PowerShell Get-NetRoute

last modified February 15, 2025

In this article, we will cover the Get-NetRoute cmdlet in PowerShell. This cmdlet retrieves IP route information from the network stack. It shows how traffic is routed between network interfaces.

Network routing basics

A network route defines the path network traffic takes to reach its destination. Routes contain destination networks, next hops, and interface indexes. The Get-NetRoute cmdlet displays the IP routing table. This table determines where packets are forwarded based on their destination IP.

Basic Get-NetRoute usage

The simplest way to use Get-NetRoute is without any parameters. This lists all IP routes in the routing table. The output includes destination prefixes, next hops, and interface indexes. Each route is represented as a NetRoute object.

route1.ps1

Get-NetRoute

This command retrieves all routes from the IP routing table. The output shows destination networks, next hops, and interface metrics. Default routes appear as 0.0.0.0/0.

Filter routes by destination prefix

You can filter routes by destination prefix using the -DestinationPrefix parameter. This shows routes matching a specific network address. Wildcards are supported for partial matching. This helps when troubleshooting routing for specific networks.

route2.ps1

Get-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "192.168.*"

This command returns all routes for 192.168.x.x networks. The asterisk acts as a wildcard matching any octet values. This is useful for viewing local network routes.

PS C:\> .\route2.ps1

ifIndex DestinationPrefix    NextHop       RouteMetric PolicyStore
------- -----------------   ------       ------------ -----------
    15 192.168.1.0/24      0.0.0.0             256 ActiveStore
    15 192.168.1.15/32     0.0.0.0             256 ActiveStore

Get routes for a specific interface

Routes can be filtered by network interface using the -InterfaceIndex parameter. Each interface has a unique index number. This shows routing information for a specific network adapter. Use Get-NetAdapter to find interface indexes.

route3.ps1

Get-NetRoute -InterfaceIndex 15

This command returns all routes associated with interface index 15. The output shows how traffic is routed through this specific network adapter.

View detailed route information

The default table format can be changed using Format-List for detailed route information. This shows all available properties of the route object. You can also select specific properties using Select-Object.

route4.ps1

Get-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "0.0.0.0/0" | Format-List *

This command shows all properties of the default route in list format. The output includes route metrics, policies, and protocol information.

Filter routes by route metric

You can filter routes based on their metric value using Where-Object. The metric determines route priority when multiple paths exist. Lower metrics indicate preferred routes. This helps analyze routing decisions.

route5.ps1

Get-NetRoute | Where-Object { $_.RouteMetric -lt 50 }

This command lists routes with metrics less than 50. The $_ variable represents the current route in the pipeline. Adjust the threshold as needed for your analysis.

Source

PowerShell documentation

In this article, we have covered the Get-NetRoute cmdlet in PowerShell.

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My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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