now open your browser and go to [www.grc.com](http://www.grc.com) and click on Shields Up. This will give you both a text name and an IP address. These are your external addresses.
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/14 "2006-10-27T13:24:50Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm]
Website: easy run CMD and type in **ping [website.address.com](http://website.address.com)** or whatever the address is, missing out the http:// part.
For email, you need to look at the header, which will give you the URL/IP address of all places the email has touched on its way to you. The first one is the originating IP address of the sender. Note, this list is usually in reverse order.
[/QUOTE]
CMD…? 😕
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/15 "2006-10-27T13:32:02Z")
Go to the Start button, click “Run…”, then type “CMD” into the box and hit return. This will launch a black command console window into which you can type “ping”. The results will appear in this window too. E.g.
```auto
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\>ping boards.straightdope.com
Pinging boards.straightdope.com [207.97.195.229] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 207.97.195.229: bytes=32 time=84ms TTL=50
Reply from 207.97.195.229: bytes=32 time=82ms TTL=50
Reply from 207.97.195.229: bytes=32 time=82ms TTL=50
Reply from 207.97.195.229: bytes=32 time=82ms TTL=50
Ping statistics for 207.97.195.229:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 82ms, Maximum = 84ms, Average = 82ms
C:\>
```
---
### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/16 "2006-10-27T14:38:22Z")
[DNS Stuff](http://www.dnsstuff.com) is another cool web site with lots of tools you can use to find info on IP addresses and domain names. Also, your IP address appears at the top.
---
### Author:  [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/18 "2013-05-22T12:57:51Z")
[http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/79.145.252.116](http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/79.145.252.116)
---
### Author:  [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/19 "2013-05-22T15:46:01Z")
I hope they’ve found it by now
---
### Author:  [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/20 "2013-05-22T16:01:39Z")
I find the easiest way is to type “ip” into Google and press Enter.
---
### Author:  [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-di-i-find-my-ip-address/378054/21 "2013-05-22T18:40:01Z")
> [@bardos](#):
>
> [http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/79.145.252.116](http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/79.145.252.116)
sorry, that should be
[http://whatismyipaddress.com/](http://whatismyipaddress.com/)