I've noticed that on a few of the xp machine's I have worked on, some of them will not ping. Whenever I try to ping, I get the message, "'ping' is not recognised as an internal or external command" About 2 month's ago, someone showed me the directory the ping command file was in, and i could ping from that directory, but not any others. Can anyone tell me what directory on windows XP has the ping file? ps. When I ping (usually from any directory), I click start, run, type in CMD in the command propt, I type ping (space) ip address. I work for an ISP and I do alot of pinging from XP machines, I have only came across about 5 machines that have this problem in the last 2 years. Thanks for any help. james.

C:\windows\system32 directory is where ping.exe is located. KTTD

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/proddocs/ping.asp http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314067 ======================================= Maybe a firewall , is stopping it ! Turn it off . ====================================== http://www.computer-forums.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5158&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=&sid=967547c7ea38828a8a83336132a9a22a http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/proddocs/standard/sag_DNS_tro_UsingIpconfigFlushdns.asp IPCONFIG /flushdns To flush and reset a client resolver cache using the ipconfig command =========================================== The Host file may be the cause . http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=613462#post613462 http://www.smartin-designs.com/ http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/faq.html#2 First of all, using 127.0.0.1 in your HOST file is not a great idea. It is a good idea, but not great. The reason, 127.0.0.1 is a real and valid IP. If you have a very large HOST file, your machine is going to be looking for the server on your machine. e.g. You have "adserver.com" listed as 127.0.0.1 in your HOST file. Every time you visit a page and "adserver.com" is in the html, your computer is going to actively look for that server on your computer. You do this with enough pages and your computer will spend resources looking for the server on your computer - every time. Another side effect of this, you will notice your "back" button doesn't work very well. Sometimes, your back button will stick on the same page, because, it is trying to connect to the last server process to time out: "adserver.com" - loopback. You may need to click "back" two or three times to get back one page. It is a big pain becasue it can really mess up being able to go back. And if your HOST file is located on a server accessed by many comps, you will notice the traffic slows other functions. THis site is a great example of the above. The solution is to use a valid IP format, but not a valid address. 0.0.0.0 is a valid IP format, but an invalid IP. Your computer will not search for the server on your computer and as a result, it will not slow the computer or cause your "back" button to operate incorrectly. Try pinging "adserver.com" when HOST is 127.0.0.1, you notice, you will get a return, it is a valid and working IP. Now, try pinging "adserver.com" when HOST is 0.0.0.0, you notice an immediate timeout. Save your computer from working needlessly. Change your HOST file lockout IPs to 0.0.0.0 ====================================== If you would like to completely disable your Hosts file, rename it to "Hosts.txt". When you want to use it again, change it back to "Hosts". http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/how_to_use_hosts.html http://www.sover.net/~whoi/Security1.html http://members.rogers.com/hfc/HostFileChecker.zip Host File Checker Searches through your System's Host file and removes duplicate entries from the Host file. Your Host file allows you to block sites of your choice by IP or name. Ensure that comments have been taken out of the Host File since it will most likely include that as part of the duplication check.