If you take your Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, or XP laptop between two separate networks that have different network settings, you can choose which settings to use at startup by selecting a hardware profile for the specific network. Below are the steps for setting up two hardware profiles. Windows 2000 users who need to regularly switch between Student and Staff networks are advised to skip ahead to the next section. A separate option for experienced users of Windows 95, 98, and Me, is detailed in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article: Q156772. Again, this is for experienced users only as it involves editting the registry.
Click on "Start", then "Settings", then "Control Panel". Windows XP users will click on "Start", then "Control Panel", then "Switch to Classic View".
Double click on the "System" icon.
Select the "Hardware" tab and the "Hardware Profiles..." button.
Click the "Copy" button. You'll now have two identical hardware profiles. I recommend giving your hardware profiles specific names so that you don't get them confused and have to restart again and select the correct one.
Choose between "Wait until I select a hardware profile" or "Select the first profile listed if I don't select a profile in". If you select the latter (which is the default), you will need to enter a number of seconds for the computer to wait before it continues booting with the first profile (the default is 30 seconds). Click "OK" and "OK" again to leave the "System" menu. Now reboot your computer.
When the computer starts, it will pause and ask you which hardware profile you wish to use. Select the new profile.
When the computer has finished starting Windows, click "Start" then "Settings" then "Control Panel".
In Windows 95 and 98, Double click the "Network" icon. In Windows 2000, double click on the "Network and Dial-up Connections" icon, then right click on the "Local Area Connection" icon and select "Properties".
Select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and then click the "Properties" button. Configure these settings according to your network dministrators recommendations.
When you restart your computer you'll be able to choose between the two hardware profiles. Each will now be configured for a separate network. Select the appropriate profile for your network.
Windows 2000 users can use the shell to switch between a static IP environment and a DHCP environment using the "netsh" command from the shell.
Select "Start" then "Programs" then "Aceessories" then "Command Prompt".
To switch from a static to a DHCP assigned IP Address at the command prompt enter:
netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" dhcp
Press the "Enter" key.
To switch from a DHCP to a static assigned IP Address at the command prompt enter:
netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" static ipaddress subnetmask gateway metric
The worlds in italics should be replaced with the appropriate values for your network (the metric option may not be required on all networks).
Press the "Enter" key.
Your network settings have now been switched without requiring a reboot. If you have multiple network adapters on your laptop entering: Netsh interface ip show config
This will give you a list of adapter names on your network. Replace "Local Area Connection" with the appropriate name from the list. For users with a single network adapter, the default name is "Local Area Connection", and this step is unnecessary..