My ISP has informed me that I need to change my companies IP Address from Dynamic to static. I have the Gateway, Subnet Mask, and Address but No idea how to change them in the router. We have a small network and about six computers and three printers on it. Looking for help on how to get this done? I have been told it is pretty simple. Do I need to go into every machine and change the address?

Thanks for the help.

I have the Gateway, Subnet Mask, and Address but No idea how to change them in the router.

There are three general ways to do this: 1) You telnet or ssh to the router, login, and issue the necessary command line interface commands to change the addressing settings on the appropriate external router interface, or 2) You http using a web browser to the router's web based management interface and do the same as in #1 by pointing and clicking, or 3) you connect a serial cable to the console port on the router from another computer or laptop and initiate a serial session (Hyperterminal?) and do the same as in #1.

What you need to do depends on your router brand and model and how it was setup. For all but #3 you will need the ip address of one of the router's internal interfaces, and probably the security credentials (username/password) required to access the device.

Either contact the individual who configured the router for you, technical support at your ISP if they provided the router, or post the make and model and maybe I can walk you through it. There is usually a configuration manual on the router vendor's website as well.


Do i need to go into every machine and change the address?

No, not if you received only one address. That address will be for the external public facing interface on the router.

It would be helpful to know the type of router to be more specific. Once you get into the router you just need to change the WAN interface settings from "obtain an ip" or "DHCP" to the static settings your ISP will assign you. The internal network settings shouldn't require any change, and you won't need to log into all your computers. There are a lot of different types of routers so this can be done in many ways.

Let's dumb this down a bit.

How's this: If you have a common Bestbuy bought type of router (ie: Linksys, D-Link, Netgear etc.. ) You will need to open a broswer and type the ip address of the router. This is most likely the way you're going to get in there to configure it. If you don't know the ip address of your router, it's likely the gateway address of any computer on your network.

To find the gateway address, Click Start -> Run type CMD and click OK. Then in the black Dos box, type ipconfig /all and hit enter. The gateway address will show up.

By default, a Linksys router's IP address right out of the box is 192.168.1.1 So in this case I'd open Internet Explorer and type: http://192.168.1.1 and hit enter. If it's a Linksys router, the default username is left blank while the password is admin. Unless this is changed this is how it comes out of the box. Once you login to a Linksys router, the settings for changing to a static IP address are on the main page under the WAN section.

Each of these vendors of routers has instructions for this on their respective homepages. Or you can call support and they will walk you through this.

Note: If the password has been changed, no one knows what it is and the guy who set it has left the country, is locked up, shot dead or otherwise unavailable to give it to you, you can always reset the router back to factory defaults. But note (again) that you'll have to set it up again if you do this. It's not that hard but you'll need to find out things like the IP Address range on your network, or if there are any programs or access from the internet into your business and resetup those respectively.

As aboleth said, it would be helpful to know the model of router. You've gotten good advice for both hi level routers and consumer routers.

Let's go down a step again.

What is the connection to the internet? DSL, Cable, something else.

With most boxes being multifunctional, we can't always assume router is where the change should occur. It just might occur in the DSL modem or Cable modem. In these cases the router's IP address is on the private network (LAN), not the public Internet (WAN). Evan a DSL modem in bridge mode, it's in the modem. Only the PPPOE settings are in the router.

If you have a DSL Modem/Router/wireless router/Analog modem failover kind of box, what do you call it?

Sheesh: I think you all might be wrong.