This article contains steps to perform a path ping on your computer

You should know

Sometimes our customer care team will ask you to perform a path ping - this is to identify whether there is a problematic server that is causing an issue.

Steps

To perform a path ping (below we show it using Windows):

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows Key + R.
2. A pop up window similar to the below will appear. 
   

   

3. Simply type in the word 'cmd' or 'command' and then click OK.  

   A command window will then open up. 

   

4. Click in the window, then where the cursor is flashing, type in the command 'pathping -4' followed by a space then the website address of the website you want to path ping and press Enter.  For example, if you wanted to do a path ping to google.co.nz you'd enter the command below:
   
   • pathping -4 google.co.nz
     

5. The path ping will then run and the results will show up in your window.  It'll look something like this:

   

6. To copy the results of your path ping:
   

   • Simply - click on the blue bar, right click and then select Edit and then Mark. :

     

   • Mark and highlight the text from the start of the path ping down to the line 'Trace complete.'

   • Click on the top blue window bar, right click and then select Edit and then Copy from the menu. :

     

   • To paste what you've copied, open a new email or blank document, right-click and select Paste.

So what do Ping results mean?

A successful ping is when the server returning the packets of data that the Ping program sent out (with 0% packets lost in the transfer).

This means your connection is passing data correctly and should be able to download web pages and email without difficulty. The higher the time figure is, the slower the selected site is likely to download.
If your ping was unsuccessful, keep reading:

About Unsuccessful Pings

Request timed out - this can mean that either your connection is not passing data correctly (can be settings related), or the server you are pinging is blocking ping access (usually because of a firewall). It can also mean that the target site may be currently down/out of commission.
Unknown host or Bad IP Address - this error means that either the Server/IP Address is invalid, or not routable at all. The most common cause of this error is either you haven't actually connected to the internet yet, or the website you have pinged never existed in the first place.
Destination host unreachable - this error will only happen if you ping an IP number (eg. 203.109.252.3) instead of a server name (eg. www.one.nz). It generally means you haven't connected to the internet yet.
PING : transmit failed, error code - this indicates that there may be a problem with the local computer's network settings, or software. Firewall software has also been known to cause this error. In a worse-case scenario sometimes dial-up networking may need to be reinstalled to replace corrupted files.