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Need to Locate Someone’s IP Address? Here is how.

How to Find Someone’s IP Address

There are a few different reasons why you might want to find someone’s IP address. 

With the knowledge of someone’s IP address, you can create a secure connection between two devices or allow someone access to your business’s network, find a person’s physical location, and prevent known hackers from brute force attacks. 

Depending on your comfort level, here are a few methods for finding an IP address either for a website or an individual device.

Using the Command Prompt to Find IP linked to an URL. 

Windows:

On Windows devices, you can find an IP address for a website with the use of Command Prompt. 

If you haven’t used the Command Prompt before, here is how:

Enter the Ping command. Type ping hostname  (Hostname being the URL)

  • For example, to ping Google’s main web server, type ping www.Google.com.
  • An IP address is a computer’s location on a network, either locally or on the internet. 
  1. Go to the Start menu or use short cut Windows+R to open “Run” box
  2. Type “cmd” and then click “ok” for the standard command prompt
  3. Type “cmd” and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open the administrator Command Prompt

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 Mac 

Instead of a command prompt, the application is known as Terminal and is found in the Utilities folder. The ping command works the same with every computer system. There are a few ways to access the Terminal: 

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To use the Terminal application to locate the IP address of an URL, using the following steps:

Access the Terminal in one of the following ways:

Use of Short Cut Keys:

  1. Use the following keys on your mac keyboard: “Control + Option + Shift + T”
  2. Or, Short cut key “Command” plus space bar. This will open your “Spot Light”. 
  • Type “Terminal” in the search field. P
  • Press Enter

Access through Applications Folder or Window:

  1. Open “Other” applications window and select Terminal 

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Use “Finder” Function 

  1. Access your list of utilities. 
  2. Scroll down the list and click on “Terminal” 

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Once you open a terminal window, use the following steps to ping an IP address. 

1. In the terminal prompt window type ping URL or ping server hostname. Do not enter HTTPS or HTTP before the web address. 

2. Click “Enter” to run the command.  

 Example: ping www.google.com

Your command will run and your result should look something like this image:

Another way to discover an IP address is via the header of an incoming email. When you want to find someone’s IP address, an email from them is one of the easiest ways to search but not necessarily the best.  

There should be an option called “headers” in the settings of your email program. Turning on this option displays a lot more data from your incoming email, including the sender’s IP address. 

Don’t use this method as your only method, it’s not always accurate. The IP could be fake. Use this method along with the ping method double-check your findings before you jot down the IP you are chasing. 

Lastly, you can use one of many IP Look Up Tools 

The simplest and most reliable way to access an IP address is to use one of the many IP lookup tools. Before you dive in, check the site’s validity. I often use WhatIsMyIPAddress.com and find that it’s pretty accurate. Be sure to double-check the IP address information you find to verify its accuracy.

You now have several ways to find someone’s IP address or perform a reliable IP check whenever you need to. However, keep in mind that if you know this information, so do others. If you want to protect your privacy and keep people from tracing your IP address and finding your location, talk to your hosting company, there are many ways to hide your IP address that doesn’t cost a dime.  

Happy Hunting.