Microsoft KB Archive/308199

Knowledge Base

How to change the IP address of a network adapter in Windows 2000

Article ID: 308199

Article Last Modified on 10/31/2006

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
• Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 2000 Service Pack 1

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This article was previously published under Q308199

For a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 version of this article, see 323444.

IN THIS TASK

SUMMARY How to Change the IP Address That Is Assigned to a Network Adapter

• How to Automatically Obtain an IP Address
• How to Specify an IP Address

Troubleshooting

SUMMARY

This article describes how to change the Internet Protocol (IP) address that is assigned to a network adapter. An IP address may be assigned automatically if your network has a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, or you can specify an IP address.

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How to change the IP address that is assigned to a network adapter

1. Log on to the computer by using the Administrator account.
2. Click Start, click Settings, and then click Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, double-click Network and Dial-up Connections. The Network and Dial-up Connections dialog box opens.
4. Right-click the local area connection that you want, and then click Properties. The Local Area Network Connection Properties dialog box opens.
5. In the Components checked are used by this connection box, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties. The Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box appears.
6. Continue with the steps in one of the following two sections.

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How to automatically obtain an IP address

Use these steps to configure the computer to obtain an IP address from a DHCP server. Note that you must have a DHCP server.

1. Click Obtain an IP address automatically.
2. Click Obtain DNS server address automatically if you do not want to specify the IP address of the Domain Name System (DNS) server.
3. Click OK. In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, click OK.
4. Click Start, and then click Run.
5. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
6. At the command prompt, type ipconfig /release, and then press ENTER.
7. Type ipconfig /renew, and then press ENTER. The network adapter is assigned an IP address by the DHCP server, and a message similar to the following message appears:

   Windows 2000 IP Configuration
   
   Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
   
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :dns.microsoft.com
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . :192.168.0.201
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . :255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :192.168.0.1

8. Type exit and then press ENTER to quit the command prompt.

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How to specify an IP address

Follow these steps to assign an IP address to the network adapter.

1. Click Use the following IP address if you want to specify the IP address for the network adapter.
2. In the IP address box, type the IP address that you want to be assigned to this network adapter. This IP address must be a unique address in the range of addresses that are available for your network. Contact the network administrator to obtain a list of valid IP addresses for your network.
3. In the Subnet mask box, type the subnet mask for your network.
4. In the Default gateway box, type the IP address of the computer or device on your network that connects your network to another network, or to the Internet.
5. In the Preferred DNS server box, type the IP address of the computer that resolves host names to IP addresses.
6. In the Alternate DNS server box, type the IP address of the DNS computer that you want to use if the preferred DNS server becomes unavailable.
7. Click OK. In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, click OK.
8. Close the Network and Dial-up Connections window.

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Troubleshooting

• There is an IP address conflict: If you attempt to assign an IP address that is already in use, you receive the following error message:

  The static IP address that was just configured is already in use on the network. Please reconfigure a different IP address.

  In this case, assign an unused IP address to the network adapter.
  
  

• Your computer cannot connect to other computers on the network: If you assign an incorrect subnet mask address to the network adapter, the computer is effectively located on a different network. You cannot connect to other computers on the network.
• Your computer cannot connect to other computers by using host names: If you assign an incorrect DNS server IP address, or if you do not use a DNS server, you cannot connect to computers by using their host names. This prevents you from browsing the Internet. You can connect to other computers by using their IP addresses.
  
  You can work around this issue in a local network by adding host-name-to-IP-address mappings in a Hosts file.

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Keywords: kbhowtomaster KB308199

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