On occasion, people may need to use static Internet Protocol (IP) addresses on their computers. An example of when someone may need to use a static IP address is when a new piece of equipment is being set up such as the Trendnet switch I recently set up. In many cases, users will obtain their IP addresses dynamically where a router provides the IP addresses but there may be times where users will want to set a static IP address on their computer. I am going to walk users through setting up static IP addresses in this tutorial.
If the computer has multiple connection options such as both wireless and Ethernet capability, users may need to turn off either the wireless or Ethernet adapter before a static IP can be set depending on which device needs the static IP address. I had to turn off the wireless adapter on my laptop when setting up my Trendnet switch so that it wouldn’t pull a dynamic IP address from my router as the dynamic address was preventing me from accessing the switch because the wireless settings were overriding the Ethernet ones.
Setting Up a Static IP
Please use the following steps to set up a static IP address:
- Click on the network icon in the taskbar.
- Click on Open Network and Sharing Center.
- On the left side of the Network and Sharing Center window, click on Change adapter settings.
- Right-click on the adapter that will be used for the static IP address and click on Properties. If another adapter needs disabled, this is the same window where that can be done. IF an adapter needs disabled, right-click on the adapter and click on Disable.
- Click on the text for Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click on the Properties button.
- A window titled Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) will open. When the IP address is dynamically assigned, both the Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically options are selected. To set a static IP address, click on the option to User the following IP address.
- Enter the IP address that will be used as the static IP address.
- After entering the IP address, press the Tab key and the subnet mask should be automatically populated. If the subnet mask needs entered or changed, enter the needed information.
- Press Tab again and enter the IP address for the router gateway.
- If necessary, enter the preferred and alternate DNS server IP addresses.
- Click on the OK button.
- Click the Close button on the Ethernet Properties window.
At this point, the static IP address is set up.
Setting up a Dynamic address
To revert the settings back to use dynamic IP addressing, please use the steps below:
- Click on Open Network and Sharing Center.
- Click on Open Network and Sharing Center.
- On the left side of the Network and Sharing Center window, click on Change adapter settings.
- Right-click on the adapter that will be used for the static IP address and click on Properties. If another adapter needs disabled, this is the same window where that can be done. IF an adapter needs disabled, right-click on the adapter and click on Disable.
- Click on the text for Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click on the Properties button.
- A window titled Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) will open. To set the IP address (and DNS server information if necessary) back to being automatically assigned, please click on the Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically radio buttons.
- Click on the OK button.
- Click the Close button on the Ethernet Properties window.
At this point, the IP address will be set back to being dynamically assigned.
Hopefully, the info in this tutorial will help in setting static IP addresses. If there are any questions or comments, please post them below.
