A network card, also called a network adapter or NIC, is assigned a MAC address (or physical address) at the factory. Each time a network connection is created, Windows assigns to the connection these values:

• An IP version 4 address (IPv4 address) that contains 32 bits written as 4 groups of 8 bits; each group is called an octet
• A subnet mask, which is 32 bits used to determine whether a remote computer is on the same subnet or a different subnet. The 32 bits are written as 4 groups of 8 bits each.
• If TCP/IP version 6 is enabled, Windows assigns an IP version 6 address (IPv6 address) that contains 128 bits. The bits are written as 8 blocks of 16 bits each, separated by colons. Two colons together indicate the block(s) between the colons are all zeroes.

In the following steps, find these assigned values for the computer, and then convert them to binary numbers:

1. Open a command prompt window, type ipconfig /all, and press Enter.
2. Write down the following information for the system's active network connection (most likely either Ethernet or Wi-Fi):
   • Physical address in paired hexadecimal form:
   • Physical address expressed in binary pairs:
   • IPv4 address in decimal form:
   • IPv4 address expressed as four octets in binary form:
   • Subnet mask in decimal form:
   • Subnet mask expressed as four octets in binary form:
   • IPv6 address in decimal form:
   • IPv6 address expressed as eight blocks of hexadecimal numbers (some of these blocks might contain a zero):
   • IPv6 address expressed as eight blocks of binary numbers: