Scanning for IP address lets you have better control over your network. With 1-2 commands, you can quickly map out the devices in your network and the IP addresses that they are using. But to understand how to scan a network, first, you need to understand how are IP addresses assigned.
DHCP (Assigning IPs Dynamically)
An automated process in networking, called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), assigns IP dynamic addresses to hosts as soon as they enter the network. In a home or small network, the DHCP server is usually a part of the router. When you come into the network, the router will look for an available IP address in its pool and assign it to you, so that your device can communicate with others without any conflict.
When Fing is first opened, the app will automatically scan the network you're on to find all the different devices that are connected to it. Each device's IP address, physical MAC address, and hostname are shown and can be easily shared and saved. A comprehensive network IP Scanner for Windows OSs. On the basic level, this tool will scan the target network and will show the IP, MAC addresses, NIC vendor, OS Version, logged users, and shared folders of the wired and wireless devices found an easy-to-read list.
Dynamic allocation of IP addresses is a great advantage for both end-users and network admins. But sometimes you would need to have some control in order to manage and troubleshoot your network more efficiently.
What will you learn in this Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn the basic networking skills on how to scan a network for IP addresses. We will scan a network with native OS commands, find which addresses were assigned dynamically, which statically, and test their connectivity.
In the end, we will compare some IP address scanning tools that can give you additional information. To improve your IP addressing insights, even more, we will show you some tools that allow you to track IP addresses and even manage them.
Simple IP Scanning
Operating Systems, like Windows and Linux, come with their own native simple networking set of tools. Commands such as âipconfigâ, âarp -aâ, or âpingâ allow simple scanning and troubleshooting.
The simplest way to get a quick list of IP addresses and their devices connected to your network is with those OS native commands found in the command line. With a list of the assigned IP address and their devices, you can easily find the devices that are causing the most problems.
Reading The OutputFinding your own network adapter configuration
App directory in mac. In the following screenshot, youâll see the output from the ipconfig command. On a Windows, the ipconfig command can be entered through the Command line.
Go to Run > type cmd > type ipconfig
Now you know your subnet, which in this case is 192.168.1.0/24 (using the CIDR range). Now you need to find the rest of the IP address in your network.
Scanning your Network
The job of the ARP protocol is to map IPs to MAC addresses. It provides a method for hosts on a LAN to communicate without knowing any address and create a cache of information. When a new computer enters the LAN, it receives an IP and updates its ARP cache with the Gateway information. This ARP cache can be found using the âarp-aâ command.
Testing Connectivity
Finally, with some information, you can test connectivity. In the following test, we tried an extended ping with âping -tâ to the gateway. With this, you can learn some simple insights about delay and latency.
From the list generated by the ARP command, you could ping all the live hosts. Or you can go beyond and ping the entire subnet to find hosts not found by the ARP (but that would be too much manual workâ¦). Later, weâll discuss how to automatically ping entire subnets at once.
Although having a list of devices and their allocated IP address will give you good insights, the information will not be enough when your network scales. Manual IP scanning in multiple subnets and BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) scenarios is nearly impossible. As the network scales, problems will scale too.
Larger networks demand more results, flexibility, and easy-to-read set of commands.
An IP Address Scanner tool helps you with larger demands. These tools are able to map the entire local network, finds live hosts, and to provide the results of the âarp-aâ in a clearer format. Other IP Scanners do not depend on ARP but they operate using repeated ping tests. A Ping Sweep tool lets you ping entire subnets and find live hosts just with one button.
Some other IP Scanners go the extra mile and give more information such as Port number, DNS, DHCP, etc. All of this data is also presented in the most visual and easy-to-read format. They also allow users to save all results and present them in detailed reports.
Advanced IP Scanners1. Angry IP Scanner
Angry IP Scanner is one of the most popular scanners on the web, with over 29 million downloads. It is open-source, free, and available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It can let you scan your local network or the Internet-facing IP addresses.
This tool is not only capable of scanning IP addresses but also ports. When you define an IP address range, you can also specify a number of the port, and see if a device in your network is using a specific service (defined by the port). Angry IP Scanner also lets you save all the scan results into multiple formats, such as TXT, XML, CVS, etc.
When you scan, youâll know what hosts are alive, their response time, hostname, MAC address, etc. If you want even more information, you can extend results by developing Java plugins.
Price:
Open Source and 100% free.
Download:
Get Angry IP from its official site.
2. SolarWinds Ping Sweep
Ping Sweep from SolarWinds helps you find free IPs and identify which ones are unavailable. It is classified as a networking discovery tool from the SolarWinds Engineerâs Toolset. A comprehensive network software, that includes over 60 handy tools. Ping Sweep from SolarWinds is included in the Engineerâs Toolset and is dedicated for ping testing. For the MAC address, port scans, SNMP scans, etc, there are more dedicated tools in the Engineerâs Toolset.
Just as when you ping from the command line, this tool shows the DNS name for each IP and response time. It can also let you export results in different formats such as CSV, TXT, XLS, and to an HTML page.
Price:
SolarWinds Engineerâs Toolset starts at $1,380.00 and includes over 60 must-have tools.
Download:
Get a fully functional Engineerâs Toolset for 14 days by registering to SolarWinds official site.
IP Address Tracker Tools
Having a map of IP addresses, MAC addresses, used ports, etc, is great for networking inventorying and may help with some troubleshooting cases. But a list can not control and display real-time results.
An IP address Tracker is a good upgrade to our set of tools and commands described so far. It does allow scanning multiple subnets and displaying results, but it also allows you to keep track of one or more IP addresses.
An IP Address Tracker will notice when an IP address is released. This can be either because the device lost connectivity or it changed IP address. It will help you minimize IP addressing conflicts (when two devices are trying to take the same IP) and reduce DNS errors.
3. MyLAN Viewer
MyLAN Viewer is a NetBIOS and IP address scanner for Windows systems. Just like the IP Scanners shown above, this tool will scan a network and show devices in an easy-to-read format.
But MyLANViewer goes beyond, and not only shows computer name, IP, and MAC, but also NIC, OS version, logged users, shared folders, and much more.
This tool is able to track specific IP addresses and show notifications when their state change. With it, you can also keep track of network security by showing port information and detecting rogue DHCP servers. MyLAN Viewer tracks all devices in the subnet including hidden, and displays alerts when new devices enter the network, and others go.
This tool can also display the following metrics as well:
Price:
Free, but only available for Windows systems.
Download:
Get MyLAN Viewer from its official site.
4. SolarWinds IP Tracker
SolarWinds IP Tracker is a standalone software and completely free. In addition to creating inventories of all devices, this tool allows you to scan, track, and manage IP address, including their event logs, all in a single place. SolarWinds IP Tracker is the free version and feature-limited of the much coveted IP Address Manager.
But the IP Tracker does an amazing job to provide a centralized view of the entire IP addressing scheme. It lets you monitor 256 (one subnet) IP addresses for free. Additionally, this tool allows basic management functionalities with tools such as, Ping, Telnet, Traceroute. The best of all is that, with SolarWinds IP Tracker you can detect IP address conflicts created by misconfigured DHCP servers.
SolarWinds IP Tracker is only supported by Windows systems.
Price:
100% Free.
Download:
Register in SolarWinds to download the software for free.
IP Address Management (IPAM)
Basic IP Address Scanning should be enough to manage small networks. But when networks scale they depend on multiple subnets and detailed management requirements. Although SolarWinds IP Tracker is able to find IP address conflicts, it is not able to control them.
Sometimes large-scale networks have standalone DHCP and DNS Servers in order to assign addresses to multiple subnets. But IP conflicts occur and it is really challenging to manage them manually. An IP Address Management or âIPAMâ is a piece of software able to actively control DHCP and DNS. It also gives you the ability to manage multiple subnets.
5. SolarWinds IP Address Scanner
Among SolarWinds powerful tools, the IP Address Manager does everything a large-scale enterprise needs to manage its addresses properly. It automates many processes to make IP Address management easier. From automated IP address tracking, quick static IP reservations, to multi-vendor DHCP and DNS support.
SolarWinds IPAM comes with an integrated IP address management, DHCP, and DNS tools to administer your entire network.
One of the most commonly used tools from this bundle is the IP Address Scanner. This tool allows you to create automated IP address scans to maintain an updated inventory of all IP address blocks in the network. This is achieved by sending regular ICMP and SNMP polls. The automatic scans use ICMP polls to gather status of the IP address and hostname information. It also uses SNMP to find information on MAC addresses and other vendor information. SolarWinds IP Address Scanner supports both IPv4 and IPv6 address management.
SolarWinds IPAM also provides detailed reports of your IP address in real-time.
Soundcloud app mac os. Price:
Download the Free Trial for 30 Days!
Download:
Get a fully functional SolarWinds IPAM for 30 days by registering to SolarWinds official site.
WiFi technology is everywhere these days and it seems almost every electronic device around has a wireless network connection of some sort. Laptops, tablets, smartphones, digital cameras, printers, gaming consoles, smart home devices, and many other things can connect to each other or the internet through a WiFi connection. A wireless network setup also presents its own set of problems when it comes to your own home network and the devices attached to it.
Setting up your own WiFi network with adequate protection like WPA2 and a strong password is vital. But that still doesnât mean other people arenât using your network without your knowledge. Itâs possible friends, neighbors, or family members have shared the WiFi credentials with others and people you donât know could have access to your network and your shared files. While many routers have additional security measures such as MAC address filtering, these might not be configured or someone has circumvented them.
A lot of modern routers will give you a list of the wired and wireless devices making a connection to the network, but some do not and some people wouldnât actually know how to find that information. Another simple way is using a tool to get the list of connected devices, hereâs 7 for you to try out.
1. Wireless Network Watcher
Wireless Network Watcher is another one of Nirsoftâs small and useful tools that does what itâs supposed to very well. The good thing is it requires no setting up of IP address ranges and starts scanning your main network adapter automatically for connected devices. If you wish to scan a different adapter or a custom IP address range, use the Advanced Options by pressing F9.
Scanning the IP range is fast and only takes a few seconds, after which you get information like IP address, device name, MAC address, adapter manufacturer, detection count, and activity state. The âUser Textâ column can be used to enter your own custom message or label to help with identification. Double click the entry to add your own text.
While Wireless Network Watcher is open, a background scan continuously looks through the IP range to detect new and disconnected devices. You can set a tray balloon and audio warning when devices are detected or disconnected. Turn on âPut Icon on Trayâ to enable tray notifications. The background scan interval can be set from the Advanced Options window (F9). A portable or installer version is available.
Download Wireless Network Watcher
2. Fing Desktop
Fing Desktop is the PC and Mac version of the popular Fing mobile app. A drawback with Fing is you have to create a free online account but temporary email services do work. The installer is also a sizeable 70MB+. Once you have created your Fing account, installed the software, and connected the two together, click on Scan for devices in the âYour current networkâ section of the Home window.
Fing has the best device identification system weâve seen to try and detect whatâs on the network. The details column will likely already show an accurate description, the type and class of device, and even the operating system of a remote device. If it doesnât, click on a device in the list. Youâll get a whole page of information about the connected device, the option to manually edit the name, and a recognize button.
With recognize, you can manually search for and find the right name from an internal database. You can even use a QR code or a local web address to help identify connected devices. Fing is more likely than any other program to help correctly identify tricky or unknown devices. Using the âSee insightsâ button shows everything as categories like brand names, product types, used operating systems, and smart home.
Download Fing Desktop
3. SoftPerfect WiFi Guard
WiFi Guard is like a more basic version of SoftPerfect Network Scanner that is more suited for detecting unknown or unauthorized network connections. It will scan your network for connected devices and rescan every xx minutes, popping up a message if a new unknown connection has been found. Softperfect made many of their tools shareware only a few years ago, this is the last free version of WiFi Guard from 2017.
If you have more than one active network adapter the program will pop up the settings window on launch to select the adapter you want to scan. Otherwise, you will be taken to the main window where pressing Scan Now will detect all devices connected to the network.
For every red marked connection you know is authorized, double click on it and tick the âI know this computer or deviceâ box, that will tell the program the device is known and to ignore it on scans. While running or minimized, WiFi Guard will rescan between 0 and 60 minutes (default is 30 mins) and popup a message on screen if a new unknown device has been detected.
Download Softperfect WiFi Guard
4. GlassWire
GlassWire is a very well known piece of software that is part firewall, part network activity monitor, and part network usage monitor. Itâs also a very visually appealing program with a great looking user interface. Another feature it has is being able to scan the network and list connected devices while notifying you about their activity.
Once you install GlassWire, you donât have to set anything up to see the connected WiFi and ethernet devices. Just press on Things at the top of the window and the list will be shown. There is information for IP address, MAC address, first seen time, and the network adapter manufacturer. Hover over the name and a small box will appear to the right where you can enter a more recognizable name or label.
GlassWire can scan for devices every xx minutes. Enable the âThings scan intervalâ and adjust the time in Settings > General. Thereâs also an option to show desktop notifications when devices are joining or leaving the network, or when new unknown devices connect. Go to Settings > Security, click the Unlock button, click on âThings Monitorâ and set the notification to what you want.
Download GlassWire
5. Advanced IP Scanner
This is an all round network administration tool that can do a number of tasks in addition to scanning your network for connections. Thereâs also remote options to Wake-on-LAN and shutdown, connect via HTTP/FTP as well as remote control with Remote Desktop and Radmin. Of course, those features are handy but unnecessary for simply scanning your network for wireless connections.
By default Advanced IP Scanner will set the address ranges for all connections on the computer, only the range that the WiFi connections are likely to be on will need to be scanned, such as 192.168.0.1 â 254. If you only have one active connection, thereâs no need to touch the IP range.
After the scan, all connections will show along with the wireless device manufacturer, MAC address, and its name. Advanced IP Scanner doesnât have to be installed and the option to run it as portable can be selected when running the setup executable. If you want to easily identify less obvious entries in the future, right click on the connection and select either Rename or âEdit commentâ to add your own note.
Download Advanced IP Scanner
6. Angry IP Scanner
Angry IP Scanner is a Jave based multi platform tool that also works on Mac and Linux. This will obviously mean the Java Runtime Environment needs to be installed on your computer. The tool simply pings every IP address in the selected range for a response and then displays the result along with the information you ask for in the Fetchers window.
You can enter a range of addresses yourself or click the IP button and select the correct network adapter. Then click the drop down to its right to choose the range, /26 will scan up to 63, /24 will scan up to 255 and etc. You can also choose your own IP list text file if you have a complicated setup. The scanning process is quite fast because the program scans using multiple threads.
To see only the hosts that respond to a ping, go to Preferences > Display and choose âAlive hosts onlyâ. The Fetchers for comments, MAC address, and MAC vendor are not turned on by default so you will have to enable them yourself. Double click an entry in the list to add your own comment.
Download Angry IP Scanner
7. Who Is On My WiFi
Sadly, the last free version of Who Is On My WiFi (4.0.5) was in 2018 as the developer shifted focus to its paid analytics service. This toolâs main task is to identify devices your network and warn you when unknown connections are made. You control which connected devices are classed as known or unknown.
On the first launch, cancel the wizard and the program will start a scan (it looks like nothing is happening). If you need to set a custom IP range different to the one shown in the interface, go to Settings > âScan Optionsâ and enter the range you need. If you are not sure go to the Diagnostic tab in Settings and click âDetect IP Rangesâ to see what your network is currently using.
Select each known connection in the list and set its state to KNOWN from the drop down. Optionally add a description by double clicking on âTYPE IN NAMEâ. Finally press Save Changes. Who Is On My WiFi pops up a visual and audible message when an unknown network device is detected. By default, it will scan every 5 minutes although you can change this time to between 5 and 30 minutes in the settings.
Who Is On My WiFi requires .NET 3.5 to be installed on Windows 10 or 8. During testing, it didnât pop up a tray notification on some Windows 10 machines while it did on others.
Download Who Is On My WiFi
You might also like:5 Tools To Monitor Your Wireless Network Signal Strength5 Tools to Scan Connected Computers on the Local Network and Find Shared FoldersConnect Computers Together using Ad Hoc Wireless for Sharing the Internet and Files4 Ways to Automatically Disable Wireless Network Connection when Local Area Connection is Enabled10 Ad-Free Programs to Share Wireless Internet Connection in Windows
Rax33 mins ago
This post helps me to detect devices that are connected to my wifi.
Thank you.
Reply
I used Who Is On My WiFi for years. Recently it stopped letting me mark unknown devices as known, and enter a name/description for them. I contacted the vendor and learned it is no longer supported. This is unfortunate as it did exactly what I wanted, and no more.
Reply
BaliRob1 year ago
I noticed the warning âA device is connected to HotSpotâ on my Android Huawei Reply
Honor. Rcently I have notice that my data credit was expiring well before the 30-day time limit whereas before I always had 1/2 GB in hand. I understand from these comments that youngsters are buying apps for stealing WiFi from around them. This app must circumvent my password, which is extremely complicated, and fear that their scanning will be successful again very soon. As I only use HotSpot to piggyback with another phone when out of credit I was not too concerned. BUT, on further reflection, I very much feel that my credit is being stolen in the few days leading up to the expiry date of the Data all the time and without using WiFi on those occasions at all. Any suggstions as to how I can combat these thieving bxxxxxds would be most welcome. I have no idea how to use ENCRYPTION if that is one of the kindly suggestions.
Glad I found this! At the apartments where I live, weâve been having an ongoing issue with people (mostly teenagers) hanging around the buildings and using apps that let their devices connect to other peopleâs wifi. Now we donât have to worry about if there are unknown devices connected to our internet. Thank you!
Reply
ABDULLA BAIG4 years ago
Thank you â¦For posting a valuable Informationâ¦Even an unknown person can easily understand by seeing this article â¦â¦.Wireless Network Watcher is very useful and simple one to see others using our wifi nteworkâ¦â¦â¦.
Reply
Helpful article. This really important for all the users to know who using their wifi. Otherwise, they will lost their valuable data. Your article is excellent. Thanks fr sharing.
Reply
Aaron Bennett4 years ago
You can use a program called âfingâ it is available for smartphones, tablets, computers etc. Reply
It not only scans and identifies devices but it also has scanning options for device services
Well I can see everything via router settings.
I can even limit accounts, log them off, change their speed
turn networks off and different times, example my
daughters will go off between 21:00-06:00.
Software is ok and saves time. Thanks for it.
Reply
avi9 years ago
Nice update. Iâm quite a big follower of your posts. I also work around to find the solution but not like you (haha).
Reply
In addition to having MAC filtering + WPA2 security enabled on my router, I have flashed it using DD-WRT as well. The DD-WRT interface shows at a glance all DHCP clients that have been assigned IP addresses
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Don9 years ago
Raymond, Reply
Thank you! Now I will know whoâs hacking on my router. =)
Couldnât have been more easy to install and using right now. Thank you for the great information and link to the Wireless Network Watcher by Nir Sofer!
Reply
Mark9 years ago
Nirsoft always has great and useful tools. I love learning about new ones through your blog.
Reply
wow a BIG thanks to your article raymond now I can detect who illegally uses our Wifi.
Honestly iâm not expecting an article respond from this site about my network problem question and Iâm so happy.
Thanks for the Big Help.
(Iâll try it as soon as possible)
Reply
RAN9 years ago
Thank you very much. Useful info.
Reply
Thanks Raymond.
Reply
Wh1t3c0d3r9 years ago
Thanks Raymond! A very useful app to have with me!
Wh1t3c0d3r
Reply
Thank you very much for sharing this software !
Reply
pala9 years ago
Useful info thanks Raymond How to optimize apps on mac.
Reply
No self-respecting geek would ever be without ALL of NirSoftâs freeware utilitiesâ¦
Mac App To Scan For Network Devices Connected Devices
â¦and those by Sysinternals, too.
And the hands-down best tool for managing/using those is this freeware badboyâ¦
kls-soft.com/wscc/index.php
Hope the helps.
_____________________________ Reply
Gregg L. DesElms Napa, California USA gregg at greggdeselms dot com
a9 years ago
Thank you very much
Reply
You donât need software for this. Every router will display connected devices to your network in itâs logs .
Mac App To Scan For Network Devices Connected Mcgraw-hillReply
Irene9 years ago
Really helpful â thanks :)
Reply
nice info ray,thanks
Reply
Firas9 years ago
nice software , thanks
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Thank you Raymond
Reply
bloomnido9 years ago
Very useful share thanks â¦
Reply
Good post.
Thanks Ray
Mac App To Scan For Network Devices Connected WirelesslyReplyMac App To Scan For Network Devices Connected DeviceLeave a ReplyComments are closed.
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