One laptop, one NIC, two desks, two different static IPs (1 Viewer)

[Kelley_B]

Ok heres the deal I have a user who just got a new laptop and he has two desk that have port replicators in them, well each desk has a different IP. Now how would I solve this issue with Windows 2000 Pro??? I have tried using two hardware profiles but I just can't seem to get it to work. Please someone help. Rob I know you have to know the answer to this.

 

[Curtis Koenig]

What are you trying to accomplish? Your post is hard to understand and I think if you tell me what you want to happen I can help you out.

 

[Kelley_B]

I want the user to be able to take the laptop and just set it into the port replicator on his desk and turn it on and then select which location he is at and then have it use that locations IP.

 

[Jason Merrick]

Curtis,

It sounds to me like he is trying to connect a laptop computer via two separate port replicators to a LAN. With different IP's, the laptop can't "see" the network until the IP is set to the correct range.

Sorry, I'm probably being more confusing than the original.

Can't you create two separate connections with the different settings in the Network Control Panel?

 

[Curtis Koenig]

Windows 2000 can not do that with static IP address. The IP stack does not distinguish between the port replicator presence and an IP number. If you have DHCP the machine should automatically get an IP number from the subnet it is on and then communicate correctly. However, if you do not have DHCP this does not work.

If you set a static IP address on a machine, that address is good for the machine anywhere it goes. Essentially saying "this is my address".

You can create seperate IP entries for the same network card but it is not intended to work in this fashion. It is meant for multi-homing a computer on the same subnet.

Now that I know what you want to do, lets ask the why? Maybe there is another solution to the problem. Is this on a managed domain network or a workgroup?

 

[Craig Chatterton]

I have the same problem with my Windows 2000 laptop. The network at my office uses DHCP, so I have to enable that and join a domain to be able to access their network. However, a consultant I work with isn't allowed to connect his laptop to our network, so I have to connect to his, which uses a static IP address and a Workgroup.

Currently I've just been changing my Network settings and rebooting each time I want to change networks. But I did some research and found that the IP address and Network information is stored in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet00x. Each ControlSet subfolder corresponds to a Hardware Profile. So I think that's your best bet, even though you said you were having trouble with them. I'm going to try to get another Hardware Profile going on my laptop and see if that works.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

I believe there is a command in Win 2K that allows you to set the IP adress etc in one fell swoop. You can use it in a batch file for instance, make an icon for it and have windows reassign your IP info with relative ease.
I'll be hanged if I can remember the command though.
(15 minutes of searching later!
Found it!
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q257748

 

[Kelley_B]

this has to be done as it is on our corporate network and the network dummies here can't seem to get DHCP working, idiots....I've worked on a static to DHCP switch two years ago at my old job and have offered to help them many times but they claim that they will figure it out someday, until then they continue to force us to work in the IP stone ages.

I will try to work with the hardware profiles more, this is frustrating though.

 

[Kelley_B]

Craig,

I tried your idea, it doesn't work and it took forever, and I think I might have messed up the reg. Basically good idea, but I couldn't get it to work.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Uh... is there a problem with using Netsh as per Microsofts recommendations?

The link I posted up there describes how to use that command to change your IP.

Just create a file named something.bat, one per the different settings you'll need, and put something like this in there:

@echo off

echo Changing IP settings to docking station X

netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" static 192.168.0.10 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.1 1

echo Done

exit

Then just put shortcuts to those files on the desktop and name them something like "location1" and "location2" or whatever... then just click on them to change your IP settings.

 

[Chris]

You can also have different profiles, with profile login scripts that handle the NetSH.. or is this logging into a domain but requiring static IPs?