Vista Knowledgebase

If your reading this then chances are 100% your computer is hooked up to the Internet and more then likely has an IP address assigned to it. There are two ways that a TCP/IP address is assigned to a computer either Dynamically or manually with a Static method. These are outlined below:

Dynamic: This address is assigned automagically through the wonders of DHCP. This is the default setting that Windows Vista tries to configure. It contacts a DHCP server on the network and asks for an IP address. If your at home the DHCP server will either be from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or if you have your own router it more then likely have a built in DHCP server. This is the easiest configuration you can get as everything will be done behind the scenes without intervention.

Static: If you don’t have a DHCP server running or for another reason want to give your PC a specific address you will have to configure Windows Vista IP manually. Though it sounds scary it is quite easy to do once you know where you are going. Here is a short walk through:

Go to the Start Orb and click Control Panel. In the control panel click Network and Internet:

Now click on Network and Sharing Center:

In the Network and Sharing Center look along the left pane and click Manage Network Connections:

This will bring up a window with your Network Connections this will vary by computer and what is installed. In our example picture I have two network adapters installed, wired and wireless, of which the wired is disables so it is not receiving a IP address. My wireless network is active though and needs an IP address to function. Note that this procedure would not vary no matter what adapted your choose. In this case you need to right click on the adapter you want to configure. Choose Properties:

If you are not logged in as an administrator you will get a UAC prompt, click Continue

You now will see the Network Adapter properties window that will have all the protocols and services attached to that network adapter. 99% of you as I am writing this article are still on IPv4 networks, compared to IPv6. If no one has told you different select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) from the list of protocols and click Properties:

On the properties page you will set the button to Use the following IP address and then configure the following according to your network:

IP Address

Subnet Mask

Default Gateway

Preferred DNS

Alternate DNS

In almost all the cases all you have to do is hit Ok and you will be ready to go.

If you had clicked the Advanced buttons you would have options to setup multiple IP’s, Gateways, DNS and WINS settings. These are advanced concepts that are beyond the scope of this article, and if those are required you are probably beyond the scope of this article also

Related Posts:

This entry was posted on Monday, March 12th, 2007 at 9:15 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.