In this article, I will show you how to identify your IP Address for each type of the IP you’re using and how to find it on other devices.
Find your Router’s address
If you want to make some changes to your router, you will need to gain access to your router via the IP address.
But what if you don’t remember it? Here I will show you how to find it out on every platform.
Windows
For Windows systems, “default gateway” is your router’s IP Address from the network connection information. You can apply these steps for any version of Windows, including Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows Vista.
However, the instructions below will only allow you to find the default gateway on “basic” home and small business networks. For larger ones which has more than one router or network hub, it might get complicated.
Now we go to “basic” instructions.
If you like using the Command Prompt tools, typing the ipconfig command might help you get the default gateway for every connection quickly.
Another way to find the default gateway is via the graphics interface. To do that, click the Start button on the taskbar, type “control panel” and hit Enter to open the Control Panel.
In the “network and Internet” category, choose the “View network status and tasks” line.
Then, you will see the “Network and Sharing Center” window, find the name of your network connection and click it.
After that, the “Ethernet Status” window will display, you need to click the “Details” button.
Have a look at to the “Network Connection Details” window, the IP Address of your router is listed as “IPv4 Default Gateway”.
Mac OS X
It’s pretty straightforward to find your router’s IP Address on a Mac system.
On the tab-bar right at the top of your Mac’s screen, choose the “Apple” menu and click “System Preferences”. Then, you’ll see the “Network” icon. Choose it.
In the “Network” window, pay attention to the column of your right and pick your network connection. For example, if you use the wireless connection, select the Wi-Fi signal. Next, click the “Advanced” button at the left bottom of the screen.
The “Network” window will appear. Choose the “TCP/IP” info, the IP Address of your router will be listed as “Router”.
iPhone and iPad
On these devices, go to Settings, tap the Wi-Fi and select the name of your WiFi connection. There are three lines in the DHCP information, and the final one is your router’s IP Address.
Android
Unfortunately, Android doesn’t allow you to view the network connection information.
Some third-party Android apps will help you with this information, such as Wi-Fi Analyzer. You may use other apps and find the “Gateway” IP Address.
For Wi-Fi Analyser, to see your network connection, tap the “View” menu, then pick “AP list”.
Right under “Wifi Analyser” line in the image below, what you see in the red box is the “Connected to:[Network Name]” header. Tap this and a popup will appear containing your router’s IP Address. It is displayed as “Gateway”.
Chrome OS
If you own a Chromebook, the simplest way to find the IP Address is to click the “notification” area at the right side of the taskbar. Then, choose the Connected to [Network Name] selection and search for the wireless network name to which your device connected.
When the “network information” popup appears, pick the “Network” tab and you’ll get the “Gateway” information that has your router’s IP Address.
See more: How Do I Log into My Router? Default IP Address of Your Router
Linux
Linux desktops always have a network icon on the “notification” area. Choose the network icon, then move your mouse to “Connection Information” and click.
You’ll see the IP Address shown in “Default Route”, it’s the “Gateway” line.
You can find the IP Address, so can you see its history of its change? Let’s find out.
Read More: How To Recover Your Router Username and Password
Public IP Address
The Public or the External IP Address can be seen from web-based IP lookup services, such as IP chicken and also from within the router itself.
On Linksys routers, public IP Address can be viewed on the Status page in the Internet section. NETGEAR routers could display it as Port IP Address in the Maintenance > Router Status screen.
Private IP Address
Private or Local IP Addresses can be shown in the manufacturer’s documentation.
Also, you can check for it in the router’s settings. The Linksys routers show Private IP Address in the Setup > Basic Setup window. The NETGEAR router might display it on the Maintenance page as Gateway IP Address.
Here are the Default Private IP Addresses for some of the most common
router brands:
- Linksys routers usually set up their Local Default Address as 192.168.1.1
- NETGEAR and D-Link routers commonly use 192.168.0.1
- Cisco routers often use 192.168.10.2, 192.168.1.254, or 192.168.1.1
- Belkin and SMC routers are typically set up with 192.168.2.1
- U.S Robotics routers always use 192.168.123.254
The router’s local IP Address will remain static unless you manually change it. But the public IP Address of a home network often changes periodically as the Internet Service Providers (IPS) set up dynamic addresses to most clients.
There are some ways to locate your router’s IP Address in Windows, Mac OS, Chromebook, and other operating systems. You can read about it in the next part of this article.
See more: Default Router Username and Password List.
Does an IP Address show its history?
An IP address has nothing to do with its history. However, your IP Address is used to communicate over the internet so that you may have a record of its usage.
The ISP provides you an IP Address for the first time you use their service regularly (a lease). Most providers renew this lease daily so that there is always a tracking log of which person who owns which IP Address at any time.
When you send the traffic over the internet via emails, server or website connections, your IP Address will be involved in each sending process. It’s also tracked and logged them.
The email headers will show you what IP Address sent along with the time and date.
You probably know that being traced by IP addresses can give hackers the opportunity to damage your privacy. So can an IP be monitored? Keep reading.
Can an IP Address be untraceable?
You can’t make your IP Address untraceable. All of them could be trailed at some points.
For example, my private IP Address is 10.0.10.20 and I connect to my office’s web server which uses an external IP Address. The local IP is typically untraceable, but when I try to make a network connection, it will know that I log in from the 104.162.252.110 address.
DNS cpe-104-162-252-110.nyc.res.rr.com is a very traceable address. An IP Address is always detected where it emerges from a local network. But you can use proxies or VPNs to hide your IP Address from the others.
How to hide an IP Address?
Proxy
A proxy server will act as an intermediary tool on the internet. All of the user’s activities will seem to come from somewhere else.
Proxy is a good choice for low-tasks such as watching YouTube videos which are often limited by region or bypassing simple content filters.
However, you shouldn’t use it for high-tasks because it does not encrypt the traffic between the proxy server and your computer. Also, it couldn’t remove identifying information from the data transferred and lacks security and privacy options.
VPN
VPN might be the primary tool used for hiding your IP address. VPN is set up in the operating system and controls the entire network connection of a device. While a proxy server is just an intermediary server, VPN will manage all the traffics of the computer, web browsers and even on Windows Update.
The best way to conceal your IP Address is to browse from a VM that you build by yourself. You could set up the VM to route all the traffic through the VPN and then, use the outgoing traffic and DNS filters to stop your browser from going to any specific sites that you don’t know. Finally, set up the browser to disable scripting, fake the user agent string and clear cookies.
Knowing the IP Address also means that you can change it if needed. But can it always become what you want? Let’s find out.
How to change your IP Address?
When might you want to change your IP Address?
Every device connected to the internet needs an IP Address, and so does your router. However, you may not know that your router has more than one IP Address to communicate with the connected devices and the interface with the internet.
The reasons to change public or external IP may be to avoid online bans or the geography restrictions often imposed on video content providers.
You could change the IP Address when:
- You’ve unintentionally configured an invalid address in the wrong numeric range.
- You’re using a malfunctioning router due to its poor address. For example, it is being accessed by another computer on the network.
- You’re installing a new router and setting up your home network to access by its default address.
Change your Public IP Address
Some Internet Service Providers might give their subscribers static IP Addresses. Although it seems uncommon for home users because they often use a dynamic IP address, you should try to request from your Provider for a new IP Address. Otherwise, you could not change the external IP address yourself.
Change your Local IP Address
To change your Local Address, you could do it on your computer or mobile phone.
Change a Computer’s IP Address
A client’s IP address can be changed in many ways, but here I will show you the method of releasing and renewing DHCP IP Addresses via the “ipconfig/renew” and “ipconfig/ release” commands in Command Prompt.
You can try another way to change your static IP Address by finding out where it is assigned. You have to change the static IP Address from your router if it holds that address.
If your Windows computer set up with a static IP address, here are all the steps:
- Step 1: Open the Network and Sharing Center window from Control Panel.
- Step 2: Select Change adapter settings right under the Control Panel home header.
- Step 3: Double-click on your network connection.
- Step 4: Click the Properties button at the bottom of the Wi-Fi status window
- Step 5: Double click the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) item from the list
- Step 6: You can change the IP Address in the General tab and choose “Obtain an IP Address automatically”, your router can control the IP Address
Change a Phone’s IP Address
If you want to alter the IP Address on a mobile device such as iPhone, follow these steps:
- Step 1: Open the Settings App
- Step 2: Tap the Wi-Fi option
- Step 3: Tap the blue (i) signal next to the network signal
- Step 4: Choose the Configure IP option
- Step 5: Select Manual from the list
- Step 6: Fill in the network details manually, such as your IP address, DNS information and so on
I hope you now have everything you want to know about the IP Address and can use it in your network activities.
