Command Line and Scripts

You can also configure network settings from the command line or from a script using the Netsh tool and commands in the Netsh interface ipv4 or Netsh interface ipv6 contexts.

For example, to configure the standard network interface to use DHCP and to use the DNS servers provided by DHCP, you could issue the following commands.

Note Windows XP also included the Netsh tool. However, the Windows XP version of Netsh uses different commands. For example, you would use Netsh interface ip set dns to configure DNS settings for a computer running Windows XP instead of Netsh interface ipv4 set dnsserver, which you use to configure DNS settings for a computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7. However, Netsh in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is backward compatible and will accept the older, Windows XP-compatible syntax.

Because DHCP is the default setting for network adapters, it is more likely that you will need to use Netsh commands to configure a static IP address. The following command demonstrates how to do this for IPv4.

Netsh interface ipv4 set address "Local Area Connection" source=static
address=192.168.1.10 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.1
Netsh interface ipv4 set dnsserver "Local Area Connection" source=static
address=192.168.1.2 register=primary

The following commands demonstrate configuring a static IP address and DNS server configuration for IPv6.

Netsh interface ipv6 set address "Local Area Connection" address=2001:db8:3fa8:102a::2
anycast
Netsh interface ipv6 set dnsserver "Local Area Connection" source=static
address=2001:db8:
3fa8:1719::1 register=primary

You should avoid using scripts to configure production client computers because they are not tolerant of varying hardware configurations and because DHCP provides most of the configuration capabilities required for production networks. However, scripts can be useful for quickly changing the network configuration of computers in lab environments. Instead of manually writing Netsh commands, you can configure a computer using graphical tools and use the Netsh tool to generate a configuration script.

Note You can generate a configuration script that can be run from within Netsh by running the command Netsh interface dump > script_filename. You can then apply that script using the command Netsh -f script_filename.

Netsh provides the ability to configure almost any aspect of Windows 7 networking. For detailed instructions, refer to Windows Help And Support or run the following command from a command prompt.