How to Get an IP Address Using PowerShell in Windows

To get your IP address using PowerShell, run Get-NetIPConfiguration and read the IPv4 address of the adapter that has a default gateway. That’s the address your PC uses on the network:

(Get-NetIPConfiguration | Where-Object IPv4DefaultGateway).IPv4Address.IPAddress

Below I list every address, get the main one with its gateway, return just the address for scripts, and check remote PCs and your public IP. I’ve masked my real addresses in the output.

List all IPv4 addresses with Get-NetIPAddress

Get-NetIPAddress returns every address on every adapter, including ones you never use:

Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 |
    Sort-Object -Property InterfaceAlias |
    ForEach-Object { '{0,-28} {1,-16} {2}' -f $_.InterfaceAlias, $_.IPAddress, $_.PrefixOrigin }

Output:

Ethernet 2                   169.254.244.249  WellKnown
Local Area Connection        169.254.49.236   WellKnown
Local Area Connection* 1     169.254.185.61   WellKnown
Local Area Connection* 2     169.254.50.71    WellKnown
Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1  127.0.0.1        WellKnown
Wi-Fi                        192.168.1.25     Dhcp

Addresses starting with 169.254 mean the adapter didn’t get an address from DHCP, usually because it’s disconnected. 127.0.0.1 is the loopback address every PC has.

Get the main IP address and gateway

Get-NetIPConfiguration groups the address, gateway and adapter together. Filtering on a default gateway picks the adapter you’re actually using:

$config = Get-NetIPConfiguration | Where-Object IPv4DefaultGateway | Select-Object -First 1

"Adapter:  $($config.InterfaceAlias)"
"IPv4:     $($config.IPv4Address.IPAddress)/$($config.IPv4Address.PrefixLength)"
"Gateway:  $($config.IPv4DefaultGateway.NextHop)"

Output:

Adapter:  Wi-Fi
IPv4:     192.168.1.25/24
Gateway:  192.168.1.1

The /24 prefix means the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. Microsoft documents the output in the Get-NetIPConfiguration reference.

Get only the IP address as a string

For scripts, filter out the loopback and 169.254 addresses and expand the IPAddress property:

$ip = Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 |
    Where-Object { $_.PrefixOrigin -in 'Dhcp', 'Manual' -and $_.AddressState -eq 'Preferred' } |
    Select-Object -ExpandProperty IPAddress

"Usable IPv4 address: $ip"
"Type: $($ip.GetType().Name)"

Output:

Usable IPv4 address: 192.168.1.25
Type: String

PrefixOrigin tells you where an address came from: Dhcp, Manual, or WellKnown for loopback and 169.254 addresses. The Get-NetIPAddress reference lists every property.

IPv6 addresses

Change -AddressFamily to IPv6 to see IPv6 addresses. Many are temporary, and global ones are visible on the internet, so be careful before you share them.

Get the IP address of a remote computer

Get-NetIPAddress accepts a CIM session, so you can query another PC. You need admin rights and WinRM on the remote PC:

$session = New-CimSession -ComputerName PC-SALES-07
Get-NetIPAddress -CimSession $session -AddressFamily IPv4 |
    Where-Object PrefixOrigin -in 'Dhcp', 'Manual' |
    Select-Object -Property InterfaceAlias, IPAddress
Remove-CimSession -CimSession $session

To look up another PC’s address by name without remoting, use Resolve-DnsName -Name PC-SALES-07 -Type A. Fixing WinRM errors helps if the session fails.

Get your public IP address

Your public IP is the address websites see, usually your router’s. PowerShell can’t read it locally, so it has to ask an outside service:

Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'https://api.ipify.org'

That sends a request to a third-party site, so only use one you trust. Treat your public IP as private information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Keep exploring networking with PowerShell:

• Test a connection with Test-NetConnection
• Check if a port is open
• Invoke-WebRequest examples
• Enable Remote Desktop