Many users very often ask questions about how to find out the external IP address of a computer (their own or someone else's). I must say that there is no special need for this. In the case of determining the address of your own computer, such information will not bring any benefit to the average user (well, unless he wants to check if the client VPN-program works, with which he intends to bypass the blocking of some sites). In the case of determining foreign addresses, there are many difficulties regarding both the calculation of the address itself and the further determination of the location of the terminal or mobile device from it. However, there are several methods that can be applied depending on the goal. But first, let's figure out what an IP address is and what it affects.
What is an external IP address?
If anyone does not know, the IP address of any computer or mobile device connected to the Internet is a unique identifier by which the device is initialized on the network. Such addresses are never duplicated. A change can be observed only in the case of using dynamic addresses, but all of them belong exclusively to one provider that provides Internet access services. Accordingly, the used list has a regional binding, on which, in fact, the bans on the part of some Internet services for their use are based. About the same principle, VPN clients work, only in this case they replace the real address with the currently unused and in a different region than the user's location. At the same time, it must be clearly understood that so far only external addresses have been discussed. But there are also internal IPs used to configure local networks and connections.
But these addresses on almost all machines are the same and can differ only in the last and penultimate digits and numbers (for example, 192.168.X.X).
How to find out the IP address of a computer in Windows?
Now let's look at determining our own address using the operating system tools.
The internal static address can be easily viewed in the IPv4 protocol parameters, via the command line (ipconfig / all) , etc. But this is about how to find out the computer’s external IP address! In this case, calculating it will be quite problematic. But one of the universal solutions is to turn to specialized resources on the Internet (for example, 2ip.ru), where in the search field after entering the site the address of the user computer will be automatically inserted.
Similarly, you can use programs for VPNs like SafeIP, which at startup give out the real address of your terminal, and only then to bypass the locks change it to another.
Is it possible to calculate the location of a computer by IP?
If we talk about how to find out the external IP address of the computer, and then the estimated location of the terminal, there are a huge number of pitfalls. No matter who says it, only the provider can be calculated, not the user computer itself. This applies to both dynamic and static addresses. In addition, it should be borne in mind that things can be complicated by using a wireless connection when only the router address is recognized at the output. Finally, when activating any VPN client, determining the user's true location becomes impossible at all.
In addition, such tools are not suitable for determining the address of someone else's computer terminal. In the best case, you will need to send an email to the “victim” by e-mail and be sure to receive an answer to it, after which, through the properties of the incoming mail, look at the desired address. But what if the email was sent using the same VPN? That's it!
How can I find out the location of a computer on the Internet by IP address?
First, suppose that the change of address is not used, that is, the VPN is disabled. For fun, go to the above site and look at the map below.
In the example, the image on the right shows the approximate position when the VPN is turned off, on the left - when it is turned on. Feel the difference? Even if the map is enlarged in the case of a disabled VPN client, the location of the provider will still be shown, not the user connected to it. That is why, when threats come to your address on the Internet such as determining your place of residence or location at the moment by IP, you don’t have to worry about this very much. You will be completely impossible to calculate.
If we talk about how to find out the computer’s external IP address and location, you should immediately say that almost all Internet services that allow such reconnaissance work according to similar principles, and none of them gives the correct result (even once popular WhoIs.com resource).
What is the result?
As you can see, there are no problems with internal addresses of computer and mobile devices. But as for how to find out the IP address of someone else's computer, there are so many difficulties that in fact none of the known actions will help you in this regard. Of course, if you have special knowledge, you can try to calculate the user using geolocation (GPS), but the geolocation service on the computer can be turned off, and for the most part, such actions can only be used to calculate mobile phones. Actually, such information is constantly monitored by the mobile operators themselves. But this is another conversation.