Is it possible to change my IPv4 address?

How do you change your IP address on Windows Vista?

• I know how to get there: Network and Sharing Center Manage Network Connections Connection Properties IPv4 The problem: After I get there and click "Use the following IP address", I don't know what to put in those boxes under it. I understand the 0-255 thing but whenever I put in a set of numbers, my internet loses connection. How do I change the IP while maintaining connection to the internet?

• Answer:

  The IP address you have has been given to you by an upstream controller of some sort, usually a router, using Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP). That address is usually not an address valid on the internet (ANYthing starting with 10. or 172.16...-172.31 or 192.168 is for local use only) but is rather masqueraded onto the internet using a high port number and Network Address Translation (NAT).) The DHCP usually leases an address by associating it with the hardware address of your ethernet interface (called the MAC address) for a specific period of time. Anyway, you don't get an internet IP address as a static address unless you pay for that --so your route to the internet is exactly what you are given. If you are working a local net and want static addresses, you have to log in to your router and specify the static addresses and any port forwarding you want to have occur. So, you WILL lose internet connection if you simply try to change your IP address. The very system that has been set uop to make it easy and transparent for you will not permit that action to be meaningful. And it doesn't matter if it is XP, Vista Xandors, Lynx, BSD or linux... those rules apply.