same or differnt ips

[christina_12]

I was wondering if i have two pcs in my hosue hooked up to a router will they have the same ip? if so how would i get them to have differnt ips?

[Jim Mallett]

This looks like a better question for the Microsoft or Workstation forum....but....I just so happen to have a home network:

It really depends on your router and if it is set up as a DHCP server also. I have a LinkSys that hands out IPs to my computer(s) at home so they all have distinct IP addresses.

If you want to check your IP addresses (depending on Windows version) go to:
Start > Run > Type in cmd and hit enter, you'll get a command prompt. Then type ipconfig That will tell you that systems IP address. Compare the two systems.

If there is an issue:
Make sure each of your PCs is set up to pick up DHCP addresses.
Start > Settings > Network and Dialup Connections > Right click on your Local Area Connection and choose properties. Pick the TCP/IP protocol and view it's properties, you should be set to "Obtain an IP address automatically".

That is likely the scenario and you should be all set, again..it depends on the router.

Good luck....
Jim

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi,

They cannot have the same IP but they will be in the same subnet. You will need to ask your internet provider for IPs.

-Sri

[Michael Elleby III_1]

Hello-

What version of Windows are you using (hopefully, it's 2000 or better)

To have your machines get their IP address from a DHCP server (hopefully, your ISP provides this and as stated earlier, there may be a nominal fee associated with this):

Go into your network properties by finding your Network Neighborhood or My Network Places icon and right clicking on it and selecting properties. Find the icon for your network connection and right clicking on it. When the dialog box pops up, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click on the properties button to your lower right. Select the button "Obtain an IP address automatically".

Click on OK. In Win2K and WinXP do not require a reboot, however, previous versions of Windows (98, 98SE) will. At this point, your machines should try to acquire their own IP from the DHCP server.

What I do to circumvent this is to create an internal network and connect all my pc's to it. I don't like connecting all my PC's directly to the router, since this makes them all open to outside attacks from hackers out there probing. Now granted there are some routers that have firewall capabilities built in, I feel more comfortable having all of my other pc's within an internal network and then connecting the one PC to the outer world, protected by a firewall (Sygate, Zone labs, etc) of course. Win2K and XP do allow you to 'share' the one PC's connection to the internet automatically, so you may not have to pay for additional IP's.

Mike Elleby

[christina_12]

one computer has 1998 and the other has xp will they have diff ips

[Michael Elleby III_1]

Christina-

If you use DHCP to obtain the address, yes, your machines would get a different address because basically, each NIC in both machines has a different hardware (mac) address.

Also, if you were to configure these on a private network, then of course you would assign different addresses to the NIC so that each machine is unique on the network.

Mike-

[Jim Mallett]

Christina,

If you can supply the router model number, one of us can find out if it acts as a DHCP server.

You will need to check each of your desktops though and make sure they are set up for DHCP. (see above)

If you just want a yes or no answer, run the ipconfig command and that will show you your IP addresses.

Jim

[Mariani Alberto]

I was wondering if you meant "will the 2 PCs have different ip addresses when looking from outside of the home network"; if that's the case, well, it depends on the router: usually, these things will have only 1 (one) public ip dymanically assigned by your ISP when you connect; the router then translates requests from the internal network to make them look like they came from the public ip and rediretcs the replies from internet to the correct pc on the lan.

So, yes, your PCs will _appear_ to have the same address from outside, but if you want things to work, you'll have to assign different IPs (note that if you assign addresses manually, there is no automatic way to check if one of them has been assigned to more than one client).

As other people noted, Windows (any version) by default comes configured to request its IP to a DHCP server (which could be the router).
Since you are on such a small lan, or if your router is not capable to act a DHCP server (unlikely with today's products), you could always assign fixed IPs to the PCs (i would do that regardless, unless one of the PCs is a laptop that travels a lot and needs to be able to connect to many different networks).

Hope this helps.

Bye,
Alberto