How to Find My IP Address on Windows (Public & Private)

Step-by-step guide to finding your public and private IP address on Windows 10 and Windows 11 using Settings, Command Prompt, PowerShell, and Task Manager.

By Tudor Uzun

Founder and Senior Software Engineer, IP Trackers

Published April 11, 2026Editorial standards

Windows can show several different IP addresses at the same time, which is why "find my IP" often feels more confusing than it should. Your PC can have a private LAN address, a loopback address, a VPN adapter address, and a public internet-facing IP seen by websites. This guide separates those meanings and shows the fastest ways to find the right one on Windows 10 and Windows 11, whether you prefer Settings, Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Task Manager.

What IP address are you actually trying to find?

On Windows, the first useful question is whether you want the public IP or the local/private IP. The public IP is what websites, game servers, and external services see. The private IP is what your router assigns to the PC inside your home or office network. Both are valid, but they answer different questions.

If you are troubleshooting a printer, file share, or router setting, you usually want the local IP. If you are checking whether a VPN changed your visible network, sharing a connection detail with support, or testing geolocation, you want the public IP. The rest of the guide works better once that distinction is clear.

How to find your public IP on Windows

The fastest public check is the homepage IP checker, which shows your current IPv4 or IPv6, ISP, city estimate, and ASN. That is the best answer if your question is "what does the internet see right now?"

You can also check from the command line:

curl ifconfig.me
curl https://icanhazip.com

Those commands call outside services and print the public-facing address. They are useful for quick confirmation, but the homepage is better when you want context around the result.

How to find your local IP on Windows

Your local IP is assigned by the router or DHCP server and usually lives in a private range such as 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, or 172.16-31.x.x. Windows offers several ways to see it.

Method 1: Settings app

1. Open Settings with Win + I.
2. Go to Network & Internet.
3. Choose your active Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.
4. Open Properties or Hardware properties.
5. Read the IPv4 address and IPv6 address fields.

Method 2: Command Prompt or PowerShell

Open a terminal and run:

ipconfig
ipconfig /all

Look for the active adapter and read the IPv4 Address line. The Default Gateway line is your router IP, which you can learn more about in Find My Router IP.

Method 3: PowerShell for cleaner filtering

Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 |
Where-Object { $_.IPAddress -notmatch '^127\.' }

This can be cleaner than raw ipconfig when you want to filter out loopback addresses and focus on real adapters.

Method 4: Task Manager

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. Open the Performance tab.
3. Select Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
4. Read the IPv4 address and IPv6 address fields at the bottom.

Why Windows can show multiple addresses at once

Modern Windows systems often have more than one active adapter. You may see Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Hyper-V, WSL, Docker, VPN tunnels, and loopback addresses all in the same output. That is normal, but it means not every IP in ipconfig is equally relevant.

The usual rule is to focus on the adapter actually carrying your current traffic. If you are on Wi-Fi, ignore disconnected Ethernet adapters. If you are testing a VPN, the tunnel adapter becomes relevant too. If you only need the device's LAN identity, skip loopback and virtual-adapter noise.

Default gateway and route information explain a lot of Windows confusion

When users say "my IP on Windows looks wrong," the real issue is often route selection rather than the IP itself. A Windows system can have one local address but still send traffic through a different adapter if the route table prefers it. That is why ipconfig and public-IP checks sometimes seem to disagree: one shows interface assignments, the other reflects the route actually used to reach the internet.

In more advanced troubleshooting, route print helps you see which default path is winning. That matters on laptops that switch between Ethernet and Wi-Fi, on workstations with VPN software, and on systems running virtualization tools that add extra interfaces.

IPv4, IPv6, loopback, and VPN adapters are not the same thing

• IPv4 local address: the most familiar LAN identity on home networks.
• IPv6 address: modern Windows networks often expose it alongside IPv4, especially on ISP connections and newer routers.
• 127.0.0.1 loopback: this is localhost, not your LAN address and not your public IP.
• VPN adapter address: appears when a VPN client creates a tunnel interface for routed traffic.
• Public IP: must be checked from an external perspective, such as the homepage or an external service.

Where this matters in practice

• Printer and NAS troubleshooting. You need the local device IP, not the public address.
• VPN verification. You need the public IP and often DNS or ASN context too.
• Router admin access.You need the default gateway address, not the PC's IP or the public IP.
• Game hosting and port forwarding. The local device IP must be stable, and the public path must be reachable.
• Remote support. A support engineer may ask for the public IP, the private IP, or both depending on the issue.
• Security review. Distinguishing a local adapter from a VPN adapter or outside-visible IP helps avoid wrong conclusions.

Common mistakes and edge cases

• Assuming the first IP shown is the one you need. Windows often lists several adapters.
• Using a private IP as if it were internet-facing. Local addresses are not what websites see.
• Ignoring IPv6. Some users only check IPv4 even when a service or VPN path is using IPv6 too.
• Misreading VPN results. A VPN can change the public IP while the local LAN address stays the same, which is normal.
• Forgetting DHCP changes. Your local IP can change after reconnecting to Wi-Fi or rebooting.
• Confusing MAC address with IP address. They identify different layers of the network stack.

Useful IP Trackers tools after finding your IP

• IP Location Lookup adds location and provider context to the public IP.
• ASN Lookup shows which network is announcing the address.
• IP Blacklist Check is useful if reputation or mail issues are involved.
• DNS Leak Test helps when you are verifying VPN behavior on Windows.
• How to Hide My IP explains privacy-oriented next steps.

When to care about a stable private IP on Windows

For ordinary browsing, a changing local IP is usually harmless. But if the Windows PC hosts file shares, game servers, remote desktop access, printers, or smart-home integrations, a stable LAN address becomes much more useful. In that case, the cleaner solution is usually a DHCP reservation on the router rather than manually forcing a static address without understanding the subnet and gateway settings.

That reservation keeps the same practical address for the PC while still letting the router manage the broader network consistently.

Why command-line and browser results are supposed to differ

A final source of confusion is expecting every tool to print the same number. Local commands describe the Windows device and its interfaces. Browser-based checks describe the network identity presented to the outside internet. They are answering related but different questions, which is exactly why using both together is so useful.

Reading ipconfig /all line by line on Windows

ipconfig /all prints a lot of fields, which can look intimidating until you know what each line is for. For every adapter, the parts that matter for "find my IP" are:

• Description: the manufacturer name of the adapter. Useful for telling Intel Wi-Fi from a Realtek Ethernet from a Hyper-V virtual switch.
• Media State: if it says Media disconnected, the adapter is not in use right now and you can skip it.
• DHCP Enabled: tells you whether the address came from a router (Yes) or was manually configured (No).
• IPv4 Address: the line you usually want. The(Preferred) tag means this is the active address for that interface.
• Subnet Mask: defines which addresses are "local" on that segment. 255.255.255.0 is the most common at home.
• Default Gateway: the router IP you would use to reach the admin page or troubleshoot routing.
• DNS Servers: useful when you want to confirm DNS leak behavior or check what resolver the system is using.
• Physical Address: the MAC address of the network card, not the IP.

Once you can read those lines confidently, ipconfig /allbecomes one of the fastest first-step diagnostic tools on Windows.

Public, private, and domain network profiles change firewall behavior

Windows 11 and Windows 10 assign every connected network a profile:Public, Private, or Domain. The IP itself stays the same regardless, but the firewall rules attached to each profile change what other devices can see and reach on the local network.

On a Public profile, Windows assumes you are on untrusted Wi-Fi and blocks file sharing, network discovery, and most inbound rules. On a Private profile, Windows assumes you are at home and opens up sharing. On a Domain profile, an enterprise admin controls the rules. If a printer or NAS is "invisible" even thoughipconfig shows a valid LAN IP, the profile is the first place to check — not the IP itself. The fix is in Settings > Network & Internet > Properties > Network profile type.

Releasing and renewing the DHCP lease on Windows

When a Windows PC shows an IP that looks wrong, or shows 169.254.x.x (which means DHCP failed and the OS fell back to a link-local address), the fix is usually to release and renew the DHCP lease without rebooting. From an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell, run:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns

The first command tells DHCP to give up the current lease, the second requests a fresh one from the router, and the third clears cached DNS entries that may also have gone stale. If you have multiple adapters and only want to refresh Wi-Fi, you can target by name: ipconfig /release "Wi-Fi" followed by ipconfig /renew "Wi-Fi". If renewal still fails, the problem is on the router or DHCP server side, not the PC.

How Windows handles dual-stack IPv4 and IPv6 priority

Most modern home connections give Windows both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address at the same time. That is called dual-stack. The question becomes: which one does Windows actually use when it makes an outbound connection? The answer depends on the destination, the operating system's prefix policy, and the application.

By default, Windows generally prefers IPv6 when both ends support it. That is why a public-IP check on a dual-stack connection sometimes returns an IPv6 address even though the same network also has a working IPv4. If you want to force a particular version for testing, you can run ping -4 example.com or ping -6 example.comand see which path actually responds. For most users, the dual-stack behavior is fine and invisible. For VPN users, it is worth checking that the VPN client handles both versions — see IPv6 Leak Test for the practical check.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my public IP on Windows quickly? Use the homepage checker or a command like curl ifconfig.me.

How do I find my local IP on Windows? Use ipconfig, Settings, or Task Manager.

Why does Windows show several IP addresses? Because you may have multiple active adapters, virtual interfaces, IPv6 entries, and loopback at the same time.

Is the default gateway my public IP?No. It is usually your router's local address on the LAN.

Can my IP change after reconnecting to Wi-Fi? Yes. Your private DHCP address and your public IP can both change depending on the network and ISP behavior.

Does a VPN change my Windows local IP? Usually no. It mainly changes the public-facing path and may add a tunnel adapter.

Related reading: Public vs Private IP, Find My Router IP, Computer IP vs Router IP, and What Is My IP?.