{"id":9660,"date":"2026-06-03T08:33:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/?post_type=manual_kb&#038;p=9660"},"modified":"2026-06-03T08:33:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:33:47","slug":"how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos","status":"publish","type":"manual_kb","link":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Run a Traceroute in macOS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that allows you to trace the route taken by data packets from your computer to a destination server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It can help you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Verify whether a server is reachable<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identify network bottlenecks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Measure response times between network hops<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Diagnose routing issues<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Determine whether connectivity problems are occurring within your local network, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), or elsewhere on the route<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Step_1_Open_Terminal\" >Step 1: Open Terminal<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Method_1_Spotlight_Search\" >Method 1: Spotlight Search<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Method_2_Applications\" >Method 2: Applications<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Step_2_Run_the_Traceroute_Command\" >Step 2: Run the Traceroute Command<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Step_3_Review_the_Results\" >Step 3: Review the Results<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Saving_the_Results\" >Saving the Results<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Common_Results\" >Common Results<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Successful_Trace\" >Successful Trace<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Timeouts\" >Timeouts<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Trace_Stops_Before_Reaching_the_Destination\" >Trace Stops Before Reaching the Destination<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Providing_Results_to_Support\" >Providing Results to Support<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/how-to-run-a-traceroute-in-macos\/#Summary\" >Summary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_1_Open_Terminal\"><\/span>Step 1: Open Terminal<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div id=\"mybox-2791175855\" class=\"mybox-content mybox-entity-placement\"><div class=\"early-access-banner-inpost\">\r\n  <div class=\"banner-left-inpost\">\r\n    <div class=\"icon-box-inpost\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/square-info-icon.svg\" alt=\"Info\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"text-box-inpost\">\r\n      <span class=\"label-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Early access<\/span><\/span>\r\n      <h4><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Still need help?<\/span><\/h4>\r\n      <p><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Contact our customer service team.<\/span><\/p>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <div class=\"banner-right-inpost\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/panel.mybox.com\/helpdesk2\/v\/list\/\" class=\"banner-button-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Message us<\/span><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To open Terminal in macOS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Method_1_Spotlight_Search\"><\/span>Method 1: Spotlight Search<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Press:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Command (\u2318) + Space<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Type:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Terminal<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">and press <strong>Enter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Method_2_Applications\"><\/span>Method 2: Applications<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Navigate to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Applications \u2192 Utilities \u2192 Terminal<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">and launch the Terminal application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_2_Run_the_Traceroute_Command\"><\/span>Step 2: Run the Traceroute Command<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Terminal window, enter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>traceroute yourdomain.com<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Replace:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>yourdomain.com<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">with the domain name you want to test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>traceroute mybox.com<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Press <strong>Enter<\/strong> to start the trace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Step_3_Review_the_Results\"><\/span>Step 3: Review the Results<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a few moments, macOS will display a list of network hops similar to the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>traceroute to mybox.com (192.0.2.1), 64 hops max<br><br> 1  router.local            1.2 ms   1.1 ms   1.3 ms<br> 2  isp-gateway.net        10.4 ms  10.7 ms  10.5 ms<br> 3  network-node.net       15.2 ms  16.1 ms  15.7 ms<br> 4  ...<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each line represents a device or router through which the traffic passes on its way to the destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The numbers displayed in milliseconds (ms) indicate the response time for each hop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Saving_the_Results\"><\/span>Saving the Results<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you need to provide the traceroute output to the mybox support team, you can save it to a file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>traceroute yourdomain.com &gt; traceroute.txt<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This will create a file named:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>traceroute.txt<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">in your current working directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can then attach the file to your support request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Common_Results\"><\/span>Common Results<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Successful_Trace\"><\/span>Successful Trace<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A successful traceroute reaches the destination server and displays all intermediate hops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Timeouts\"><\/span>Timeouts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You may see entries such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>* * *<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">or:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Request timed out<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This does not necessarily indicate a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some routers are configured not to respond to traceroute requests while still forwarding traffic normally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Trace_Stops_Before_Reaching_the_Destination\"><\/span>Trace Stops Before Reaching the Destination<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the traceroute never reaches the destination server, possible causes include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Network routing issues<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ISP problems<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Firewall restrictions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Temporary outages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Server-side filtering of traceroute traffic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Providing_Results_to_Support\"><\/span>Providing Results to Support<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If support requests a traceroute result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Take a screenshot of the Terminal window, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save the output to a text file and attach it to your support ticket<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This information helps identify where connectivity problems occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Summary\"><\/span>Summary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To perform a traceroute in macOS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Open <strong>Terminal<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Run:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>traceroute yourdomain.com<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"3\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Review the route and response times.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save or capture the results if requested by support.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traceroute is one of the most useful network diagnostic tools for identifying communication problems between your computer and a destination server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","manualknowledgebasecat":[54],"manual_kb_tag":[3420,5017,5018,5019,5020,5021,5022,5023,5024,5025],"class_list":["post-9660","manual_kb","type-manual_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","manualknowledgebasecat-ssh","manual_kb_tag-mac-terminal","manual_kb_tag-traceroute","manual_kb_tag-traceroute-mac","manual_kb_tag-run-traceroute","manual_kb_tag-trace-route","manual_kb_tag-network-diagnostics","manual_kb_tag-network-diagnostic-tool","manual_kb_tag-network-hops","manual_kb_tag-response-times","manual_kb_tag-routing-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/9660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/manual_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/9660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9665,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/9660\/revisions\/9665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"manualknowledgebasecat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manualknowledgebasecat?post=9660"},{"taxonomy":"manual_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb_tag?post=9660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}