Windows7: Managing Network Connections (part 2) - Enabling Automatic IP Addressing

1/13/2011 3:42:29 PM

Enabling Automatic IP Addressing

Every computer on your network requires a unique designation so that packets can be routed to the correct location when information is transferred across the network. In a default Microsoft peer-to-peer network, the network protocol that handles these transfers is Transport Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and the unique designation assigned to each computer is the IP address.

By default, Windows 7 computers obtain their IP addresses via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). In most small networks, the router’s DHCP server provides each network computer at logon with an IP address from a range of addresses.

However, activating the router’s DHCP server is only the first step toward automating the assignment of IP addresses on your network. The second step is to make sure that each of your Windows 7 machines is configured to accept automatic IP addressing. This feature is turned on by default in most Windows 7 installations, but it’s worth checking, just to be sure.

Note

The instructions in this section work for both wired and wireless connections.

Confirming That Windows 7 Is Configured for Dynamic IP Addressing

Here are the steps to follow to check (and, if necessary, change) Windows 7’s automatic IP addressing setting:

1.	Open the Network Connections window, as described earlier.
2.	Select the connection you want to work with.
3.	In the taskbar, click Change Settings of This Connection. Windows 7 display’s the connection’s Properties dialog box. Tip If you don’t see the Change Settings of This Connection command, either maximize the window or click the double arrow (>>) that appears on the right side of the taskbar to display the commands that won’t fit. Note, too, that you can also right-click the connection and then click Properties.
4.	In the Networking tab’s list of items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
5.	Click Properties to display the Properties dialog box for Internet Protocol Version 4.
6.	Select the Obtain an IP Address Automatically option, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Select the Obtain an IP Address Automatically option to configure Windows 7 to accept the dynamic IP addresses assigned by your network’s router.
7.	Select the Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically option.
8.	Click OK to return to the connection’s Properties dialog box.
9.	Click Close.
10.	Repeat steps 2 through 9 for your other network connections.

Displaying the Computer’s Current IP Address

There may be times when you need to know the current IP address assigned to your Windows 7 machine. For example, one networking troubleshooting process is to see whether you can contact a computer over the connection, a process known as pinging the computer (because you use Windows 7’s PING command). In some cases, you need to know the computer’s IP address for this method to work.

To find out the current IP address of the Windows 7 machine, use any of the following methods:

In the Network Connections window, click the Network icon, click the taskbar’s View Status of This Connection command (or double-click the network connection) to open the connection’s Status dialog box. Click Details to open the Network Connection Details dialog box. As shown in Figure 3 , the computer’s current IP address appears as the IPv4 IP Address value.

Figure 3. In the network connection’s Status dialog box, the IPv4 IP Address value displays the Windows 7 computer’s current IP address.
Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt to open a command-line window. At the prompt, type ipconfig | more and press Enter. Windows 7 displays information about each network connection, including the IP address associated with each connection, as shown in the following (partial) example output:

Note

I’ve added the MORE command here to control the output of the IPCONFIG results. Windows 7 displays a screenful of data, and then displays -- More -- at the bottom of the screen. Press Enter to scroll through the rest of the results one line at a time, or press the spacebar to see the results one screen at a time.

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::452f:6db7:eaf2:3112%11
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.84
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::130:2a68:fde5:d668%8
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.52
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1