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alastairs
Asked: 2009-07-16 06:22:43 +0800 CST

What's the command-line utility in Windows to do a reverse DNS look-up?

  • 772

Is there a built-in command line tool that will do reverse DNS look-ups in Windows? I.e., something like <toolname> w.x.y.z => mycomputername

I've tried:

  • nslookup: seems to be forward look-up only.
  • host: doesn't exist
  • dig: also doesn't exist.

I found "What's the reverse DNS command line utility?" via a search, but this is specifically looking for a *nix utility, not a Windows one.

windows domain-name-system command-line-interface ip reverse-dns

14 Answers

  1. Best Answer
    ping -a w.x.y.z

    Should resolve the name from the IP address if the reverse lookup zone has been set up properly. If the reverse lookup zone does not have an entry for the record, the -a will just ping without a name.

    • 277 
  2. nslookup <ip>

    Does what you're looking for. It will tell you the server you're querying and the result.

    For example:

    c:\>nslookup 192.168.101.39
Server: dns1.local
Address: 192.168.101.24

Name: enigma.local
Address: 192.168.101.39
    • 143

  3. The trouble with "ping" is that it's not strictly a name server lookup tool (like nslookup) - for instance if you ping a hostname, it can be resolved to an IP address by a number of methods: DNS lookup, host file lookup, WINS (god forbid) or NetBIOS broadcast. It can also return a potentially out-dated cached result.

    The order in which the methods are tried, depends on the clients' TCP/IP configuration and node type flag:

    • B-node (1): Broadcast
    • P-node (2): Peer (WINS only)
    • M-node (4): Mixed (broadcast, then WINS)
    • H-node (8): Hybrid (WINS, then broadcast)

    To see the node type of the current computer:

    C:\>ipconfig /all | find "Node Type"
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

    If the resolution method is of no concern, use

    ping -a w.x.y.z

    or 

    nslookup w.x.y.z

    as you please. If you need to be sure you're querying your DNS server for the correct name, use nslookup.

    See also

    • 87

  4. Use NSLOOKUP with the "-type=ptr" parameter to query the IP address, syntax:

    nslookup -type=ptr 1.2.3.4

    Then the "in-addr.arpa" entry is also printed (even when not found), for example:

    C:\Users\UserName>nslookup -type=ptr 8.8.8.8
Server:  MyDnsServerName
Address:  X.X.X.X

Non-authoritative answer:
8.8.8.8.in-addr.arpa    name = google-public-dns-a.google.com

    Compared to the lower fidelity response when using NSLOOKUP on an IP address without the type parameter:

    C:\Users\UserName>nslookup 8.8.8.8
Server:  MyDnsServerName
Address:  X.X.X.X

Name:    google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address:  8.8.8.8
    • 38

  5. nslookup will do reverse DNS on windows just as it can do it on linux.

    Of course, there isn't a reverse entry for every ip address

    • 15

  6. Use nslookup like this:

    nslookup -type=PTR  127.0.0.1
    • 10

  7. You can use the standard NSLOOKUP command:

    nslookup 123.123.123.123

    In order to get a result there has to be a PTR record registered for the IP address in question.

    • 7

  8. nslookup will do reverse lookups in Windows.

    C:\>nslookup star.slashdot.org

Server:  my-dns-server
Address:  10.242.0.1

Name:    star.slashdot.org
Address:  216.34.181.48

C:\>nslookup 216.34.181.48

Server:  my-dns-server
Address:  10.242.0.1

Name:    star.slashdot.org
Address:  216.34.181.48
    • 6

  9. Under Windows....

    Standard ping does NOT return host name of IP address

    NSLookup can be used to find this info, if DNS is setup properly

    Procedure as follows:

    Open DOS prompt

    NSLookup

    set type=ptr

    a.b.c.d

    Results will be shown with reverse DNS server address, and host name

    • 4

  10. 9 answers and no one said how to reverse lookup with dig? Its the best

    dig -x w.x.y.z

    Also, you can add "+short" for use in bash loops, scripts, etc.... forward or reverse :)

    • 4