How To Run Traceroute on macOS

This article explains how you can perform a traceroute on your Mac. You may use traceroute to diagnose network routing issues (e.g., connectivity problems) and other related problems because it is a a network diagnostic tool.

There are two ways to do this:

1. Via the Terminal app
2. Via the Network Utility app

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To run traceroute on a Mac using the Terminal app

1-Launch the Terminal app. To open the Terminal app, you can:

1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal. Or alternatively,
2. You may open it using Spotlight, open spotlight and search Terminal.

2-Type the following command and press Enter

traceroute hostname

In this command, hostname is the name of the server connection you are testing, like macreports.com. This could be a domain name or an IP address. For example, if we want to find the traceroute result for macreports, here is the command you need to enter:

traceroute macreports.com 

As you can see above, you do not need to enter the “https://” or “www.” section of the website’s address.

3-It may take up to a few minutes for your Mac to complete the process. Your Mac will generate a list of connections between your computer and its destination.

If you see * signs, that means “Request Timed Out”. Just wait. Then you may review the results.

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To run traceroute on a Mac using the Network Utility app

You may also use the Network Utility app. Here is how:

1-Open the Network Utility app

1. You can find Network Utility in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications. Or alternatively:
2. You can use Spotlight to open it.

2-Click the Traceroute tab.

3-Your your domain or IP number, like macreports.com and click Trace.

4-And review the results.

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