Get Featured Here Visualize Your Network in A Built-in Network Map in Windows 7

Get Featured Here

Visualize Your Network in A Built-in Network Map in Windows 7

Posted by Kent on March 31st, 2010, in Tips & Tricks and tagged network, network map

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Want to know what your network topologic looks like? Let’s take look it in a network map made by the Windows 7 built-in tool.
First of all, open the Network and Sharing Center by simply clicking on Start and typing in “Network and Sharing”.

Then, click on See Full Map icon in the Network and Sharing Center.

And here it is what my home network looks like, very simple.

Pretty decent, I would say. Not that the straight line means the wired connection while the dotted line means wireless connection.
If your Windows 7 connects through different network, you can view different network map by switching the network from the top dropdown menu.

When you move your mouse over the devices, it even shows you some of the network information about that device, e.g. IP address, MAC address, etc.

If there are any discovered devices that cannot be placed in the network, it will put them at the bottom of the map.

Limitations:

• You won’t be able to see it if you are on a domain network, which probably means you are in a corporate network, as it’s disabled in Group Policy by default.
• You also won’t be able to see it either if your network is set as a public network. Only Home Network, Work Network, and Sharing Center are available in full network map.

This built-in network map feature is cool and useful, but is also quite basic in terms of creating a nice complete network diagram. In that case, you might need some 3rd party tools to help you with. And here is a question to our reader,