ipconfig vs ifconfig: what is actually different

They are often treated as the same command with a letter swapped. They are not. One is a Windows display tool with a handful of DHCP and DNS switches; the other is a Unix configuration tool from 1983 that can rewrite an interface's address, mask and hardware settings. This page lines them up.

At a glance

	ipconfig	ifconfig
Platform	Windows (NT 3.5 onward). A different, unrelated `ipconfig` exists on macOS.	Unix: Linux (net-tools), macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX
First appeared	1994 (Windows NT 3.5); Windows 95 had a limited version plus the graphical winipcfg	1983 (4.2BSD); Linux port 1992–93
Name means	IP configuration	Interface configuration
Main purpose	Display TCP/IP settings; manage DHCP leases; manage the DNS client cache	Display and set interface parameters: addresses, masks, MTU, flags, MAC
Can set an IP address?	No	Yes
Can bring an interface up/down?	No	Yes
Can release/renew DHCP?	Yes (`/release`, `/renew`)	No; use `dhclient`, `dhcpcd`, `nmcli`, or macOS `ipconfig set en0 DHCP`
Can flush DNS?	Yes (`/flushdns`)	No
Shows DNS servers?	Yes (`/all`)	No
Shows default gateway?	Yes	No; use `route`, `ip route` or `netstat -rn`
Shows DHCP server and lease?	Yes (`/all`)	No
Shows packet counters?	No	Yes
Shows link state?	Yes (Media disconnected)	Yes (RUNNING flag; status: on BSD)
Option syntax	Slash switches: `/all`, `/renew`	Keywords: `eth0 up`, `eth0 mtu 9000`; a few dash flags (`-a`, `-s`)
Needs elevation for	Release, renew, registerdns, setclassid	Any change; viewing is unprivileged
Status	Current, built in, unchanged since Vista	Deprecated on Linux (replaced by `ip`); current on macOS and BSD
Modern replacement	PowerShell `Get-NetIPConfiguration` for scripting; `netsh` for changes	Linux: `ip`. macOS: `networksetup` for persistent changes.

Same information, different shape

Here is one Ethernet interface on a machine with the same address, as each tool would show it.

ipconfig (Windows)

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : home
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::1c3e:7a2f:9d4b:6e01%12
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.42
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

ifconfig (Linux)

eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.42  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fe4e:66a1  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 08:00:27:4e:66:a1  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 184213  bytes 231770215 (221.0 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 97312  bytes 11284570 (10.7 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

Notice what each leaves out. ipconfig has no MAC address or counters until you add /all, and never shows the MTU. ifconfig never shows the gateway or DNS. The Unix philosophy splits those into route and resolv.conf; Windows bundles everything into one report.

Equivalent commands

Task	Windows ipconfig	Unix ifconfig (+ friends)	Linux ip
Show configuration	`ipconfig`	`ifconfig`	`ip -br addr`
Show everything	`ipconfig /all`	`ifconfig -a` + `route -n` + `cat /etc/resolv.conf`	`ip addr` + `ip route` + `resolvectl status`
Release DHCP	`ipconfig /release`	`dhclient -r eth0`	`nmcli con down "X"`
Renew DHCP	`ipconfig /renew`	`dhclient eth0`	`nmcli con up "X"`
Flush DNS	`ipconfig /flushdns`	`sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder` (macOS)	`resolvectl flush-caches`
Show DNS cache	`ipconfig /displaydns`	n/a	`resolvectl statistics`
Set static IP	n/a (`netsh`)	`ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.50 netmask 255.255.255.0`	`ip addr add 192.168.1.50/24 dev eth0`
Interface down	n/a (`netsh`)	`ifconfig eth0 down`	`ip link set eth0 down`
Set MTU	n/a (`netsh`)	`ifconfig eth0 mtu 1400`	`ip link set eth0 mtu 1400`
Change MAC	n/a (Device Manager)	`ifconfig eth0 hw ether …`	`ip link set eth0 address …`

Why the names are similar

Both are contractions in the Unix naming tradition. ifconfig configures interfaces. Microsoft's TCP/IP stack for Windows NT was developed in the early 1990s, when ifconfig was the obvious model, and its diagnostic tool was named for what it shows: the IP configuration. The Windows tool was never intended to configure anything, which is why its writing abilities stop at DHCP and DNS-cache housekeeping. Apple's separate ipconfig came from NeXTSTEP-era Mac OS X and controls the IP configuration daemon; the name is a coincidence, not a port. Full history →

Which one should you learn?

You use Windows: ipconfig for looking, netsh or PowerShell for changing. There is nothing else.
You use Linux: learn ip. ifconfig may not even be installed, and when it is, it hides addresses and cannot do half of what you need. Muscle memory for ifconfig is fine for a quick look.
You use macOS: ifconfig for looking, networksetup for changing, ipconfig getifaddr en0 for scripts.
You use BSD: ifconfig, wholeheartedly. It is the primary, maintained tool there.
You use all of them: the cheat sheet exists for you.