get IP address of local machine on c++

Question

I want to retrieve IP address of my computer (same as I get on http://www.whatsmyip.org/) I have a win32 project.

This is the code that I am using, as I didnt find any tutorial on this, I could get following info, but not the IP address which I saw for my computer on the whatsmyip.org :(

The IP I got on whatsmyip.org starts with 116.x.x.x

enter image description here

I have linked it, https://gist.github.com/yoggy/1241986 im using the same code. — 2am, Apr 30 '14 at 06:48
@mcalex i just tried it now, i dont get the IP i get on whatsmyip.org .. Weird, i get 192.168.2.3 I have connected to my Mac's shared wifi, could that be the reason I am getting these results? — 2am, Apr 30 '14 at 06:51

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

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Your code gets adapter addresses, which are local. If you want your Internet address, you need to use the Internet, not your local network. You need to replicate the functionality of asking an external site what IP it sees you connecting from. See here for some suggestions for how to do that.

Retrieving http://icanhazip.com will do it. You can use whatever HTTP library you like.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

Community

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answered Apr 30 '14 at 06:51

David Schwartz

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ok, sounds good, will post results after trying out the thread, Thanks – 2am Apr 30 '14 at 06:53
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If you need your external IP for connecting to some service on the internet, it would make more sense to use that service to retrieve your IP (if possible) than to use some external service which you have no control of. – flyx Apr 30 '14 at 07:01
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ok, i already have cURL setup in my project, I guess i can use it like this- `curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "http://icanhazip.com");` – 2am Apr 30 '14 at 07:01

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 30 '14 at 06:53

The IP which assigned to your machine is not necessarily the IP that you see outside of your local network (e.g. in whatsmyip.org).

Your machine is not directly connected to the Internet with a valid and static IP. Maybe you are behind a NAT. So you can not determine your valid IP over Internet by listing your local assigned IPs in many situations.

To findout what IP address you have in Internet, you can do two ways. Ask from someone over Internet (for example, using whatsmyip.org). Or, query your local network recursivly (which is not easy task)

get IP address of local machine on c++

2 Answers2