PowerShell New-NetRoute

last modified February 15, 2025

In this article, we will cover the New-NetRoute cmdlet in PowerShell. This cmdlet creates network routes in the IP routing table.

Network routing basics

A network route defines the path network traffic takes to reach a destination. Routes consist of destination networks, gateways, and interface indexes. The New-NetRoute cmdlet adds static routes to the routing table. These routes persist until manually removed or the system restarts.

Basic New-NetRoute usage

The simplest way to use New-NetRoute requires destination prefix, next hop, and interface index. The destination prefix specifies the target network. The next hop is the gateway IP address for the route.

route1.ps1

New-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "192.168.2.0/24" -NextHop "192.168.1.1" -InterfaceIndex 12

This command adds a route for the 192.168.2.0/24 network via gateway 192.168.1.1 using interface 12. The route will be active immediately.

Adding a persistent route

By default, routes created with New-NetRoute are not persistent. Use the -PolicyStore parameter with "PersistentStore" to make them survive reboots. Persistent routes are stored in the registry and reapplied at startup.

route2.ps1

New-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "10.0.0.0/8" -NextHop "192.168.1.2" `
    -InterfaceIndex 12 -PolicyStore PersistentStore

This command creates a persistent route for the 10.0.0.0/8 network. The backtick (`) is a line continuation character in PowerShell. The route will remain after system restart.

Setting route metric

Route metric determines the priority when multiple routes exist for the same destination. Lower metrics have higher priority. Use the -RouteMetric parameter to specify this value. The default metric is usually sufficient.

route3.ps1

New-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "172.16.0.0/16" -NextHop "192.168.1.3" `
    -InterfaceIndex 12 -RouteMetric 5

This command adds a route with a metric of 5. If another route exists for 172.16.0.0/16 with a higher metric, this route will be preferred.

Creating a default route

A default route (0.0.0.0/0) handles traffic when no specific route exists. This is commonly used to direct traffic to the internet gateway. The same principles apply as with regular routes.

route4.ps1

New-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "0.0.0.0/0" -NextHop "192.168.1.254" `
    -InterfaceIndex 12 -PolicyStore PersistentStore

This command creates a persistent default route via gateway 192.168.1.254. All non-local traffic will use this route unless a more specific one exists.

Adding a route with specific interface

When multiple network interfaces exist, specify which to use with -InterfaceIndex. Find interface indexes using Get-NetAdapter. The index uniquely identifies each network interface on the system.

route5.ps1

$ifIndex = (Get-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet").ifIndex
New-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "192.168.3.0/24" -NextHop "192.168.1.4" `
    -InterfaceIndex $ifIndex

This command first retrieves the interface index for "Ethernet" adapter. Then it creates a route specifically using that interface. This ensures the route uses the correct physical or virtual network interface.

Source

PowerShell documentation

In this article, we have covered the New-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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