Configuring TCP/IP Manually

After the Microsoft TCP/IP protocol software is installed on your computer, you must manually provide valid addressing information if you are installing TCP/IP on a DHCP server or a WINS Server, or if you cannot use automatic DHCP configuration.

For a WINS server computer that has more than one network adapter card, WINS always binds to the first adapter in the list of adapters bound by TCP/IP. Make sure that this adapter address is not set to 0, and that the binding order of IP addresses is not disturbed.

You must be logged on as a member of the Administrators group for the local computer to configure TCP/IP.

Caution Be sure to use the values for IP addresses and subnet masks that are supplied by your network administrator to avoid duplicate addresses. If duplicate addresses do occur, this can cause some computers on the network to function unpredictably. For more information, see "IP Addressing" in Chapter 12, "Networking Concepts for TCP/IP."

To manually configure the TCP/IP protocol

  1. Complete one of the following tasks:

If you are installing TCP/IP, perform the following steps.

– Or –

If you are reconfiguring TCP/IP, perform the following steps.

The Adapter list contains all network adapters to which IP is bound on this computer. This list includes all adapters installed on this computer.

You must set specific IP addressing information for each bound adapter with correct values provided by the network administrator. The bindings for a network adapter determine how network protocols and other layers of network software work together.

  1. For each bound network adapter, type values in the IP Address and Subnet Mask boxes.
    • The value in the IP Address box identifies the IP address for your local computer or, if more than one network card is installed in the computer, for the network adapter card selected in the Adapter box.
    • The value in the Subnet Mask box identifies the network membership for the selected network adapter and its host ID. This allows the computer to separate the IP address into host and network IDs. The subnet mask defaults to an appropriate value, as shown in the following table:

      Table 11.2 Subnet Mask Defaults

Address class

Range of first octet in IP address

Subnet mask

Class A

1–126

255.0.0.0

Class B

128–191

255.255.0.0

Class C

192–223

255.255.255.0


  1. For each network adapter on the computer, type the correct IP address value in the Default Gateway box, as provided by the network administrator.

This value specifies the IP address of the default gateway (or IP router) used to forward packets to other networks or subnets. This value should be the IP address of your local gateway.

This parameter is required only for systems on internetworks. If this parameter is not provided, IP functionality is limited to the local subnet unless a route is specified with the TCP/IP route utility, as described in Appendix A, "TCP/IP Utilities Reference."

If your computer has multiple network cards, additional default gateways can be added using the Advanced Microsoft TCP/IP Configuration dialog box, as described later in this chapter.

  1. If there are WINS servers installed on your network and you want to use WINS in combination with broadcast name queries to resolve computer names, type IP addresses in the boxes for the primary and, optionally, the secondary WINS servers.

The network administrator should provide the correct values for these parameters. These are global values for the computer, not just individual adapters.

If an address for a WINS server is not specified, this computer uses name query broadcasts (the b-node mode for NetBIOS over TCP/IP) plus the local LMHOSTS file to resolve computer names to IP addresses. Broadcast resolution is limited to the local network.

Note

WINS name resolution is enabled and configured automatically for a computer that is configured with DHCP.

On a WINS server, NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NETBT.SYS) uses WINS on the local computer as the primary name server, regardless of how name resolution might be configured. Also, NetBIOS over TCP/IP binds to the first IP address on a network adapter and ignores any additional addresses.

For overview information about name resolution options, see "Name Resolution for Windows Networking" in Chapter 12 "Networking Concepts for TCP/IP." For detailed information about installing and configuring WINS servers, see Chapter 14, "Installing and Configuring WINS Servers."

  1. If you want to configure the advanced TCP/IP options for multiple gateways and other items, choose the Advanced button, and then continue with the configuration procedure, as described in "Configuring Advanced TCP/IP Options" later in this chapter.
  2. If you want to use DNS for host name resolution, choose the DNS button, and then continue with the configuration procedure, as described in the next section.
  3. If you do not want to configure DNS or advanced options, or if you have completed the other configuration procedures, choose the OK button. When the Network Settings dialog box is displayed again, choose the OK button.

Microsoft TCP/IP has been configured. If you are installing TCP/IP for the first time, you must restart the computer for the configuration to take effect. If you are changing your existing configuration, you do not have to restart your computer.

After TCP/IP is installed, the \systemroot\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC directory contains a default HOSTS file and a sample LMHOSTS.SAM file. The network administrator might require that replacement HOSTS and LMHOSTS files be used instead of these default files.