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When we want to connect to Local Area Network, if the server already have DHCP service, than we don't have to do anything with our network IP Address, just leave it blank, that the network will give the proper IP address to our computer. But sometime, if server does not have DHCP service, than we have to setting first the IP Address of our computer for make it can be identified by the network.

In this article, we talk about change IP Address at Windows XP OS. To change IP Address, go to Control Panel > Network Connections, that it will appear Local Area Network Status window box. Press Properties, then select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) at the box of “This connection uses the following items:”

Yes, it's easy to change IP address at Windows XP computer, but I have an experience to change almost everyday  about 3 different IP address, because I move from one place to other place everyday. So, I need a shortcut to make changing IP as simple as single click. For this condition, I use a Windows software known by “netsh”

What is “Netsh.exe” ?

Netsh.exe is a software which place at c:\windows\system32  folder.  This software utility use for changing or setting an Windows network configuration with command prompt. By default, netsh.exe is already include at Windows setup, start from Windows 2000 above.

How to use “Netsh.exe” ?

Easy to use netsh.exe, we can start from help with:

netsh /?

To change IP Address and Default Gateway:

netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" static 192.168.0.101 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.9 1

To change DNS:

netsh interface ip set dns name="Local Area Connection" static 192.168.0.4

All 3 example above are write directly at Windows command prompt, but we can also make a batch file to make it easy to run with only click to change IP address. This is the sample of batch file:

@echo off
echo IP MyNetwork
echo Processing Change IP....
netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" static 192.168.0.101 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.9 1
echo Processing Change DNS....
netsh interface ip set dns name="Local Area Connection" static 192.168.0.4

save it as changemyip.bat than create a shortcut at Windows desktop and done. Next, we only have to click a shotcut to change Windows Network IP address.