7

My Mac Mini is connected in a network (LAN). As every one knows, each connected machine in a network has a unique IP address.

My Mac mini's IP address is: 192.168.32.164

My Mac is connected to the network with other computers.

In Windows I could easily find the IP address by clicking on:

  • local area connection ( taskbar right side icon - right beside clock )
  • right click on local area network symbol
  • click on status
  • click on properties
  • click on tcp/ip
  • click on properties
  • it will show you, ip address, subnet mask, default gateway, dns server ip etc.

But how do I find my local IP address on my Mac?

2
  • 3
    You may find "ipconfig" on windows is easier than that chain of bullet points ^
    – RJFalconer
    Jan 6, 2010 at 21:29
  • @RJFalconer You are right. Thats funny. If command line is easier to use than GUI - something is wrong with GUI :)
    – Kamil
    Nov 14, 2014 at 6:42

6 Answers 6

6

Fastest way: Using Spotlight (CMD + Space) type

Network Utility

which will open the OSX Network Utility Window

It will show the IP address(es) for all your adapters on the first pane.

2
  • Probably the fastest way, but i was trying to specify a mouse centric solution, since that was how the question implied - the windows question was mouse-tastic ;-) Jan 6, 2010 at 21:42
  • Yes. your solution is more fastest. Jan 7, 2010 at 1:24
6

In addition to @DaveParillo's answer, you can use the Terminal command ifconfig, which'll give output like this:

en0: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    inet6 fe80::21d:4fff:fe47:f4f8%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4 
    inet 10.6.29.76 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.6.29.255
    ether 00:1d:4f:47:f4:f8 
    media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>) status: active
    supported media: autoselect 10baseT/UTP <half-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,flow-control> 100baseTX <half-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control> 1000baseT <full-duplex> 1000baseT <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control>

'en0' is my Ethernet connection, and my IP address appears after 'inet'.

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  • Good answer. This is what I would do, but was trying to avoid a CLI style answer. Jan 6, 2010 at 21:40
  • You can also ifconfig | grep inet which will only print the lines with IP addresses from this whole chunck of text.
    – Ory Band
    Jun 20, 2011 at 12:09
6

Use the "Network Utility" app found in the Applications -> Utilities subdirectory (or launch it using Spotlight).

Choose the network interface (wired/wireless) on the "Info" view and it will show you the IP address and other details of your network connection.

Or

Open the System Preferences app and click on Network. Click on the appropriate connection on the left hand side and it will show you the IP address right under the connection's status.

1
  • this is the most easiest way. Jan 6, 2010 at 21:36
4

If I understand your question, can do this:

To find the IP address of a Mac OS or Mac OS X computer:

OS X 10.5

  1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences... . In System Preferences, from the View menu, select Network.

  2. In the Network preference window, click a network port (e.g., Ethernet, AirPort, modem). If you are connected, you'll see its IP address under "Status:".

OS X 10.4 or 10.3

  1. From the Apple menu, select Location, and then Network Preferences... .

  2. In the Network Preference window, next to "Show:", select Network Status. You'll see your network status and your IP address displayed.

From http://kb.iu.edu/data/aapa.html#mac

2

While your question implies the usage of a mouse in a GUI to get the IP address, an easy way from the terminal/command line is to use a combo of ifconfig and grep like this; note I am showing my actual output but changing IP addresses connected to me to 123.456.789.1 for this example:

ifconfig | grep "inet "

And that would return something like this:

inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
inet 123.456.789.1 net mask 0xffffc000 broadcast 123.456.127.255
inet 192.168.56.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.56.255

The first address of 127.0.0.1 is the localhost loopback address, 123.456.789.1 is the address connected to en0 on my Mac Mini (aka: the main Ethernet port) and the 192.168.56.1 is vboxnet0 which is connected to my local install of VirtualBox.

But that can be confusing if you definitely just want a clean IP address. If you know the interface name of the connection you need an IP address from you can just run this command; let’s assume you want en0 which is the main Ethernet port on my Mac Mini:

ipconfig getifaddr en0

The output would be a clean IP address like this:

123.456.789.1

Which is nicer to use and read in scripts.

Now how would you know your interface name? Easy! Just run ifconfig without any parameters like this:

ifconfig

And the output would be something like this:

lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
    options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
    inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 
    inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
    inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1 
    nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=10b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,AV>
    ether aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
    inet6 fe80::ab12:cd34:ef56:aba2%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4 
    inet 123.456.789.1 net mask 0xffffc000 broadcast 123.456.127.255
    nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
    media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
    status: active
bridge0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=63<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4,TSO6>
    ether aa:20:66:d1:18:00 
    Configuration:
        id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0
        maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
        root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0
        ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
    member: en3 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
            ifmaxaddr 0 port 6 priority 0 path cost 0
    nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
    media: <unknown type>
    status: inactive
vboxnet0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    ether 0a:00:27:00:00:00 
    inet 192.168.56.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.56.255

And yes, that can seem like a daunting wall of gibberish, but basically look for the items like en0: and then look for the inet connected to that. Once you have confirmed with interface name you need an IP address from, the whole setup of ipconfig getifaddr en0 will it easier to get an IP address moving forward.

1

Typing "IP Address" in spotlight gives you "Network" as an option under "System preferences". Clicking that takes you straight to the appropriate window inside the correct pane in System Preferences. Amazing. Try doing that with the "Find" option in Windows.

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