I reviewed my weblog just today and found out that a comment posted which was asking about how to manually configure an IP address for pc. Since I blogged about using ad hoc WiFi connectivity to share internet connection, I might as well include how to immediately establish connectivity between connected pc's by manually assigning IP addresses. What it does is it makes connectivity between pc's to be established a lot faster because of the already defined IP addresses. Also, since the have the connected machine have then subnet, you can easily share files from one pc to another. This step by step guide may not be that difficult, but if you still want something to be clarified, please leave a comment.

What you need: Windows XP or Vista machine (though this will also works will older versions of Windows OS) - you need to machines by the way, but it does not matter if these machines have different OS's installed

Step-by-Step Guide

1. You need to open the settings for your network connectivity adapter. For Windows Vista, you can do that by right clicking on the network icon near the system tray and selecting Network and Sharing Center. For Windows XP, that's selecting Open Network Connections, also in the system tray.

2. In Windows XP, the window that will open will automatically give a list of the pc's available connectivity adapters while in Vista, you need to select first Manage Network Connections before seeing the list of available adapters.

3. From here, you will now choose which adapters will you be using to connect directly to another pc (ad hoc connection) or a network (infrastructure). Say you want to have a wireless ad hoc or infrastructure connection, then you will need to open the network connectivity adapter for your WiFi. In most laptops, that would indicate something that has the word Wireless. Right click on that connectivity adapter and select Properties.

4. What you will then have is the properties for that certain connectivity adapter. From the This connection uses the following items option, find Internet protocol version (TCP/IPv4) while for Windows XP, it's only Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

5. After locating TCP/IPv4 item, you need to click Properties. You will be given another window that will now allow you to manually set the IP addresses and other options for the connectivity you have previously chosen.

6. Make sure to click on Alternate Configuration tab. We need to do this so that whenever we want to use the adapter to connect to another network, we would not want to go through steps 1 to 5 just to be connected. The purpose of using the alternate is that you have the freedom to use the set IP address whenever the network allows you to use these settings or else, the network will automatically give you another IP address. This option is the only mobile solution I know to work with ad hoc wireless connectivity seamlessly while preserving my connectivity with other infrastructure networks.

7. In the Alternate Configuration option, choose User Configure radio button. The settings below this option will automatically be activated.

8. We now need to manually write the settings so here it goes. For the IP Address usually you can set this to 192.168.0.2. Now you can replace the last number (which is 2) to any number that you want from 1 - 254. For the Subnet mask choose 255.255.255.0. For the Default gateway, that would be 192.168.0.1. For the Preferred DNS Server, I use OpenDNS servers so I have 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222 entered for that entry.

9. Once you have these settings, you can now click Ok to all dialogs, to save your settings. You can then close all network windows that you have. From here you can then create an ad hoc wireless connection (here are the links for Vista and XP) after you configure the other pc's TCP/IP properties.

NOTES: Make sure to set the pcs' you are configuring to different IP Addresses or else you will get an error indicating conflict with IP addresses. Sometimes, you may be required to do a reboot, please do so, this will help a lot with connectivity issues. You can change the IP Address to anything else like 192.168.1.2 and the Default gateway to 192.168.1.1. This configuration varies with the every network you will be connecting so have these settings verified first. If you still have questions or comments, please post it here in the blog.