How to Create and Launch a Host Discovery Scan in Nessus

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What is Host Discovery Scan? A host Discovery scan is a simple and basic scan to discover live hosts and open ports.

Click on the New Scan button by the top right.

Choose the Host Discovery Template by clicking Host Discovery

Name your scan, type a description (optional), choose My Scan folder for your scan, and enter your target IP address(s) or IP range.

You can schedule your scan as shown below. But for this scan, I am keeping the schedule off.

You can enter an email address to receive notification as shown below. But for this scan, I am keeping it as default. Keep everything else as default and click the Save button.

Click the play icon by the top right.

Scan completed successfully.

Click the Vulnerability tab

About The Author

Rachel Jasurda

Rachel is a cybersecurity consultant, educator, and the founder of Cybersecurity Demystify. She holds a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity along with multiple industry certifications, including CompTIA and Microsoft credentials. With a passion for simplifying complex security concepts, she creates tutorials, best practices, and real-world insights to help individuals and businesses strengthen their defenses online. Through her writing, Rachel bridges the gap between technical expertise and everyday application, ensuring security is accessible to all. When she’s not advising clients or building security tools, she enjoys teaching and sharing knowledge that helps others secure their digital world—one step at a time.

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