Windows 7 / Networking

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Configuring IP Addresses Manually

The alternative to using DHCP is to configure IP address settings manually. However, because of the time required to configure settings, the likelihood of making a configuration error, and the challenge of connecting new computers to a network, manually configuring IP addresses is rarely the best choice for client computers.

To configure an IPv4 address manually, follow these steps:

1. Click the network icon in the notification area and then click Open Network And Sharing Center.
2. Click Change Adapter Settings.
3. Right-click the network adapter and then click Properties.
4. In the Properties dialog box, click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click Properties.
5. If you always want to use manually configured network settings, click the General tab and then click Use The Following IP Address. If you want to use manually configured network settings only when a DHCP server is not available, click the Alternate Configuration tab and then click User Configured. Then, configure the computer's IP address, default gateway, and DNS servers.
6. Click OK twice. The configuration changes will take effect immediately, without requiring you to restart the computer.

You should rarely need to configure an IPv6 address manually because IPv6 is designed to configure itself automatically. To configure an IPv6 address manually, follow these steps:

1. Click the network icon in the notification area and then click Open Network And Sharing Center.
2. Click Change Adapter Settings.
3. Right-click the network adapter and then click Properties.
4. In the Properties dialog box, click Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and then click Properties.
5. Click Use The Following IPv6 Address and configure the computer's IP address, subnet prefix length, default gateway, and DNS servers. TCP/IPv6 does not support an alternate configuration, as TCP/IPv4 does.
6. Click OK twice. The configuration changes will take effect immediately, without requiring you to restart the computer.

You can prevent users from accessing these graphical tools. Most important settings require administrative credentials, so simply not giving users local administrator access to their computers will prevent them from making most important changes. You can also use the Group Policy settings located in User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates \Network\Network Connections to restrict the user interface further (but this will not necessarily prevent a user from using other tools to make changes).