Sometimes, it’s better to assign a PC it’s own IP address rather than letting your router assign one automatically. Join us as we take a look at assigning a static IP address in Windows.

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When your Mac is connected to a private network in a home or office, it's probably assigned what's known as a dynamic IP address. (To check, see How to Find Your Mac's IP Address.)That's not a problem for the majority of users - most people don't care whether their IP addresses changes or not. Oct 20, 2017  With all that in mind, though, let’s take a look at how to assign static IP addresses within Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10. Set a Static IP Address in Windows 7, 8, or 10. To change the computer’s IP address in Windows, you’ll need to open the “Network Connections” window.

Static vs. Automatic IP Addressing

Dec 17, 2010  We’ll walk through how to set a manual IP address in Mac OS X, this is the same in all versions of OS X system software so it will not matter what version is on your Mac. Setting a Manual Static IP Address in OS X. Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu.

Right now, the IP addresses for your PCs and other devices are probably assigned automatically by your router using a procotol known as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). It’s a handy way for devices to connect to your network more easily, because you don’t have to configure IP addressing for each new device yourself. The downside to automatic addressing is that it’s possible for a device’s IP address to change from time to time.

Mostly, that’s not a big deal, but there are times that you might want a device to have a static, unchanging IP address. For example:

• You have a device (like a home media server, say) that you want to be able to find reliably and you (or other devices) prefer to locate it by IP address. Using IP addresses is often much handier when troubleshooting your network, for example.
• You have certain apps that can only connect to network devices using their IP address. In particular, many older networking apps suffer this limitation.
• You forward ports through your router to devices on your network. Some routers play nice with port forwarding and dynamic IP addresses; others do not.

Whatever your reason, assigning static IP addresses to devices is not difficult, but you do have a choice to make—whether to do it from the router or on the device itself.

Assign Static IP Addresses Via Your Router

While this article covers assigning static IP addresses to PCs within Windows itself, there is another way to go about it. Many routers allow you to assign a pool of IP addresses that are handed out to specific devices (based on the device’s physical, or MAC address). This method offers a couple of significant advantages:

• IP addresses are still managed by the router, meaning that you won’t have to make (and keep up with) changes on each individual device.
• It’s easier to assign addresses within the same IP address pool your router uses.

RELATED:How to Set Static IP Addresses On Your Router

This article is about assigning static IP addresses directly to PCs running Windows. We’ve already got a great guide on How to Set Static IP Addresses On Your Router, so if that’s the way you want to go, be sure to give it a read.

With all that in mind, though, let’s take a look at how to assign static IP addresses within Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.

Set a Static IP Address in Windows 7, 8, or 10

To change the computer’s IP address in Windows, you’ll need to open the “Network Connections” window. Hit Windows+R, type “ncpa.cpl” into the Run box, and then hit Enter.

In the “Network Connections” window, right-click the adapter for which you want to set a static IP address, and then select the “Properties” command.

In the properties window for the adapter, select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and then click the “Properties” button.

Select the “Use the following IP address” option, and then type in the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway that corresponds with your network setup. Next, type in your preferred and alternate DNS server addresses. Finally, select the “Validate settings upon exit” option so that Windows immediately checks your new IP address and corresponding information to ensure that it works. When you’re ready, click the “OK” button.

And then close out of the network adapter’s properties window.

Windows automatically runs network diagnostics to verify that the connection is good. If there are problems, Windows will give you the option of running the Network troubleshooting wizard. However, if you do run into trouble, the wizard likely won’t do you too much good. It’s better to check that your settings are valid and try again.

Set a Static IP Address in Windows Vista

Changing your IP from DHCP to a Static address in Vista is similar to other versions of Windows, but getting to the correct location is a bit different. Open the Start Menu, right-click on Network, and select Properties.

The Network and Sharing Center opens…click on Manage network connections.

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Right-click on the network adapter you want to assign an IP address and click Properties.

Highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) then click the Properties button.

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Now change the IP, Subnet mask, Default Gateway, and DNS Server Addresses. When you’re finished click OK.

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You’ll need to close out of Local Area Connection Properties for the settings to go into effect.

Open the Command Prompt and use the ipconfig command to verify that the changes were successful.

Set a Static IP Address in Windows XP

To set a Static IP in Windows XP, right-click the “My Network Places” icon, and then select “Properties.”

Right-click the adapter for which you want to set the IP, and then select “Properties” from the context menu.

Select the “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” entry, and then click the “Properties” button.

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Select the “Use the following IP address” option. Type in the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server addresses you want to use. When you’re finished, click the “OK” button.

You will need to close out of the adapter’s properties window before the changes go into effect.

And you can verify your new settings by using the ipconfig command at the command prompt.

By and large, it’s better to let most of your devices have their IP addresses assigned automatically by your router. Occasionally, though, you might want to set a static IP address for a particular device. While you can set static IP addresses directly on your devices (and this article has shown you how to do just that on Windows PCs), we still recommending setting up static IP addressing on your router if possible. It will just make life easier.

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By default, most computers and devices on the network get their IP addresses via DHCP. DHCP is basically a system whereby a host, like a router or server, gives out IP addresses to devices so that they can communicate with the host and with each other over the network.

Each device on the network has to have a unique IP address. The IP address for a device may change over time depending on several factors. This usually doesn’t cause any problem, but there are situations where a static IP address is required.

For example, if your computer is being used as a media server in your home, you might want the IP address to remain the same if you have to connect to the computer via its IP address. In other instances, you need to change the IP address to match the subnet of another device so that you can connect and configure it. There are two ways to set a static IP address on a device.

One way that I’ve already written about is logging into your router and reserving an IP address for a particular device. The advantage to this method is that all the changes are being made in one location, so it’s easy to see which devices have static IP addresses and what the addresses are. Also, you can easily assign static IP addresses to Windows, Mac, Linux machines or any other device easily.

The disadvantage to this method is that it requires logging into your router, which isn’t the easiest thing to do for some non-techie folks. Secondly, figuring out how to assign static IP addresses on routers can be complicated and there is no one way to do it.

The second way to assign a static IP address is to change the settings on the device itself. The advantage here is that the process is a little bit more straight-forward, but the downside is that each device might have a different method for assigning a static IP.

Either method will work, so choose whichever option is more convenient. This article will explain the second method, but only for Windows and OS X.

Note: When assigning a static IP address, be sure you are not choosing an IP that is in the DHCP range, otherwise you might get a message about an IP address conflict, which is what happens when two devices have the same IP address on the network.

The best way to avoid this conflict is to log into your router or whichever device is acting as the DHCP server and change the IP address distribution start address.

If you start the address at something like .10 or .11, then you’ll have several IP addresses free that you can use to assign as static IPs. It’s a little complicated, so I only suggest this option for someone who knows what they are doing.

Assign Static IP Address – Windows

The following procedure will work for Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10. The first thing we want to do is to open the Network and Sharing Center. You can do that by clicking on the Start button and typing in network and sharing.

In the Network and Sharing Center window, click on Change adapter settings on the left-hand side.

This will open the Network Connections window where you will see a list of all physical and virtual network devices. Here you will want to right-click on the network connection that is currently being used to connect the computer to the network and choose Properties. If it’s WiFi, use Wireless Network Connection. If you are connecting via cable, use Ethernet.

Now click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) to select it and then click on Properties again.

Finally, this will bring you to the settings screen where you can assign a static IP address.

You’ll select the Use the following IP address radio button and then type in the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway. By default, when you type in the IP address, it fills out the subnet mask for you. The Default gateway and Preferred DNS server should both be set to the IP address of your router.

I would also check the Validate settings upon exit box to make sure that the new values will work on your network. Click OK and your computer will now have a static IP address assigned to it.

Assign Static IP Address – Mac (OS X)

If you’re using a Mac, you have to go to System Preferences, which is basically the equivalent of Control Panel in Windows. To get there, click on the Apple icon at the top left of the menu bar.

Next, click on the Network icon.

This screen is similar to the Network Connections dialog in Windows. You will see a list of network connections on the left. If the connection is green, that means it is active. Click on the connection and then click on the Advanced button at the bottom right.

This will bring up all the advanced settings for the network connection. Click on the TCP/IP tab and you’ll see a dropdown next to Configure IPv4.

In the dropdown, you have several choices: Using DHCP, Using DHCP with manual address, Using BootP, Manually and Off. In OS X, you can choose from either DHCP with manual address or Manually. Manually is basically like the default option in Windows where you have to type in all the values yourself. DHCP with manual address will allow you to type in an IP address, but will automatically determine the subnet mask and router (default gateway).

Even though it looks fairly complicated, changing the IP address for your computer is a simple task. The harder part is knowing what IP address to use so that you don’t run into any conflicts, but can connect to the network at the same time. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!