Ping and ICMP

First of all what is ICMP?

The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be reached. ICMP can also be used to relay query messages. It is assigned protocol number


ICMP differs from transport protocols such as TCP and UDP in that it is not typically used to exchange data between systems, nor is it regularly employed by end-user network applications (with the exception of some diagnostic tools like ping and traceroute).

You will come across following ICMP replies when you ping a particular IP.

When a PING is successful you get a reply back from the host showing its IP address and other information such as the time it took for the reply to go through.

TTL Expired in Transit
The TTL value determines the maximum amount of time an IP packet may live in the network without reaching its destination. It is effectively a bound on the number of routers an IP packet may pass through before being discarded. This message indicates that the TTL expired in transit. Number of required hops exceeds TTL. Increase TTL by using the ping -i switch.

Destination Host Unreachable
The host that you are trying to ping is down or is not operating on the network. A local or remote route does not exist for destination host. Modify the local route table or notify the router administrator.

Request Timed Out
The ping command timed out because there was no reply from the host. No Echo Reply messages were received due to network traffic, failure of the ARP request packet filtering, or router error. Increase the wait time using the ping -w switch.

Unknown Host
The IP Address or the Host Name does not exist in the network or the destination host name cannot be resolved. Verify name and availability of DNS servers.


This is just to explain different kind of ICMP replies I came across while reading about networking ping and tracert commands..

Send Data on a Right Click to Your Desired Folder

Whenever you attach a removable disk and want to send some items in it, you have option either you select the required files and do a CTRL + C, open the removable disk and do a CTRL + V

or

you select the required files right click on it and there you find “Send To” option. In “Send To” you find the name of removable disk and you simply send the items into it. 

Well, What if i get the name of my own desired folder there which I use frequently for keeping my stuff.

Now in this post I will be telling you how you can create your own folder with in any name in “Send To” option so that whenever you will copy any files or folders, you will simply send them to your folder instead of using CTRL + C and CTRL + V.

• Firstly you have to access hidden files. So change your view settings to make all hidden files visible. Tools -> folder options -> view (tab) and select the show hidden files and folders also uncheck hide system files and folder (hide protected operating system file).

• Go to My Computer  and locate Send To folder.(In Windows XP : C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\SendTo In Windows Vista and 7 C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo)

• Now in Send To folder Right click -> create shortcut. Give the folder path you want to access for Send To purpose. Finish shortcut process.

• Now your customized “Send To” option is ready to go.

Dragging the contents of a cell in MS Excel not working : Resolved

Today while working with Excel.. I was trying to drag and auto fill serial number. but it didn't work..

That plus sign wasn't coming when I select 2-3 cells so after searching on net I found following solution.

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button Button image, and then click Excel Options.
2. In the Advanced category, under Editing options, select or clear the Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop check box to turn drag-and-drop editing on or off.

Note To help prevent replacing existing data when you drag the fill handle, make sure that the Alert before overwriting cells check box is selected. If you do not want Excel to display a message about overwriting non-blank cells, you can clear this check box.


Hope it helps.

Share Files and Printers between Windows 7 and XP

Share Files and Printers between Windows 7 and XP

If you have a home network and are running Windows 7 and have XP on other PC(s) you might want to share files between them.  Today we will look at the steps to share files and hardware devices like a printer.

Sharing Files In Windows 7 and XP

Sharing folders between two Windows 7 machines with the new HomeGroup feature is an easy process, but the HomeGroup feature is not compatible with Vista or XP.

First make sure both machines are members of the same Workgroup which by default is named Workgroup.

On the Windows 7 machine go into Control Panel \ All Control Panel Items \ Network and Sharing Center then click on Change advanced sharing settings.

You will want to verify the following settings under Advanced Sharing Settings for the Home or Work and Public profile.

If you want any user to have access the public shares turn off password protection.  This is located in Advanced Sharing Settings toward the bottom of the list. 

If you want to keep it enabled make sure there is a log in account for the other XP machines and they have a password.

Now if you go into Network in Windows 7 you should see your XP machine and the Windows 7 as well

This should help you get started with sharing your files and other devices with your Windows 7 machine.  When I first started I was able to see the printer on XP right away because I had a HomeGroup set up, but once I deleted it I needed to share the printer like you would for a workgroup.  You might also have to do a couple restarts of the XP machine for it to see the shared resources on Windows 7.


Good Luck..

Blank screen when I boot from XP installation CD : Resolved issue

Today while working in company I got an issue.
I was trying to do a fresh installation for Windows XP. I inserted the bootable CD and started the computer. Select to ask me boot device and then selected CD/DVD. It asked "press any key to boot from cd" as usual. I pressed a key and "inspecting hardware configuration" appeared.

Unfortunately just a second after that screen turned blank and stayed so. I tried many times and waited a while also. I tried by setting BIOS settings as default and all but nothing helped..
so I googled for almost an hour and got the the issue and fixed it..

It was like..

I had Cent OS 5.6 installed on the hard disk and XP was not able to identify ext4 partition and that partition has MBR. so it was getting hanged or what so ever but it was showing only blank screen when I was trying to install new operating system.

I found that it was working fine with Windows server 2008 or Windows Vista or Windows 7 so what I did, I boot my system from Windows Vista DVD and delete the partition which was containing MBR. and also format the rest of the drives too as I only need to install windows system over linux.. and after deletion.. I just open DVD drive and removed Windows Vista DVD and insert XP CD again.. now when I tried it worked fine..

so it may be issue that XP is too old to identify ext4 partition or any other issue I don't know.. but it got resolved any how.. :-)

Good Luck if anyone is facing the same.. :-)