Windows – ARP Cache location on windows 10

arpcmd.exewindows 10

I'm just a beginner in studying the command prompt in windows 10.

Out of curiosity I wanted to ask:

  1. Where does the command prompt reads or writes the ARP Cache data from in windows 10? Meaning, the data in the ARP Cache (ARP Table) where is it actually located/stored for windows 10?

  2. If it is stored on the hard-drive, then in what file is it stored? If I deleted that file or it becomes corrupted, then what would happen if I executed the arp -a command in cmd?

Best Answer

Where is the ARP Cache stored

It is stored in memory:

The address resolution protocol (ARP) cache is a table in computer memory that maps a limited number of IP addresses to their physical adapter addresses. A computer's ARP cache contains its own entry, entries for machines that have made ARP broadcasts to it, and entries for machines to which it has made broadcasts.

Source Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Cache Functions

If the ARP Cache is deleted/corrupted, what would happen if I executed arp -a?

Nothing bad - it will rebuild the table.

Here I used netsh to delete the ARP Cache and then run arp -a.

As you can see there are no errors.

> netsh interface ip delete arpcache
Ok.


> arp -a

Interface: 192.168.42.78 --- 0x13
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.42.129        16-d1-b8-97-a9-29     dynamic

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