What are the most often used additional options for the Ping utility command that can be used to assist you in troubleshooting network problems? What options or switches are available with the ping command?

here's pings "/?" output: Usage: ping [-t] [-a] [-n count] [-l size] [-f] [-i TTL] [-v TOS] [-r count] [-s count] [[-j host-list] | [-k host-list]] [-w timeout] destination-list Options: -t Ping the specified host until stopped. To see statistics and continue - type Control-Break; To stop - type Control-C. -a Resolve addresses to hostnames. -n count Number of echo requests to send. -l size Send buffer size. -f Set Don't Fragment flag in packet. -i TTL Time To Live. -v TOS Type Of Service. -r count Record route for count hops. -s count Timestamp for count hops. -j host-list Loose source route along host-list. -k host-list Strict source route along host-list. -w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply.

Ping doesn't really help troubleshoot anything. About all it does do is verify connectivity. If you haven't any between your source and target, well, ping's done all it can do and now you can begin troubleshooting. Most common usage for me is: ping -t xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Where -t (which oddly enough doesn't appear in the output of 'ping /?') means continuous ping. Microsoft seemed to think 4 iterations was enough so you have to actually tell it with -t to keep on pinging past 4 if you want/need more. Which is a bit of a pain so I rarely ever use ping on an MS platform. Instead, I log onto a unix or linux box (whenever feasible) and do it from there.

You'd be better off learning other ways to determine the connection. Ping is a very old test and is blocked in many situations. I like to look at the blinky lights. Playing to the angels Les Paul (1915-2009)