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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:

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

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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):
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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.
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