Setup Static IP for Windows Home Server
If you have installed additional applications on Windows Home Server you would have setup port forwarding which enables your router to forward ports to the server’s IP address that you specified. Whilst this would work when you initially set it up, after restarting your WHS it would most probably get a different IP address. When this happens the ports would no longer be forwarded to your server’s IP address and port forwarding would no longer work. To get around this issue there are two options we can undertake. We can either setup a static IP via the router which is known as Static DHCP or we can setup a static IP on the Windows Home Server.
Static DHCP: If your router can do it, we can tell it to reserve an IP address for your server from within DHCP. This means entering the MAC address from the network card in the WHS, into the router and assigning it a static IP address then whenever the WHS is restarted it will always have that same address.
The MAC address can be obtained by typing IPCONFIG /ALL at a command prompt from within the Windows Home Server.
If like many routers yours does not support this feature then we need to setup a static IP on the Windows Home server instead.
Static IP on WHS: First we need to choose an IP address.
IP Address Ranges:-
192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255
172.16.0.0 172.31.255.255
10.0.0.0 10.255.255.255
If in the router the DHCP Server IP addresses’ are assigned 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.150 then we can use any IP address from 192.168.1.151 to 192.168.1.255 for the static IP address as these will still be in the subnet but not in the DHCP scope.
Within the server click Start, Run and type CMD
In the box that opens type ipconfig /all and press Enter on your keyboard. Take note of the Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and the DNS Servers.
The DNS Servers entry may not be correct as some router’s act as a proxy between the actual name DNS servers and your computer. You will know if this is the case, because the Default Gateway will list the same IP address as the DNS Servers entry. We need to have the correct DNS Servers IP addresses otherwise we will not be able to browse the web. To get this information we need to log into the router’s web interface, and look at your router’s status page. On that page you should see an entry for DNS or Name Servers. Write down these IP addresses.
Type exit in this window, then press the Enter key to close it.
One again click on Start then Control Panel, Network Connections and then Local Area Connection.
On the dialogue that opens on the General tab click Properties.
On the General tab of this new box click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (make sure that you do not un-tick it) and then click Properties.
On the General tab click Use the following IP address and enter the IP address you choose earlier followed by your Subnet mask and the Default gateway.
Click the lower Use the following DNS server addresses and enter those that you wrote down earlier.
We can now OK out of all the dialogue boxes.
We now need to re-boot the Windows Home Server and that’s it job completed!
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Excellent article and the second part is exactly how I set mine up. But don’t you think this should be part of the WHS installation routine, along with the ability to set the workgroup name?
Hi Simon Smith,
I totally agree. The ability to set the workgroup name would be easy to implement but I can imagine that getting the WHS configured automatically to use a fixed IP address during installation would be a nightmare for the home server team to setup.
I’ve been playing with this a bit and saw something happen repeatedly that has me wondering…
WHS’s automatic router configuration routine seems to run on its own accord from time to time. I’m talking about the program that runs when you go into WHS Console, click Settings, Remote Access, then under Router, click Details, then click Refresh.
I’m almost certain that, if you’re lucky enough to get the automatic configuration routine working, it’ll re-assign the forwarding address inside the router *automatically*, to point ports 80, 443 and 4125 at the WHS server, on a schedule that I don’t yet understand.
Has anybody else seen anything similar happening?
Hint: if the static IP get set up after a WHS DHCP installation, it may be required to get rid of the IP in the WINS server.
Usually you get this by
1. add the WINS ip into the TCPIP configuration on your WHS
2. reboot the WHS.
Update: I was not successful here to reconnect WHS connector to WHS after static IP change.
I had to do these things for a reconnect:
1) a registry key on my client VISTA PC
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows Home Server\Transport\Clients\{08E2E743-B368-4F5A-8D1B-686139702ECB}\IPAddress
2) add a host entry into the hosts file
🙁
PS: I use a samba server for DNS and WINS (home network)
Hi Klaus,
Thanks for the info.
Is it OK to reset the workgroup name for WHS? I now see 2 workgroups, mine and WORKGROUP, with the WHS in on its own.
I can see that I can change it using remote desktop, but don’t know if its a good idea?
HP MediaSmart 475 ( new ) so still playing {:-)
Hi David Parkinson,
You can change the server workgroup to the name you are currently using. The only thing you may have to do afterwards is too reinstall the connector software on the client PCs as they may not find the server after the name change.
You said: Within the server click Start, Run and type CMD
I don’t see any Start buttuon within the server??!?!
Thanks for your help.
Herman
Hi Herman,
You need to use the Remote Desktop Connection on Vista or XP to connect to your server as a remote connection. You will them see the desktop of your server machine and the start button in the bottom left hand corner.
Dear Philip,
O, of course. I was looking in the Home Server Console.
Thanks.
Herman
I have a question which maybe the static config would fix.
I have a Vonage router with my wireless netgear router behind it with all my computers and HP home server.
I cant set up the Remote access.
I cant verify that the whs is accepting web site connections nor can I verify that it is accepting Remote access connections.
Will static setup fix this?
Hi Andrew Moss,
In what way cant you verify that it is not accepting remote access connections. Can’t you navigate to the web interface?
I’m a newbie on this stuff, sorry if it’s a stupid question: my Linksys WRT55AG router allows assigning a static IP address to a particular MAC address.
If I enter the MAC address of my Windows Home Server and give it an IP address of 192.168.1.100 will that mean the WHS will always get that IP address and I don’t need to do any of the above?
Hi OhPinchy,
You are correct and thats exactly what I do with my Linksys.
Thanks. I’ve seen mentions elsewhere that Linksys routers might preserve certain IP addresses for specific uses and I should set the static IP address to something lik 192.169.1.203 – does that sound right?
Philip,
Thats what the WHS software message is under routre configuration detail.
Configured not verified.
Keep trying and it will not verify.
Website setup with HPhomeserver.com
Help?
Hi OhPinchy,
That does sound right, that way all other address’s are out of the way.
Hi Andrew Moss,
It sounds like you will need to let the ports through manually with port forwarding in your router and/or the firewall on your PC is blocking the ports also.
Hi,
My Belkin router F5D8230-4 doesn’t allow Static DHCP. When I tried static IP with DNS server same as default gateway, all my PCs lost internet connectivity. Why is this?
I know your article above specifically says to use the actual DNS server from ISP. My ISP refused to give out at IP. My router status page doesn’t show it. Is there a tool to find out what my DNS server’s IP is?
Is it OK to assign a static IP but have WHS obtain DNS automatically?
If I don’t have any apps installed on WHS, is it OK to go ahead with dynamic IP? Will the remote access (and photo sharing in HP EX470) work if the WHS IP changes?
MikeC
Hello,
in the most configurations it is recommended, to use the IP address of the router also as DNS server (and NOT the IP address of the ISP, as Phil stated).
So you avoid the trouble, that clients and server try to register their network connections on the DNS server of the ISP, which will fail.
Also name resolution for your WHS may go wrong, if your clients try to resolve the WHS name at your ISP instead of your home network.
Best greetings from Germany
Olaf
I can’t get anything set up at all. The connect software for my Vista machine(main PC) failed because the router(Belkin F5D8231-4) can’t see the server.
Tried to setup a static ip address (for Port Forwarding) but I stumble straight out of the blocks – I can’t seem to get a MAC address from my WHS machine. When I type ‘ipconfig /all’ into the command line, all that is returned is ‘Windows IP Configuration’.
Any Ideas – I’m tearing my hair out!!!
Does anyone know if this linksys router WRT54G3G-ST handle static ip adress? If so how…thanks in advance.
Hello,
I have also been having some issues with WHS. I have setup port forwaring via my DLink DIR-615 router. I can access internally via network / console or remote desktop but in the console it states that my router cannot verify accepting remote access or web site connections. I’ve been surfing for a week now to try and figure this out. I have a static IP address assigned to my WHS only with all my other machines obtaining automatically. I have spoken with my ISP and these ports are not blocked. I have shut down the firewall on WHS, I’ve even tried DMZ through my router and it still will not succesfully configure within the console. I’m now thinking it is my router but wanted some feedback to see if anyone else had any comments before i ditch the DLink.
Are there any new firms developing antivirus firewall applications? The old ones do not work for me
Okay, you all are probably saying, “I want to know how to set my Windows Home Server up with a STATIC-IP address, but why isn’t anyone showing the info?”, right? Well, here it is. I struggled and struggled with trying to set up my WHS EX490 machine up with a static IP and did a lot of research, but come to find out, it was right there and very easy to set up if you’re familiar enough with changing IP schemes in your Network Connection settings. Here it is:
Connect your EX490 WHS server up onto your LAN/WAN (I won’t go through all of the steps to completely setting up your server, just the part of changing the IP settings) and power the server on.
I used Windows 7 Professional to do this and nothing else was tested. Open My Computer or any other Windows Explorer window. In the left pane, you will see a list of Favorites, Libraries, Homegroup, Computer and Network. If all has been set up properly, your WHS should show up in the list under Network. If so, right-click on the name. You will see a short list of options:
– Expand
– Connect with Remote Desktop Connection (RDC)
– Open in new window
Choose the option to connect with RDC.
A new session window will pop up prompting for a User name “Administrator” and Password. The password should be what you had initially inserted to set up the server. When you put that in correctly, it will open a new full-screen window with a small bar at the top of the screen displaying your server’s name.
From here, it’s the exact same process as if you were setting the IP configurations for a new system.
Click open: Start > Control Panel > Network Connections…and right-click on Local Area Connection and choose Properties.
In the small box, scroll down to “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Select that option and hit the Properties button just under the box.
Select the option to “Use the following IP address” and input your information there. Usually the IP & Gateway addresses start with a 192.168.1.XXX address. The Subnet mask for a home network is 255.255.255.0 for the address scheme of the 192 group.
The DNS information is almost the same, except if you use an online DNS proxy like http://www.OpenDNS.com (free account and no monthly or yearly fees…provides great protection for traffic going OUT of your network…and keep those pesky kids from seeing the wrong websites, pictures or movies!!!…hint hint..mom’s and dad’s), then you would input the IP addresses that they give you when you sign up for a FREE account. That’s right…great service for FREE!!! I am not a representative or employee of OpenDNS.com…I just really like their services because they’re free, and I can use it to protect my child.
Once you input the information, hit “OK” and Close. After that, you will want to restart your server to refresh the IP address and DNS information…or you can do this:
Click open: Start > Run. Type in “CMD” for the command prompt. Then, type in the following command:
Not quotations = “ipconfig /flushdns”. This will reset your current DNS settings and will load what you had set in the Local Area Connection window just a second ago.
I hope that this helps all of those who have been really banging their heads against the keyboards after endless research and time spent trying to do this easy little task.
Take care.
Brob
Oh, by the way…setting up Port Forwarding works, but really doesn’t at the same time, depending on your router/firewall. It is just much easier to go ahead and do it this way.