“Just give yourself a static IP”
You hear from the admin area of your local LAN party, then you suddenly realize, you have no idea how to do that. OH NO! WHAT TO DO?
What to do? Well, you could feint out of responsibility and get someone else to do it and claim that you're lazy? Ignore the request and find another way? Look it up on Google? Well, here and now, we're going to tell you how. (with pictures!)
Windows XP:
Probably the fastest way to find your IP address to begin with is to do the following
Win key + R (run dialog box)
type: cmd
When the command prompt shows up type the following: ipconfig
This command will show you basic information about your connection
Another way is to do the following.
Go to 'Control Panel > Network Connections then right-click the connection you're using, select Status, and then Support, and all the information you need will be listed there.
Changing your IP address:
Same as above, we'll navigate to the Control Panel and then to Network Connections. From there, right-click your connection and select 'Properties'
In the window that comes up, double-click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), select the radio button called “Use the following IP address”
first box: is your IP address
second is your subnet mask (this will usually be 255.255.255.0)
the next is your Internet gateway (your Internet router, or connection the the internet)
Click Ok, then Ok again, and you have set your IP address.
Vista
For those of you lucky enough (or unlucky) to have Vista, don’t worry, we’re not going to leave you out!
Again the fastest way to find your IP would be to open the run command, type ‘cmd’, and then ‘ipconfig’, exactly the same as above in XP.
If you need to manually set your IP you will need to access the Network and Sharing Center. This can be accomplished by right clicking on the network connectivity icon in the notification area and clicking on ‘Network and Sharing Center’. Alternatively you can click ‘start’ (is the start menu still called the start menu in vista?) right click on networking and select properties to get to this window.
Across from the connection you want to change, click view status. Selecting details will display your IP along with other pertinent information.
From the Local Area Connection Status window, select properties, Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP), click properties, and then select the ‘Use the following IP address’ radio button and fill in the required fields.
Tips:
Be sure to make sure that your IP address does not conflict with another user on the network, this will cause problems. Also, don't use the same IP as your gateway or a server, unless you are a gateway. This will mess things up for everyone and likely make people very angry at you.
Knowing your IP address is a vital part of any LAN party, you don’t need to memorize it, but knowing it helps. Keep in mind that if your IP is automatically assigned, you may get a different IP every reboot, or if you unplug your network cable.
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