Windows tracert shows the responding steps between your computer and a destination. Each row is a hop, the three numbers are separate round-trip-time samples in milliseconds, and the final field is the responding router interface or destination name/address. An asterisk means that a response was not received in time—not automatically that traffic stopped there.
What `tracert` is measuring
tracert traces a route by sending ICMP probes with progressively higher IP time-to-live (TTL) values. A router reduces the TTL as it forwards a packet. When a probe’s TTL expires, the router can return an ICMP “Time Exceeded” message. Windows starts at TTL 1, then increases the value for each subsequent hop until the destination responds or the hop limit is reached.
The output is therefore an ordered list of devices that returned responses, not a guaranteed inventory of every device on the path. Some routers silently discard expired-TTL probes and never appear.
How to read each output row
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Hop number | The position of the responding step, starting at 1 near your computer and increasing toward the destination. |
| First, second and third time | Three separate round-trip-time samples for probes sent at that hop, shown in milliseconds. |
| Address or hostname | The interface that replied, or the destination itself. A hostname appears only when reverse DNS lookup succeeds. |
Hop numbers
A hop usually represents a router or another Layer 3 device that returned a TTL-expired response. It is not necessarily one physical box per row, and a missing hop does not prove that no device exists there.
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The three timing columns
Windows sends three probes for each displayed hop, so three timings are normal. They are samples of round-trip time to that hop, not three parts of one end-to-end measurement. Variation can result from queuing, routing changes, wireless conditions, or a device giving these diagnostic replies a low priority. A fast response from an intermediate hop does not guarantee that an application will be fast, because later links and the application’s own protocol still matter.
The name and address field
The final field identifies the interface that sent the response. Reverse DNS can turn an address into a hostname; a failed lookup leaves an address or may make the name resolution appear slow. Use /d to skip reverse lookups and display addresses without waiting for DNS names.
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What “* * * Request timed out” means
Three asterisks mean that none of the three corresponding responses arrived within the command’s wait period. The device may be forwarding traffic normally while refusing or rate-limiting ICMP time-exceeded messages, or the response may have been delayed or lost.
- A timeout row by itself does not identify a broken router or link.
- If later hops or the destination respond, traffic clearly continued beyond that silent hop; the Microsoft example reaches its destination after three consecutive all-asterisk rows.
- If every row from a point onward times out, the trace shows where responses stopped, but it still cannot prove whether the cause is filtering, a return-path problem, congestion, or an actual forwarding failure.
Interpret the row together with the rest of the trace and with the application symptom you are investigating.
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Interpreting the end of the trace
When the destination appears
A row containing the destination’s address or hostname indicates that the destination replied to the probes. That confirms a response path for this diagnostic traffic, not that every service on the host is reachable or healthy.
When the output stops at asterisks
Windows uses a default maximum of 30 hops. The trace can end because it reached that limit, because the destination or an intermediate network stopped returning the relevant ICMP responses, or because the route is otherwise unreachable. “Trace complete” must be read with the rows: it is not, by itself, a diagnosis of application connectivity.
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Useful reruns and options
Run the command in Command Prompt with a destination hostname or IP address:
tracert example.comFor a cleaner first rerun that avoids reverse-DNS delays, use:
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tracert /d example.com- Skip name resolution:
/ddisplays addresses without resolving hostnames. - Set a larger hop limit:
/h <maximumhops>changes the maximum number of hops when you have a reason to expect a longer route. - Change the wait period:
/w <timeout>sets the wait for each response in milliseconds. The documented default is 4000 ms. - Choose the IP version:
/4forces IPv4 and/6forces IPv6, which helps when the two routes differ.
The documented Windows defaults are a maximum of 30 hops and a 4000-millisecond wait for each corresponding response. Increasing the wait can reveal a delayed response; it cannot make a router that deliberately withholds diagnostic replies disclose itself. Windows help commonly shows both slash-prefixed and hyphen-prefixed switch forms, but the Microsoft command reference uses slash-prefixed switches.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What a trace can—and cannot—prove
It can help you
- See which hops returned diagnostic information and in what order.
- Identify the last responding hop when the destination does not answer.
- Compare routes when you constrain tests to IPv4 or IPv6.
- Spot unusually variable response samples that justify further investigation.
It cannot establish on its own
- That every asterisked hop is broken.
- The cause of an application-level failure such as a web, VPN, or game connection problem.
- That other traffic used exactly the same route; load balancing and different protocols can produce different paths.
- That an intermediate hop’s response time represents the latency experienced by packets continuing to the destination.
When to use `pathping` instead
Use tracert for a quick route and output check. Use pathping when you need sustained evidence about latency or packet loss at intermediate hops. Microsoft documents pathping as sending multiple echo requests over time and calculating results for routers along the route.
| Need | tracert |
pathping |
|---|---|---|
| List responding route hops | Yes; it increases TTL and records routers returning time-exceeded messages. | Yes; it also identifies routers on the route. |
| Timing and loss evidence | Three displayed round-trip samples per hop. | Repeated probes with calculated intermediate latency and packet-loss results. |
| Best role | First-pass interpretation and route narrowing. | Follow-up investigation of persistent latency or loss. |
pathping takes longer to collect results, and its measurements are still probe responses rather than a perfect representation of every application’s traffic.
Quick Recap
A practical troubleshooting sequence
- Run
tracert /d destinationto remove reverse-DNS noise. - Check whether the destination responds and note the last responding hop if it does not.
- Do not label the first all-asterisk row as the failure without checking later rows.
- Repeat with
/4or/6if address families may be taking different routes. - Use
/honly when the default 30-hop limit is plausibly too short, and use/wwhen delayed responses—not silent filtering—are a reasonable possibility. - Run
pathping destinationwhen you need repeated latency and loss measurements, then compare those results with the actual application error and other network evidence.
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