Which command can help identify the route packets take to a specified server?

The command that helps identify the route packets take to a specified server is "tracert." This utility is designed to trace the path that data packets take from your computer to a specific destination, like a server. It works by sending packets with progressively increasing Time to Live (TTL) values, which expire as they reach each router along the way. When a packet's TTL expires at a router, that router sends back an ICMP "Time Exceeded" message, allowing tracert to log the IP address of that router and time it took to reach it. By displaying the complete path and duration to reach the intended server, tracert provides valuable insight into potential points of latency or failure in the network.

The other options serve different purposes: nslookup is used for DNS querying to resolve domain names to IP addresses; gpupdate refreshes Group Policy settings on a computer; and ping checks the reachability of a host and measures round-trip time but does not provide information on the complete route taken by packets.