How to Use the Windows 10 Network Packet Sniffer
By Timothy Tibbettson 06/28/2023 |
One of the things we love about Windows is discovering and using hidden tools that are just waiting for advanced users to find. For example, when Microsoft released the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, they slipped in a network packet sniffer that any networking geek will appreciate. Here's how to use it.
The Windows 10 Network Packet Sniffer is described and "Monitor internal packet propagation and packet drop reports" so we know the main goal is to diagnose networking problems, potentially eliminating the need to download third-party tools, including Wireshark.
Open PowerShell or Command Prompt as Administrator.
Type in pktmon.
You can now see a list of possible commands and options.
Anyone who's used the Command Prompt can figure it out from here, but let's look at one example of how to use the packet sniffer.
We'll begin by looking at the Start and Stop commands, which will start or stop packet capture and event collection.
Rather than just use the Start command, let's type in pktmon help, which can show you all possible options.
Scroll down to the bottom to see examples, which can help make sense of the many available options.
You might need to try a few things, of course. As you can see, we're learning how everything works and figuring it out as we go by reading any errors until we figure out what we want to type to get the results we want.
Poke around, try some commands, and have fun with it.
If you find that the Windows 10 packet sniffer does not suit your needs, check out the MajorGeeks networking section here.
Similar:
How to See Your Network Adapter Speed in Windows 10
Can’t Connect to This Network Error
How to Use the Ping Command in Windows
How to Find Your MAC Address in Windows
How to Turn On or Off Network Discovery (Make this PC Discoverable)
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The Windows 10 Network Packet Sniffer is described and "Monitor internal packet propagation and packet drop reports" so we know the main goal is to diagnose networking problems, potentially eliminating the need to download third-party tools, including Wireshark.
Open PowerShell or Command Prompt as Administrator.
Type in pktmon.
You can now see a list of possible commands and options.
Anyone who's used the Command Prompt can figure it out from here, but let's look at one example of how to use the packet sniffer.
We'll begin by looking at the Start and Stop commands, which will start or stop packet capture and event collection.
Rather than just use the Start command, let's type in pktmon help, which can show you all possible options.
Scroll down to the bottom to see examples, which can help make sense of the many available options.
You might need to try a few things, of course. As you can see, we're learning how everything works and figuring it out as we go by reading any errors until we figure out what we want to type to get the results we want.
Poke around, try some commands, and have fun with it.
If you find that the Windows 10 packet sniffer does not suit your needs, check out the MajorGeeks networking section here.
Similar:
How to See Your Network Adapter Speed in Windows 10
Can’t Connect to This Network Error
How to Use the Ping Command in Windows
How to Find Your MAC Address in Windows
How to Turn On or Off Network Discovery (Make this PC Discoverable)
comments powered by Disqus
