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Asked: 2026-05-17T20:40:54+00:00

I would like to write a software running in a networked device, i.e. PC.

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I would like to write a software running in a networked device, i.e. PC. It can automatically detect the other network devices’ types. For example, it can detect there is a PS3, a Wii, an IPad running in the same network. Any ideas? Thanks,

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  1. Editorial Team

    You have two problems: first, detecting that a device is connected to your network and at 192.168.1.x. Second, somehow detecting what that device is.

    The first is easy-ish to accomplish: there’s discovery protocols like UPnP and Bonjour. However, in a home networking scenario, the easiest and most reliable way to get a list of connected devices is probably to pull the DHCP reservations from your router. You might have to scrape data from the router’s HTML-based management interface—hacky as that may be—but it would work. (If you’re using .NET, consider the HTML Agility Pack to accomplish this.)

    Once you have a list of IP addresses of connected devices, your next problem is to figure out what each device actually is. This will be more challenging. Some possibilities:

    • You may be able to use the MAC address to help detect the device’s vendor. (Here’s a list.)
    • If you’re using UPnP, you can ask the device what it is.
    • Use IP fingerprinting to determine what the device is.
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