You can use the netsh command in Windows 2000 to script the process of changing a computer from a static Internet Protocol (IP) address to Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or vice versa. The netsh command accomplishes this task without the need to restart the computer. This feature is particularly useful for laptops that move from one environment to another, when it is necessary to use statically assigned IP addresses at one location and DHCP assigned IP addresses at another.

To switch the specified adapter from a static address to DHCP, type the following command: NOTE: Typing this command changes the interface named "Local Area Connection" to DHCP.

To display all of the adapters in the computer with their current IP addresses to determine the correct adapter name, type the following command: To change to a static address, type the following command: NOTE: Replace ipaddr with the static IP address, subnetmask with the subnet mask, gateway with the default gateway and, if necessary, metric with the appropriate metric. The following example changes the interface "Local Area Connection" to a static address of 192.168.0.10 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, and the interface has a default gateway of 192.168.0.1 with a metric of 1: