How to Set a Static IP Address on a Mac

Once your Mac is connected to a private network in a home or office, then it’s probably delegated what’s called a dynamic IP address. (To check, see How to Locate Your Mac’s IP Address.) That is not a problem for the majority of users. Most people don’t care if their IP addresses vary or perhaps not.

But lively IP addresses won’t benefit several tasks such as port forwarding, dynamic DNS, or even client-to-client file sharing on the regional network. For all those unique scenarios and others, only a static IP address will do the job. Setting a static ip in Mac-OS will create an enduring, private IP address for the Mac, which will not switch from one day to the next.

Other apparatus attached to your local network will be able to gain access to your Mac. If you install port forwarding, then certain services running on your Mac will probably be accessible to the outside world.

Set a Static IP Address on a Mac

Steps of setting a static IP address in macOS:

Step 1: If you have a MacBook, you might need to develop a new network place. This will allow you to use the static ip for specific networks and maybe others. See How to Display Network Locations in OS X for instructions.

Step 2: In the Apple menu, then select System Preferences. And Choose Network. The window shown below appears.

Step 3: From the sidebar, pick an energetic network interface. In this case, I’m linked to a wireless network, so that I will select wifi.

Step 4: Make a note of the current IP address assigned to a Mac. You’ll need to pick a new IP address from within the private IP address range listed. More importantly, in a minute.

Step 5: Click Advanced Level and Choose TCP/IP. The window shown below appears.

Step 6: From the Configure IPv4 menu, choose Manually.

Step 8: Enter a static IP address at the IPv4 Address area. What number should you input? One method is to choose your current ip and change the last part of the number. You might choose some speech between 192.168.7.0 and 192.168.7.255, provided that the address was not already assigned to a different device.