The “Destination Host Unreachable” error can pop up when trying toping an IP, router, or website. It indicates that your device is unable to establish a connection with the destination host.
The error message can have two forms:
In the former scenario, the reply could come from the remote gateway (if you’re pinging any website or device outside the local network) or from your current device (if you’re pinging an IP within the local network that has IP-related issues). But if you see the latter message, it usually indicates issues with the default gateway.
However, this error can also occur due to connectivity issues, firewall settings, or an unavailable destination host. Without further delay, let’s walk you through the detailed troubleshooting guide on how to solve it.
When executing the ping command, you’re sendingICMP Echo Requestpackets (by default, four) to the destination device. Based on that, the destination device sends anICMP Echo Replypacket, and after measuring the round-trip time (RTT), the final results are displayed.
However, if the destination device is down, the ICMP Echo Request packets can’t reach the target. This is what triggers the Destination Network/Host unreachable error.
Analyzing the error message, you’ll likely notice that there is nopacket loss(Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0). This is because the packets never reached the destination and hence never got lost. In such cases, it’s yourown IP address that repliesto the packets.
On the other side, there’s 100% packet lost when you get the “Request Timed Out” or “Unknown Host.”The former appears when the packets reach the destination host but doesn’t respond with the ICMP Echo Reply packet.
In this article, we are only going to troubleshoot the “Destination Host Unreachable” error. But before moving forward, I highly recommend trying out the basic troubleshooting tips mentioned below:
Examine Issues With Destination Host
The “Destination Host Unreachable” error can appear due to issues with the destination device. This could mean either of two things—thelocal systemhas no route to the destination, or theremote router(when pinging a website) has no route to the destination.
If you’re trying to ping a device on a local network, the packets might not have reached the router itself. For that reason, you’ll see the error “Destination host unreachable” or “Reply from <your device’s IP>: Destination host unreachable.”
This can happen due to different reasons:
If possible, you may troubleshoot the underlying network issues on your local device to fix the problem (renew IPor assign a non-conflicting static IP, etc.). Also, you cancheck the routing tableto troubleshoot further. If you’re unsure about this, I advise taking help from a networking professional.
However, if you’ve got the “Reply from : Destination host unreachable” error after pinging a certain website, it indicates that there are issues with the remote gateway routing table.
