How to Trace the Route to a Host with TRACERT in a Batch Script

When you are having trouble connecting to a server or a website, the problem might not be with the destination itself, but with one of the network "hops" along the way between you and it. The tracert (Trace Route) command is a fundamental network diagnostic utility that allows you to see this path. It lists every router your network packets travel through to reach a destination, measuring the latency at each step.

This guide will teach you how to use the tracert command in a batch script. While it's primarily a diagnostic tool, you will learn how to automate this process to log network paths, use its key parameters to speed up the trace, and interpret its output to identify potential network problems.

The Core Command: tracert

The tracert.exe utility works by sending out packets with a progressively increasing Time-To-Live (TTL) value. Each router along the path decrements the TTL. When the TTL reaches zero, the router sends back an error message, identifying itself. tracert uses these responses to build a map of the route.

Syntax:tracert [options] target_host

• target_host: The IP address (e.g., 8.8.8.8) or hostname (e.g., google.com) of the destination.

Basic Example: Tracing the Route to a Website

Let's trace the path from our computer to google.com.

C:\> tracert google.com

The output shows a numbered list of "hops." Each hop is a router on the path.

Tracing route to google.com [142.250.191.174]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  MyRouter.lan [192.168.1.1]
  2     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  my-isp-router.isp.net [10.0.0.1]
  3     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  4    15 ms    14 ms    14 ms  some-backbone-router.com [203.0.113.5]
  5    14 ms    14 ms    15 ms  108.170.245.1
  6    15 ms    14 ms    14 ms  142.251.229.49
  7    14 ms    14 ms    14 ms  dns.google [142.250.191.174]

Trace complete.

How to Read the tracert Output

• Hop Number: The first column is the router number along the path.
• Latency (ms): The next three columns are the round-trip times in milliseconds for three separate test packets. This tells you the latency to that specific hop.
• IP Address / Hostname: The final column is the name and/or IP address of the router at that hop.
• Request timed out.: An asterisk (*) and this message mean that the router at that hop did not respond to the probe. This is very common and does not always indicate a problem.

Using tracert in a Script (Logging the Output)

The most common use for tracert in a batch script is not to make decisions, but to run a trace and save the results to a file for later analysis. This is done with standard output redirection.

This script runs the trace and saves the entire output to a text file for your records.

@ECHO OFF
SET "TargetHost=google.com"
SET "LogFile=TraceLog_%TargetHost%.txt"

ECHO --- Running a traceroute to %TargetHost% ---
ECHO The results will be saved to: %LogFile%
ECHO This may take a minute...

REM Redirect the output of the tracert command to a log file.
tracert %TargetHost% > "%LogFile%"

ECHO.
ECHO --- Trace complete. ---

Key tracert Parameters Explained

These switches can help you control the behavior of tracert, which is especially useful in scripts.

Switch	Description	Recommended for Scripts
-d	Do not resolve addresses to hostnames.	Highly Recommended. DNS lookups at each hop are very slow. Using -d makes the trace much faster.
-h <hops>	Maximum number of hops to search for the target.	Useful for limiting a trace on a very large or complex network.
-w <timeout>	Wait timeout in milliseconds for each reply.	Can be used to speed up a trace by failing faster on unresponsive hops (e.g., -w 500).

note

The "Fast Trace" Syntax: For a much quicker result in a script, use the -d switch: tracert -d 8.8.8.8.

Common Pitfalls and How to Solve Them

• "Request timed out" is not always an error: This is the most misunderstood part of tracert. Many high-security routers on the internet are intentionally configured not to send back the ICMP "TTL expired" message that tracert relies on. It is very common to see one or more hops time out in the middle of a trace, while the final destination is still reachable.

  • Rule of Thumb: A problem is only indicated if the timeouts continue all the way to the end of the trace.

• Trace is Very Slow: By default, tracert performs a reverse DNS lookup for every hop, which can take a long time.

  • Solution: Always use the -d switch in your scripts. This prevents the DNS lookups and makes the trace significantly faster by only dealing with IP addresses.

Practical Example: An Automated Network Path Logger

This script iterates through a list of critical servers and runs a fast, non-resolving traceroute for each one, saving the results to a separate, timestamped log file. This is useful for building a historical record of network paths.

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET "ServerList=8.8.8.8 1.1.1.1 www.github.com"
SET "LogDir=%~dp0TraceLogs"
MKDIR "%LogDir%" 2>NUL

ECHO --- Automated Network Path Logger ---
ECHO Logs will be saved in "%LogDir%"
ECHO.

FOR %%S IN (%ServerList%) DO (
    ECHO Tracing route to %%S...
    
    REM Create a clean filename from the target name.
    SET "SafeName=%%S"
    SET "LogFile=%LogDir%\%%S_trace_%DATE:~10,4%-%DATE:~4,2%-%DATE:~7,2%.log"
    
    REM Run the fast trace and log it.
    tracert -d %%S > "!LogFile!"
)

ECHO.
ECHO --- All traces complete. ---
ENDLOCAL

note

This script uses DelayedExpansion (!LogFile!) to handle the changing variable name inside the loop.

Conclusion

The tracert command is an indispensable diagnostic tool for visualizing the network path between your computer and a remote host.

For effective use in a batch script:

• Its primary purpose is logging and diagnostics, not conditional logic.
• Use output redirection (>) to save the trace results to a file.
• Always use the -d switch to disable DNS resolution, which makes the command significantly faster and more suitable for automation.
• Remember that Request timed out. messages in the middle of a trace are common and do not necessarily indicate a network failure.