Fastest method to determine my PC's IP address (Windows)

This may seem trivial but I'm looking for the quickest method to determine my PC's IP address within my network.

• This changes regularly as I connect from one network to the next via DHCP
• The connection changes from wired to wireless
• Windows 7 PC (although ideally the perfect solution would work on all versions of Windows)
• Various adapters installed (e.g. VMWare, Tunnels, etc.)

I need to know this as I often run a local web server where I need to access files over the local network... and since it changes regularly I want the fastest method to retrieve the address.

My current flow is:

1. WindowsKey + R to open the Run dialog
2. "cmd" + Enter to open a command prompt
3. "ipconfig" + Enter to get the diagnostics info
4. Scroll to or resize the window so that I can see the line in my Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection for my ipv4 Address
5. Remember it to type elsewhere... or
6. Right click > select Mark > highlight the address > press Enter to copy it to the clipboard

This wasn't so bad with Windows XP when I had no additional adapters, tunnels, wireless connections etc. but the amount of data returned with this command makes it hard to pluck out.

Surely there must be a better, faster way! (bonus points if adding it to the clipboard is easily accomplished)

Solution 1:

Type this into a .bat file. You can then create a shortcut to it and place it in the taskbar, start menu, or assign a hotkey.

ipconfig | find "IPv4" | find /V "192.168." | CLIP

What it does: First find returns all the lines that contain IPv4. If you have multiple network adapters, from example from VMWare, you may want to exclude them. That's where find /V comes into play, it finds all lines that do not contain given string. For example, that's what I get after the first find:

>ipconfig | find "IPv4"
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 134.32.72.86
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.229.1
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.230.1

Finally, CLIP copies the output to the clipboard, so you will be left with

>    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 134.32.72.86

If that's not enough maybe someone else can refine it with fancy search patterns.

Solution 2:

Create a shortcut to BGinfo (a program that shows system information on the Windows background). Double-click. : )

Solution 3:

There seemed to be several solutions to this problem and I even came up with one of my own.

Similar to @iglvzx I too used the AutoHotKey utility to create my own utility app.

I've posted the app online here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/177276/ipAddress.exe

I throw my exe into my Startup folder... and it sits quietly waiting until I hit the hotkey:

WindowsKey + I

which then brings up this dialog... allowing me to copy the address with a single click... or navigate to another window as the IP address will display on the app tab on the start bar. I ended up opting out of automatically putting it on the clipboard just in case I had something important on there that I didn't want to accidentally delete.

Here's the source code I used to get the IP address (it makes a presumption that the %A_IPAddress1% is the correct one (but from my testing it always was)):

#SingleInstance
#Persistent

Menu, tray, NoStandard
Menu, tray, add, Exit, ExitAppCompletely

Hotkey, #i, ShowIPAddress
return

ShowIPAddress:
Gui, Add, Text, x50 y8, Your IP Address:
Gui, Add, Edit, x140 y5 ReadOnly vIPAddress, %A_IPAddress1%
Gui, Add, Text, x50 y35 w250 vCopiedStatus,

Gui, Add, Button, x70 y65 w75, &Copy
Gui, Add, Button, x150 y65 w75, &Dismiss
Gui, Show, W290 H100 Center, %A_IPAddress1% - IP Address
return

ButtonCopy:
clipboard = %A_IPAddress1%
GuiControl,, CopiedStatus, Copied %A_IPAddress1% to the clipboard
Sleep, 1000
GuiControl,, CopiedStatus,
Sleep, 500

ButtonDismiss:
GuiClose:
Gui, Destroy
Exit

ExitAppCompletely:
ExitApp