Find which hop drops packets on Windows (pathping)
The forgotten Windows gem: tracert plus sustained per-hop loss measurement in a single command, built into every Windows since 2000.
01Command
$ pathping -q 10 -p 100 example.com02What it does
pathping first traces the route like tracert, then sends roughly 100 packets per hop (customizable with -q) and builds a loss table, distinguishing losses at the hop itself from losses on onward links — the last column. This is exactly what third-party tools like mtr do, but it ships with Windows. The default run takes about five minutes, so lower the query count (-q 10) and inter-packet period (-p 100) for quicker triage.
03Risk
04Undo
✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.
05Sources
- pathping | Microsoft LearnEvidence: Microsoft documents pathping as sending echo requests to each router on the path over a time period and computing the percentage of packets lost at each hop, with -q for queries per hop and -p for the period.
- PATHPING - Windows CMDEvidence: SS64 describes pathping as combining ping and tracert and lists the options -q, -p, -w and the default 100-packet test per hop.
Last verified: 2026-09-17 · Category: Network
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