To change the IP address of a Windows 2003 network adapter

This article describes how to change the IP address that has been assigned to a network adapter. If your network has a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, the IP address is automatically assigned, otherwise you can specify an IP address.

How to change the IP address assigned to a network adapter

Log on to the computer by using an administrator account.

Click Start, point to Control Panel, point to a network connection, and then click the local connection you want to modify.

In the Connection Status dialog box, click Properties.

Right-click the local connection you want, and then click Properties. The Local Network Connection Properties dialog box appears on the screen.

In this connection use the following items box, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties. The Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box appears.

Continue to perform the steps in one of the following two sections, depending on your environment.

How to obtain an IP address automatically

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

Click Automatically get IP address.

If you do not want to specify the IP address of the domain Name System (DNS) server, click Automatically obtain DNS server addresses.

Click OK. In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, click Close.

In the Local Area Connection Status dialog box, click Close.

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.

At the command prompt, type ipconfig/release, and then press ENTER.

Type ipconfig/renew, and then press the ENTER key. The DHCP server assigns an IP address to the network adapter, and you see a message like the following:

Windows.netipconfiguration
Ethernetadapterlocalareaconnection:
Connection-specificdnssuffix.:d ns.microsoft.com
ipaddress............:192.168.0.201
subnetmask...........:255.255.255.0
defaultgateway.........:192.168.0.1

Type exit, and then press ENTER to exit the command prompt.

How to specify an IP address

To assign an IP address to a network adapter, use the following steps XX:

If you want to assign an IP address to your network adapter, click Use IP address below.

In the IP Address box, type the IP address that you want to assign to this network adapter. This IP address must be unique within the range of available addresses in your network. Please contact your network administrator to obtain a list of valid IP addresses for your network.

In the Subnet mask box, type the subnet mask for your network.

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.

In the Preferred DNS server box, type the IP address of the computer that resolves the host name to an IP address.

In the Alternate DNS server box, type the IP address of the DNS computer that you want to use when the preferred DNS server is not available.

Click OK. In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, click Close.

In the Local Area Connection Status dialog box, click Close.

Troubleshoot

IP address conflict: If you try to allocate an IP address that is already occupied, you receive the following error message:

Thestaticipaddressthatwasjustconfiguredisalreadyinuseonthe
Network. Pleasereconfigureadifferentipaddress.

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 actually on another network, so you cannot connect to other computers on the network.

Your computer cannot connect to another computer by using the host name: If an incorrect DNS server IP address is assigned, or if the DNS server is not used, you cannot connect to those computers by using the host name of the other computer. This will make it impossible for you to browse the Internet. You can use the IP addresses of other computers to connect to them.

To work around this problem in the local network, you can add a mapping of the host name to the IP address in the Hosts file.