Ubuntu: Changing your IP number

Sure it doesn’t happen that often, but sometimes you might need to change the IP number of your machine running Ubuntu. Either to configure it with a static IP number on your LAN or temporarily to configure a Wifi router - the latter being my case.

The first shot at changing the ip number, was going to the “System” menu, choosing Administration and Network Tools. It sounded just about right - but it’s wrong. Sure you view settings and some statistics, but it’s all read only.

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So, if you want to change the IP number, go to your top panel (in the right side, you’ll find you network icon. Right click on the icon and choose “Edit Connections”. In the window opening, you’ll have access to changing the ip number - to manual configuration, DHCP with ip number only or (as is default) full DHCP configuration.

Choosing “Automatic (DHCP) addresses only” allows you to get an automatic IP, but use openDNS’ DNS-servers - should you prefer them over the DNS servers provided by your ISP.