[bennypole (OP)]

My current ip is something, and I want to change it to a defined IP. Almost all the software available online change the ips to some random ip. i want to change my ip to a particular ip, that I enter not some random ip. []

[Geezer]

Unless you own the IP address, you can only do that on your own private network.

[Paul_1966]

If you're talking about your IP address as seen by the outside world, then you have very limited control over it.  If your computer is connected directly to your ISP via a simple modem, then the IP address of your computer will be whatever your ISP assigns when you connect.

Most residential packages use dynamic assignment by default, which means that each time your modem connects you will be assigned a free IP address from a pool, and that will remain your IP address until the connection is broken for whatever reason.   The address will almost certainly be different each time a connection is established, but will always be within one or more specific ranges of addresses which are used by your particular ISP.

You can request a static IP address, meaning that your IP address will always be the same, but it will still be whatever your ISP assigns to you from its own available pool of addresses (your ISP will also quite likely charge an additional fee for a static address).   You can't choose any address you like, because your ISP can assign to you only addresses over which it has control itself.

If your computer is connected behind a router with NAT, then all of the foregoing applies equally to the address which the router will get from your ISP which is how your computer will appear to the outside world. 

On your local area network, however, you can configure your router to use a specific IP address range, and assign static addresses to specific computers within that LAN.   The three main classes of reserved addresses are:

10.0.0.0/8 (i.e. 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255)
172.16.0.0/12 (i.e. 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255)
192.168.0.0/16 (i.e. 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255)

You can configure your router to use a subnet within any of those ranges, and then make a static assignment of an address within the chosen range to each computer if you wish.   

It's possible to configure many routers to use any range you like for your LAN, but doing so will mean that those addresses in the outside world will then be inaccessible to you, because your router will treat them as LAN addresses and never send them outside your own side of the network.  For example, if you configured your LAN to be on 87.112.79.0 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 you could then set your computer to a static address anywhere within that range (87.112.79.0 - 87.112.79.255).  But doing that would mean that the same range of addresses in the outside world would not be accessible.  That's why there are reserved LAN address ranges.

Of course, if it's an entirely private network with no connection whatsoever to the outside world, you're free to assign the addresses however you wish, because there will be no clashes.

[rosy]

We have a static IP at home, because some of my housemates were keen to be able to log into their computers from elsewhere. Some ISPs will offer this as part of their deal. Not the cheapest ISPs, mind you, but if it's important to you you might be willing to pay a bit more for a facility you want.

I think we're now on BE (we changed from BT, where we definitely had a dynamic address)... but I don't pay those bills, and it's been a year or two since it came up for discussion, so I'm not sure.

[CliffordK]

Most people use DHCP supplied by their ISP/Router. 

For various reasons, you can set a static IP in the network manager of Windows, or whatever OS you are using.

I haven't used any MSFT software for quite some time, but I suppose I could boot up the "beast" with XP...  if necessary.  What version do you have?

With XP find your "Network Neighborhood" or "My Network Places".  Right Click on it and go to "Properties".
Then Find your network card.  Right click on it again and go to "Properties".
I think this brings you to a screen where you can specify static vs dynamic IP.

As mentioned above...  you can't just make up an IP if you are connected to an ISP and internet, but rather have to get the IP from your ISP (usually using DHCP).

You can set static IPs if connected to a local network.  And, sometimes it is convenient to set a static ISP in your printers, or even the computers on the local LAN if you aren't taking them elsewhere. 

Static IPs can also be handy for peer to peer communication in the absence of a router or DHCP server.  Keep in mind, to connect directly between two computers without a router/switch, you will need a crossover cable.

Winipcfg is a handy utility in Windows that gives you some control over renewing IP addresses and etc.
You can run IPCONFIG from DOS to get a quick list of most of the IP Status information. 

I think you can dump the output to a file...   "Ipconfig /all > filename.txt"
Verify that you've captured the config.
But, it wouldn't be a bad idea to save a copy of what you have...  before tinkering around too much.  Although that gives you the actual network config snapshot, not the DHCP status.

[Neo01]

There is no Ip address for your computer. Your Internet service provider will assign you an IP when you are online.


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[Geezer]

There is no Ip address for your computer. Your Internet service provider will assign you an IP when you are online.

It depends on what you mean by "IP Address". If your computer is attached to a private network, it does have an IP address that it typically gets from a network router, but that address is only used within the private network, so I suppose you could say it is not really an "Internet Protocol Address" because it is not visible on the Internet.