Your IP address is a number that identifies your computer its network. To learn more about what an IP address is, read “What is an IP Address?” You are probably dealing with two different IP addresses: an internal IP address which identifies your computer on your home network (if you have a router), and a single external IP address assigned by your ISP that identifies all computers on your home network to the outside world.
Finding Your External IP
Finding your external IP address is pretty simple because there are a lot of websites that will tell it to you. If you do a search for “what is my ip” you’ll find a lot of them. Many of the top results will do the job, but will also show you a lot of ads and pop-up windows. Whatismyip.org displays your IP and nothing else.
Finding Your Internal IP
You need to check your network settings in order to find the internal IP address that has been assigned by your router.
- Windows: Click Start → Run → enter “cmd” and hit Enter. At the command prompt, type ipconfig and hit Enter. Look for “IP Address” or “IP v4 Address”.
- OS X: Go to System Preferences → Network → Advanced → TCP/IP. Look for “IP v4 Address”.
