Network is a broader term used to cover multiple things in your PC. Generally, settings of network adapter, LAN / Wi-Fi and TCP/IP are referred as network settings. In many occasions of troubleshooting you may need to look into one of these network settings in Windows 10 operating system. In this article let us explore how to change the network settings in Windows 10.
Network Settings Change
There are many ways to access network settings in a Windows computer. We will first explain the easy way to access the settings and then different things you can do with the settings.
Open Network and Internet Settings
Press and hold the windows key and X key to open the power user menu. Click on the “Control Panel” to see the screen like below and then navigate to “Network and Internet” option.
You will see the following options:
Network Sharing CenterHomeGroupInternet Options
Basically you need to play around the network sharing center and internet options. Here we are not going to discuss about homegroup sharing.
How to Change LAN / Wi-Fi Settings?
Clicking on the “Internet Options” link will take you to the new “Internet Properties” window. Go to the “Connections” tab and click on the “LAN settings” button.
You will see the “Local Area Network (LAN) Settings” popup window. Here you can disable or enable automatic configuration, enter configuration script and add proxy server. You may need to disable all these checkboxes during troubleshooting of most of the network errors.
Change TCP/IP Protocol Properties
Go back to your “Control Panel > Network and Internet” section. Now that click on the “Network Sharing Center” link to see the active networks connected from your computer.
Click on the active connection to open the properties window of the currently connected network. Based on the active Wi-Fi / LAN connection, you will see the Wi-Fi / LAN status dialog box.
Click on the “Properties” button to see “Wi-Fi Properties” popup window. Select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” option and then click on the “Properties” button again.
You will see the TCP/IPv4 properties window like below.
Here is where you can manually change the IP address and DNS servers for your internet connection. Generally the automatic option might have been selected by default. But you can input the manual IP / DNS details.
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Change Network Adapter Settings
Press “Windows + X” keys and navigate to “Device Manager”. You will see all the available adapters under “Network Adapter” section. Right click on the adapter you use and choose the action you want to take.
For example, you can disable, uninstall and update the driver files. Or click on the “Properties” and navigate to “Power Management” tab. Here you can enable or disable the power saver option “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”.
Managing Internet Connections
Besides above explained options, Windows 10 also offers a separate settings menu. Press windows key and then go the “Settings” menu. Choose “Network & Internet” option.
Here you can manage all internet connection options in one place. For example, you can disable proxy server from here instead of changing through Wi-Fi settings as explained in the section 1.
Another important settings here is to forget the Wi-Fi network which you have used before. Go to “Wi-Fi” section and scroll down to click on the “Manage Wi-Fi Settings” link. Under “Manage known networks” section, click on the network and then click on the “Forget” button. This will remove the network name from the list which you can see by clicking on the “Wi-Fi” icon on your task bar.