How to Trace Any IP Address

Using a simple trace trick, you can easily look up the IP address and its location for any website. This method uses a command line command to first find the IP address of a given website, and then uses a free online tool to get that IP's location.

You can do this on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Step 1: Open Command Prompt

On Windows, simply type in cmd into the Start menu or Run box.

If using a Mac, all you need to do it open Terminal. On Linux distros, open Bash or any other shell program.

Step 2: Get IP Address for a Website

For this guide, we'll use WonderHowTo as the example site (www.wonderhowto.com). In the command line or terminal window, type in tracert and the address for the website.

When you hit Enter on your keyboard, you'll see all the various routing locations for the website, as well as the final IP address.

Step 3: Get Location

There are several free resources for finding the location of a given IP address, but here we'll use IP-adress. Go to that address, than scroll down to the input box and enter the IP address and hit the "Track IP, host, or website" button.

Note that, yes, you can also just type in the URL for the site you want the location to, so if you don't need the site's IP, you can skip the command prompt steps.

Now you have a map of the exact location for the IP you entered!

For a video guide, check out the tutorial below from Tinkernut.

Cover image and screenshots via WonderHowTo