Recover from running "route -f"

Question

I was trying to capture localhost traffic with Ethereal, which doesn't work without re-routing localhost traffic to your router gateway. I didn't get the route command quite right, and messed up my routing table. I typed route -f to clear the routing table and rebooted, but when I finished rebooting, the routing table wasn't restored to its original state. I didn't use the -p parameter, so none of my changes should have persisted after a reboot.

What can I do to restore the routing table to its default routes?

Ethereal? Don't you mean [Wireshark](http://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureSetup/Loopback)? — Michael Hampton, Aug 31 '12 at 22:34
Ethereal was _renamed_ Wireshark many years ago. If you're still using Ethereal, you have a real antique on your hands. And the provided link provides several possible ways of monitoring local traffic without messing with your routing table. — Michael Hampton, Sep 01 '12 at 00:58
Perfect! Didn't know that. I'll take a look. Thanks Michael. — James L., Sep 01 '12 at 01:54

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 01 '12 at 06:02

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Turns out that because I had setup the IPv4 settings for the NIC to use static values, Windows didn't completely rebuild the routing table when I rebooted. I changed the NIC to get its address from the DHCP server, which rebuilt the routing table, then I set it back to static values again and rebooted. The routing table is fine now.

answered Sep 01 '12 at 06:02

James L.

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As a side note: This is the gentleman who created Ethereal... which went on to become Wireshark - http://serverfault.com/users/9470/gerald-combs – joeqwerty Sep 01 '12 at 06:44

Recover from running "route -f"

1 Answers1