Finding Which Processes Are Using Specific Ports on Windows

To determine which processes are using specific network ports on a Windows system, you can use built-in command-line tools. This guide demonstrates how to identify port usage and associate it with running applications.

Using Command Prompt

Launch Command Prompt by perssing Win+R, typing "cmd", and pressing Enter.

Display Network Connections with Process Information

The netstat command with specific flags provides detailed connection data:

C:\> netstat -ano
Active Connections

Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State           PID
TCP    10.0.3.15:51005        111.30.144.123:443     CLOSE_WAIT      932
TCP    10.0.3.15:51049        183.192.199.123:443    CLOSE_WAIT      932
TCP    10.0.3.15:51066        120.204.0.38:80        CLOSE_WAIT      932
TCP    10.0.3.15:51076        223.111.97.203:443     CLOSE_WAIT      932
TCP    10.0.3.15:51122        182.254.88.113:443     CLOSE_WAIT      932

Command parameters explained:

-a: Shows all active connections and listening ports
-n: Displays addresses and port numbers numerically
-o: Includes the Process ID (PID) for each connection

Identify Process Names by PID

Once you have the PID, use the tasklist command to find the corresponding application:

C:\> tasklist | findstr 932

Image Name                     PID Session Name        Session#    Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ =========== ============
QQ.exe                         932 Console                    1     182,816 K

Alternatively, open Task Manager, add the PID column through View > Select Columns, enable the PID option, and sort by PID to locate the process.

Additional Netstat Options

The netstat utility offers extended functionality:

C:\> netstat /?

Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.

NETSTAT [-a] [-b] [-e] [-f] [-n] [-o] [-p proto] [-r] [-s] [-t] [interval]

  -a  Displays all active connections and listening ports
  -b  Shows executable involved in creating each connection
  -e  Displays Ethernet statistics (can be combined with -s)
  -f  Shows fully qualified domain names for remote addresses
  -n  Displays addresses and port numbers in numeric form
  -o  Displays process ID associated with each connection
  -p  Shows connections for specified protocol (TCP, UDP, TCPv6, UDPv6)
  -r  Displays routing table
  -s  Displays per-protocol statistics
  -t  Shows current connection offload state

Network Statistics Examples

View interface and protocol statistics:

C:\> netstat -se

Interface Statistics

Received            Sent

Bytes                111120228        17090535
Unicast packets      228885           155724
Non-unicast packets  0                2139
Discarded            0                0
Errors               0                0
Unknown protocols    0

IPv4 Statistics
  Packets Received                   = 144151
  Header Errors Received             = 0
  Address Errors Received            = 0
  Datagrams Forwarded                = 0
  Unknown Protocols Received         = 0
  Received Packets Discarded         = 253
  Received Packets Delivered         = 144175
  Output Requests                    = 90885
  Routing Discards                   = 0
  Discarded Output Packets           = 0
  Output Packets No Route            = 18
  Reassembly Required                = 2
  Reassembly Successful              = 1
  Reassembly Failures                = 0
  Datagrams Successfully Fragmented  = 0
  Datagrams Failing Fragmentation    = 0
  Fragments Created                  = 0

TCP Statistics for IPv4
  Active Opens                       = 1750
  Passive Opens                      = 0
  Failed Connection Attempts         = 748
  Reset Connections                  = 122
  Current Connections                = 9
  Segments Received                  = 130766
  Segments Sent                      = 77334
  Segments Retransmitted             = 892

UDP Statistics for IPv4
  Datagrams Received                 = 13242
  No Ports                           = 252
  Receive Errors                     = 0
  Datagrams Sent                     = 12661

Routing Table Information

Display currant routing configuration:

C:\> netstat -r

Interface List
 14...08 00 27 d8 91 c2 ......Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter #2
  1...........................Software Loopback Interface 1

IPv4 Route Table
============================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Metric
          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0         10.0.3.2        10.0.3.15     10
         10.0.3.0    255.255.255.0            On-link         10.0.3.15    266
        10.0.3.15  255.255.255.255            On-link         10.0.3.15    266
  127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0            On-link         127.0.0.1    306
  127.0.0.1  255.255.255.255            On-link         127.0.0.1    306
============================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  None

Tags: Windows networking command-line netstat process-management

Posted on Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:23:16 +0000 by walkero

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