Change Ubuntu Desktop from DHCP to a Static IP Address

If you’ve installed your Ubuntu installation with DHCP, it’s really easy to reconfigure your system to use a static IP address with the GUI based Network Settings dialog.

To open the utility, go to System \ Administration \ Networking

You’ll see your network adapter in the list. Click the Properties button, and you’ll see this dialog:

Just change the drop-down box to Static IP address, and then put in your static settings. Ubuntu is so easy, isn’t it ?

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. This article was written on 12/13/06 and tagged with: SysAdmin, Ubuntu

Daily Email Updates

You can get our how-to articles in your inbox each day for free. Just enter your name and email below:

Name:
Email:

Similar Articles	Featured Wiki Articles
Change Ubuntu Server from DHCP to a Static IP Address Change your Network Card MAC Address on Ubuntu Change the DHCP IP Address Range for VMware NAT Allow Remote Control To Your Desktop On Ubuntu Check your Disk Usage on Ubuntu from the command line	Windows OS Code Names Get Diablo II Working on Windows Vista Why Codec Packs Are Bad Easter Eggs Tweaking a Dedicated Virtual Web Server Disable Smart Quotes in Word 2007
Latest Software Reviews	Quick Linux Tips
Parallels Workstation 2.2 for Windows and Linux Folder Castle 4.1 Wondershare PPT2DVD Sothink Video Converter for Adobe Flash	Copy Just the Last Two Days of Files to Another Directory Fixing Authentication refused: bad ownership or modes for directory Mounting a Shared VirtualBox Folder from an Ubuntu Guest Change the Hostname on a Redhat Linux Machine
Geek Arcade	Popular Forum Threads
Frantic Boxhead: The Zombie Wars BubbleQuod Exorbis 2	GRAY Sml Anyone with X-FI Series: Will get very little Support from Creative Labs! First time builder Vista: Boot Manager Problem

Comments (7)

1. October 8, 2007 11:48 am
   michas

   any possibility to do it from command line?

2. October 15, 2007 11:11 am
   Andrew Roazen

   FWIW this set of instructions works reliably ONLY with wired connections. Wireless desktops and laptops require additional configuration (i.e. config file hacking) which may be chipset-specific. Wireless users may be better off configuring MAC-based static IPs inside their routers.

3. March 4, 2008 7:42 pm
   Tony

   I tried this out on “Feisty” and lost my internet connection (Im on pppoe)

4. June 12, 2008 3:02 pm
   Tom

   Just a (perhaps dumb) question: what is the benefit of doing this?

5. June 13, 2008 8:45 am
   Andrew Roazen

   Tom: media server in living room too far from wired connection, must have persistent IP for other PCs to connect to it reliably.

6. July 22, 2008 9:05 pm
   Adam

   If anyone ever finds out how to create static ip for wifi, heeeeelp! Thx.

   @Tom: also need it to Port Forward, which you need to enable fast BitTorrenting, which you need to (legally) exchange large files.

7. April 30, 2009 2:35 pm
   Josh

   If you need a static ip, you can do a static lease on your router, and tie the IP address to the MAC address on the wireless interface. I use this on my home system with a variety of devices. Also the router config will manage Port Forwarding and Quality of Service parameters for large file transfers. (like legal BitTorrent). Check out the dd-wrt or tomato if your router’s basic firmware doesn’t support this.