The IP address is a number that identifies any network device connected to the internet. A computer with a network card is then seen on the internet or in a local LAN with this IP number.
Speaking of the PCs and smartphones that we use every day to surf the internet, changing IP can mean at least 3 different things .
You can change the private IP of the internal network, change the public IP with which the computer is viewed by other devices connected via the internet or change the IP to camouflage or hide it .
It is important to know that there is a big difference between private and internet networks and, for those interested, I suggest reading these two theoretical guides:
- How do we connect to the internet and why with the same Public IP address "> Why do computers at home have an IP address of type 192.168.XX?
READ ALSO: How computers talk to each other on the network via TCP / IP
In a nutshell, the private IP is assigned to the computer by the home router according to a range of addresses that is almost always 192.168.0.x.
Even if this IP can be changed as you want on the PC, always staying within the range set in the configuration panel of the router, it is not very useful to do it unless you turn around a lot with the laptop to create profiles and network if the PC connects from different places
Changing The router's IP address (which always has 1 as the last number) means instead giving another range of network addresses.
For example, if you give the router the address 192.168.22.1, it means that you move on the 192.168.22.X network and that the connected computers and smartphones will be automatically assigned (via DHCP) an address from 192.168.22.2 to 192.168 .22.255.
The automatic assignment of IP addresses is managed by a service called DHCP, which we will discuss in another article.
Note that each quartet number that forms the IP address (IPv4) can go from 0 to 255.
Another article explains how to see the router's IP.
To see the IP assigned by the router to the computer, the easiest way is to use the IPConfig command on a command prompt window.
To change the private IP on the Windows PC, you can do it in different ways from the control panel, from the Network connection center, clicking on change adapter settings and then right-click on the network card used to connect to the internet, click on Properties .
From the Properties tab, scroll the list, select the TCP / IP v4 Protocol, press Properties and write the IP address you want to use the PC, always respecting the network range, writing the address of the Router ( Gateway ) and always using the number 255.255.255.0 as Subnet Mask .
On how to change DNS on PC, Mac and Router refer to another article.
You can also change IP on the PC from the Command Prompt (by opening the prompt as administrator) by writing:
netsh interface ip set address name = "Connection to the local network (LAN)" source = static 192.168.0.22 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.1
With this command, the IP of the computer will always be the one indicated (in the example 192.168.0.22) statically.
To go back to having an automatic assignment you can instead type the command:
netsh interface ip set dns name = "Connection to the local area network (LAN)" source = dhcp
In another article there are other ways and details on how to set fixed and static IP address and change IP with a click.
Changing IP on Mac can be done from the system preferences -> Network> select the connection> Advanced> PAnn TCP / IP> IPv4> manually select and write the new IP.
On Android Smartphones, the IP is changed in Settings -> Wifi, holding down on the network name and pressing Edit .
On iPhone just go to Settings -> Wifi> Static .
One might now wonder if it is possible to change the public IP with which the computer (or rather the router) goes out on the internet.
This possibility would give direct access to your PC from anywhere via the internet, but it is a service that must be paid for separately.
We have written further instructions and explanations about it:
- hi can see our IP address and what can it do?
- What is a Static IP and what are the advantages.
- Difference between public IP and private IP and how to find them
Even if you cannot change the public IP with which you are recognized on the internet, you can still disguise it.
Disguising the IP means hiding it or making sure that the websites you visit see a different one from ours, so you can access sites obscured in our country, censored or blocked for other reasons.
We also talked about this in various guides:
- Guide to surf with foreign ip with Tor and see blocked sites
- Surf the internet anonymously with fake proxies, vpn and IP addresses
- Best free VPN services to surf the web for free
- VPN app to surf safely and on sites blocked by Android, iPhone and iPad
