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How To Release and/or Renew IP Addresses on Windows 95 | 98 | ME

By Bradley Mitchell, About.com

Follow these steps to quickly release and/or renew the Internet Protocol (IP) address of a computer running Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: < 1 minute

Here's How:

  1. Click the Start menu button on the Windows taskbar.

  2. Click Run... on this menu.

  3. Type 'winipcfg' (without the quotes) in the text box that appears. A new window appears on the screen. The "IP Address" field shows the current IP address for the default network adapter.

  4. If the computer is holding a current IP address, click the Release button to let go of the address.

  5. Click the Renew button to obtain a new IP address (whether or not the computer is holding a current address).

Tips:

  1. If it is not necessary to view the current IP addresses on a computer, simply type 'winipcfg /release' or 'winipcfg /renew' (without the quotes) to save a step in the process.

  2. To bring a computer back onto the network after moving it to a different location, or experiencing an unexpected outage, first release, then renew the IP address. Computers on DHCP networks often (but not always) re-establish network connectivity automatically.

What You Need:

  • Win95, Win98, or WinME
  • IP network connectivity
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