Windows 2000 / XP TCP/IP protocol

As part of your network check, you need to verify your TCP/IP-configuration ( if you intend
to use TCP/IP-protocol):
- Properties of "My Network Places" on your Desktop, then
- Properties of "Local Area Connection":

- then click on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and select the button "Properties":

Windows 2000/XP has configured TCP/IP "to Obtain an IP address automatically" , i.e. via DHCP.

Lets verify the current TCP/IP configuration:
Unluckily, I could not find the equivalent of the Win95/98 utility "winipcfg", so I use the same
utility as under NT4: "IPCONFIG"
- select from your Start-Menu: "Programs" / "Accessories" / "Command Prompt",
- enter: IPCONFIG

Note the info, that the IP-address has been generated by the "Autoconfiguration", not via DHCP.
( IPCONFIG can also be used to request a new IP-address: to ReNew the IP-address )

Note: when booting Windows2000 / XP , the start-up process will NOT wait for the DHCP /
IP-Autoconfiguration process to be completed (as on Windows98, where this causes a
boot-delay of several seconds).
When making quickly the Login and using IPCONFIG, the IP-address may not yet be
established, the system will then display as IP-address 0.0.0.0 :

Without an IP-address, the network is NOT operational !

After a few more seconds, the search for a DHCP-server will time-out, then the
IP-Autoconfiguration process will assigned the IP-address.
( you have the possibility to disable the Auto IP-address generation ).

If you tried to access the "My Network Places" / "Computers Near Me" during
the time, where the IP-address was not yet assigned, you will get an error message:

If you do not like to use the Command-Prompt window,
you can view this information also via
the Control-Panel :
"Administrative Tools" in the
"Computer Management":, section

Look under "System Tools"/"System Information"/"Components" /"Network" / "Adapter":

In Windows XP, "System Information"
is not anymore included in "Computer
Management" but a stand-alone utility,
which is selected via the Windows Menu
Programs / Accessories / System Tools

Look under "Components" /"Network" / "Adapter":

search in the right plane for your network adapter (example: the Realtec RTL8029) , it may be
defined multiple times in the list. If you find as IP-address: "Not Available", continue to scroll down:

As Windows98, Windows2000/XP tries first to find a DHCP-server on the network.
If this fails, it then uses its own "AutoConfiguration" method to generate an IP-address. In such
cases, the "DHCP Server" in Computer Management (see above) is marked as 255.255.255.0.
( you have the possibility to Disable the Auto IP-address generation )

In case that a DHCP-server is found on the network and the DHCP-server assigns an IP-address,
then IPCONFIG shows a slightly different information:

In "Computer Management", it will list the IP-address of the DHCP-server, which assigned the
IP-address to this system:

But a lot of networks work with a predefined range of IP-addresses (which also shortens the Boot-up time
of Win98 and Windows2000, since they do not have to wait anymore for the request to a DHCP-server to time-out):

My home-network uses the IP-range
reserved for private networks:
192.168.x.y, so I am assigning
manually the IP-address:
192.168.1.2

Nice new feature on Windows 2000 / XP : after changing the IP-address, it is NOT anymore
required to restart the system (like on Win95/98/Nt4), so I can run again "IPCONFIG"
to check the change:

A last low-level check to verify, that the network is working, using the
TCP/IP diagnostic tool "PING" to test the connection to another system on the network:

If PING does not get a reply, verify your TCP/IP settings and trouble-shoot your
network card and cables.