How to Refresh IP Address on Windows Computer

This wikiHow teaches you how to update the IP (Internet Protocp) address of your Windows computer. Refreshing the IP address can fix network errors and connectivity problems when you switch to a new router or network. If after refreshing the IP address the connection problem is still not resolved, you can proceed with the network restart process on the personal network.

Table of Contents

Using Command Prompt

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Open Start

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. Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen.

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Type command prompt . The Command Prompt application will be searched on the computer.

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Click

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Command Prompt at the top of the Start window. Command Prompt will open.

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Enter ipconfig . This command will find and display the computer’s IP information.

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Press ↵ Enter . The command will run and display information on the Command Prompt window after a short delay.

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View current IP address. To the right of the “IPv4 Address” header, you’ll see a series of numbers (such as 123.456.7.8 ). This is the computer’s current IP address; The last digit in the address represents the location where the computer is on the network.

When you refresh the computer’s IP address, only the last digit changes, maybe even the same.

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Type the command “release”. Type in ipconfig /release and press ↵ Enter . The current IP address of the computer will be deleted to assign a new IP address.

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Wait a few minutes. In order to facilitate the router to reorder the router’s current connected entries, please wait at least 5 minutes before refreshing the computer’s IP address.

If you are in a hurry, you can skip this step.

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Enter the “renew” command. Type ipconfig /renew . After a few seconds, the IP address will be restored along with the Internet connection.

Don’t worry if the IP address is still the same as before. This means that the best available IP address for your computer is your previous one.
Now you can exit Command Prompt.

Restart the private network

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Turn off the computer. Open Start

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, click Power

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and select Shut down in the menu that appears.

To perform this process, your computer must turn off completely.

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Unplug the power cord from the modem (modem) for at least 10 seconds. Unplugging the power cord (instead of pressing a button on the modem) is recommended by experts as the best way to power off the device. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Unplug the router. If you are using a router with a modem, you need to make sure that the modem has disconnected both the cable and the power cord.

Do not plug everything back in for as long as possible. If possible, you should leave the modem and router alone overnight; If not, about 2 hours is fine.

This process is called “power-cycling” and fixes most network problems.

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Plug the modem and router back in. It will take a few minutes for the modem and router to reconnect to the Internet, so be patient.

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Turn on the computer. Press the “Power” button

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on the computer and wait for it to turn on.

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Connect to the network. You may need to use the password and network name (according to the factory settings) of the router (or modem). All are printed under the base or behind the router. Once connected, the computer will be assigned a new internal IP address.

Advice

These methods only change the machine’s internal IP address. The internal IP address cannot be seen by outsiders because it is assigned by your router or gateway. Changing the external IP address requires specific configuration from your Internet service provider. If you want to access blocked websites, you need to use a virtual private network (VPN) or a proxy server.
Some Internet service providers assign static IP addresses based on the computer’s MAC address. If you want to change the static IP address, you need to contact your carrier.

Warning

Refreshing the IP address doesn’t usually fix connectivity problems. If the network still fails, you need to contact your Internet service provider.

Steps

Using Command Prompt

Restart the private network

Advice

Warning

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