If you only knew how easy some things are, such as tracing an IP address. Hollywood has made it look like an elitist feat that a Harvard dropout does in his dorm room or a genius hacker does in an espionage thriller.
Either way, it is not as tricky as it looks on film, once you get the hang of it. Agreed, that is true for practically anything, but it is truly as easy as typing a few words on the keyboard. You just have to remember them in the hour of need.
The need to trace an IP usually arises when you want to know the approximate location of the origin of an email from an unknown sender or some URL that is filling up your spam.
To give credit where it’s due, those film geniuses can track individuals down to their living rooms. This method will locate only the IP address and location of the hosting server, which is like a general post office that collects the mail from local post offices to deliver them wherever required.
- Method 1: Using Command Prompt in Windows
- Method 2: Using Terminal in a Mac
- Method 3: Trace the IP Address of an Email
Contents
Method 1: Using Command Prompt in Windows
You can obtain the IP address of a website using Command Prompt in Windows. Then, you can use an online tool to trace that IP address.
Step 1. Open Command Prompt
Press "Windows logo key + R" to open the Run window. Type “cmd.exe” and press the “OK” button or the Enter key to open the Command Prompt window.
Windows 8 users can press “Windows logo key + X” and select “Command Prompt” from the menu. Type “cmd.exe” in the Run window and press Enter.
Step 2. Type the command for tracing the IP
Tracert Command
In the Command Prompt window, type "tracert www.websitename.com" and press Enter.
The IP address will appear beside the website name in square braces.
Ping Command
Type "ping www.websiteNAME.com" and press Enter.
The IP address will appear beside the website name in square braces.
Step 3. Trace the IP
Open www.whatismyipaddress.com
Click on the option “IP LOOKUP”.
Copy the IP address obtained in the previous steps, paste it in the IP address search bar on the website and click on the “Lookup IP Address” button.
Now, you have both the general information and Geolocation of the host server.
Method 2: Using Terminal in a Mac
In a Mac, you can use the Terminal application to find out the approximate location of the origin of a website by using simple command lines.
Step 1. Open Terminal application
Click on “Go” in the menu bar, and select “Utilities”from the drop-down menu.
Within the Utilities folder, you will find the Terminal application.
Step 2. Type the command to find IP address
In the Terminal application, type "traceroute www.websiteNAME.com" and press Enter.
The IP address will be displayed beside the name of the website.
Step 3. Trace the IP
Open www.whatismyipaddress.com.
Click on the option “IP LOOKUP”.
Copy the IP address obtained in the previous step, paste it in the IP address search bar on the website and click on the “Lookup IP Address” button.
You will receive the general information about the host name and the country or region of the website.
Method 3: Trace the IP Address of an Email
There are times when you wish to find out the origin of an email. Tracing its IP address can provide an approximate idea of the location of the hosting server for their email ID.
Step 1. Open the email
Open the email whose IP address you want to trace.
Step 2. Open the source or email header
Click on the drop-down button. In Gmail as well as Outlook, it appears as a down arrow button in the top right corner of the email. From the drop-down menu, select "Show original" in Gmail or "View message source" in Outlook.
A new window will open with a lot of data that seems a bit hard to sift through. It is called the email header.
Step 3. Trace the IP of the email host
Usually, the IP is in the header information, under the “from” section, but looking for an IP address in a huge pile of data can be cumbersome.
It is simpler to find the IP by opening "Trace Email" tab on the whatismyipadress website. Scroll down a bit and you’ll find a Trace Email Analyzer window.
Now, copy the entire contents of the header file, paste it in the Trace Email Analyzer window and click on the “Get Source" button to trace the IP.
It will automatically rummage through the email header and, along with a detailed email analysis (which doesn’t concern you right now) it will identify the IP address and its location.
Additional Tips
- You cannot trace a private IP using the above method. So, the part of an email that originates from private IPs would not be traced.
- You won’t have much luck tracing emails from known service providers as they act as the host to a large number of emails using their domain name.
- Tracing the location of the origin of an email from a lesser known email company is fairly easy.
- The tools mentioned above will give you an approximate idea of the location of the user but not the exact address or the zip code. That would be a clear violation of the privacy of the users.
- The info that you’ll receive will contain the ISP and company name, host’s name for that IP and the country or region.
- Never use the above method to stalk an individual.
- Some hosts may use hiding services, so you might not be able to track down everything.