How to Set a Static IP Address

DHCP Reservation vs Manual Static IP

There are two ways to give a device a fixed local IP. The recommended way is DHCP reservation (also called IP binding) in the router: you tell the router to always assign the same IP to a device based on its MAC address. The device still uses DHCP, but always gets the same address. This is easier to manage and avoids conflicts.

Alternatively you can manually configure a static IP on the device itself. This works but requires more configuration per device and risks conflicts if the address falls within the router's DHCP range.

How to Set Up DHCP Reservation

Where the setting lives on other brands: Asus keeps it under LAN → DHCP Server → Manually Assigned IP. Fritz!Box does it per device under Home Network, tick "Always assign this network device the same IPv4 address". On many ISP gateways it hides in the connected-devices view, you tap the device and an "assign fixed IP" toggle appears. Mesh systems put it in the app: Eero under the device's settings as Reservations, Nest WiFi under Advanced networking.

When You Actually Need This

DHCP works fine until something needs to find a device at a predictable address. Then it stops being fine, because addresses can shuffle after a reboot or an expired lease. The classic cases:

Port forwarding. A forward rule points at an IP. If your game server or camera moves from .23 to .47 overnight, the rule now points at nothing and it "mysteriously stopped working". Every port forwarding setup should start with a reservation, in that order.

NAS drives, printers, Pi-holes and home servers. Anything other devices connect to by address. A network printer that changes IP is a printer nobody can print to, as half the offices of the world discover every Monday.

Anything you bookmark by IP. Router-adjacent gadgets with web panels, IP cameras, smart home hubs. A reservation turns http://192.168.1.50 into a bookmark that survives reboots.

Your phones and laptops? Leave them on plain DHCP. Reserving addresses for everything defeats the point of DHCP and turns the router config into a spreadsheet nobody maintains.

The Other Way: Static IP on the Device Itself

Sometimes you can't use the router (locked ISP gateway, or it's not yours to configure). You can set the address on the device instead. On Windows: Settings → Network & internet → your connection → Edit IP assignment → Manual. On macOS: System Settings → Network → Details → TCP/IP → Configure IPv4 manually. You'll need four values: the IP you want, subnet mask (almost always 255.255.255.0), gateway (your router's IP), and a DNS server.

The one rule that keeps this safe: pick an address outside the router's DHCP pool. If the pool runs .100 to .200, anything from .2 to .99 is safe territory. Pick an address inside the pool and sooner or later the router hands the same one to a new phone, and you get two devices fighting over one address, intermittent drops, and an afternoon of confusion. That failure mode is exactly why the reservation method is recommended when you have the choice, the router knows not to double-book.

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