Configure network and IP address on Windows

Internet Protocol (IP) also called Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the 4 octet (32 bit) address used to identify your desktop computer, notebook, router, switch or other network device on the ethernet network and / or the Internet. Each IP octet can have a value between 0 and 255, but there are different rules to ensure the validity of the IP addresses to be assigned. Examples are 192.168.0.145, 10.11.3.4, etc.

  1. On Start, click Control Panel.
  2. The control panel will open, double-click on Network Connections.
  3. The network connections window will appear, right click on the network connection used for the connection and choose Properties.
  4. Select Internet Protocol (TCP / IP). Click Properties.
Windows TCP / IP property setting

IP address assignment

You can now type in the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS server. the computer's IP address must be unique, none of the computers on the network can share the same IP address. Two identical IP addresses on the same network cause conflicts. For more information on IP addresses see article. The Default gateway is a router that routes network traffic to another network or to the Internet.

The DNS server is an application server that can translate URL into IP address. If you don't know a trusted DNS server you can use the service offered by OpenDNS, which offers a series of additional services such as the correction of URL typing errors, (Example www.yahoo.co is corrected in www.yahoo.com), protection from phishing sites, redirecting the URL to a page of warning. To configure OpenDNS as DNS server, define 208.67.222.222 in Preferred DNS server and 208.67.222.220 in Alternate DNS server.

Windows IP address setting

IPs assigned by DHCP server

If there is a DHCP server in your network, you can ask the server to assign the IP address by selecting Obtain an IP address automatically e Obtain DNS server address automatically.

Windows DHCP server setting

Alternative configuration

If you have a notebook and want to use an IP assigned by the DHCP server in the office and a static IP when using the computer at home, you can take advantage of the alternative configuration to set up the network configuration if a DHCP server is not available.

Set Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically on the General tab, as shown above, so that the notebook is automatically assigned the IP address in the office. After that activate the Alternate configuration tab and select the User configured option and define the addresses to be used when the DHCP server is not available.

Windows IP alternate configuration

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