A lot of my articles, and IT work in general requires setting a static IP address up for your Windows Server or PC. So here’s how to do it.
Note that this procedure will work equally well for Windows 10, and Server 2016. The procedure is fairly similar for Server 2008 and 2012 though it’s easier to go through the “Network and Sharing Center” to get to the Adapter Settings. The idea is pretty similar for Windows 7/Vista. If you’re using Windows XP, it’s still pretty similar but getting to the Network Properties Window is different.  This guide is specifically for Server 2016.

How To Set a Static IP Address in Windows Server 2016

Step 1 – Click the Start button and then click the gear button on the left hand side of the start panel. This should bring up the Settings Window.
Step 2 – Select “Network and Internet”
Step 3 – Select “Ethernet” from the left hand side. If you’re connected with WiFi, you can click that, it’s all going to the same place eventually anyway. 
Step 4 – Under related settings click on “Change Adapter Settings”. You can also get here in fewer steps by opening the Control Panel, changing the view to “Large Icons”, opening the “Network and Sharing Center” and clicking on the “Change Adapter Settings” on the left.
 
Step 5 – Find your active Ethernet Adapter and right click on it and hit properties. Many actual servers have two when they come out of the box, so if you’ve got it hooked in to your router it’ll be the one that isn’t grayed out. My server is just a fancy PC so it just has one. Normal PC’s usually just have one, so it’s pretty easy to figure out. If you’re trying to do this for your WiFi adapter, right click on it and hit properties, the process is the same.

Step 6 – Most networks are still IP4 so click on TCP/IPv4 settings and hit the “Properties” button.

Step 7 – Enter your static IP address information. If you aren’t sure exactly what to put here, refer to the quick and dirty network guide at the end of this article. I’ll post a better one later for setting up a basic flat network.
Step 8 – Click OK on everything and you’re done!

Quick and Dirty Network Analysis Guide

So you know you server needs a static IP but you don’t really know how to figure out exactly what IP to use? Or even what to put in the DNS information? Well here’s a few tips. Keep in mind this is a method I’ve used for small networks where I had no information going in and it works pretty well but is by no means 100% fool proof. There are things in more complicated networks that can cause this not to work, but for most small to medium sized business and home networks this is a good way to go about it.
Step 1 – Determine Network IP Layout
Find a PC already on the network, open a command prompt and type “ipconfig /all” and hit enter. This should bring up all kinds of network information. You’ll see an IP address, subnet mask, gateway and DNS servers, DHCP server, and other stuff. Write it all down. It’ll probably look something like this on a small network.
IP – 192.168.1.102
Subnet Mask – 255.255.255.0
Gateway – 192.168.1.1
DNS Server: 192.168.1.1
Alternate DNS Server: 8.8.8.8 (may not even have one)
DHCP Server: 192.168.1.1
This is probably a basic network. Again, write it all down, it’s important. Other IP schemes could be something like 10.1.1.1 or 172.16.0.100 or something like that. This method really only starts getting weird on big networks with subnet masks like 255.255.0.0 or really small ones with masks like 255.255.255.240. If you see that, you will probably need to do some additional research.
Step 2 – Find a Free IP address that Hopefully Is Not In DHCP Range
If the IP address is something like 192.168.1.100 or 192.168.1.103, there aren’t many computers on the network, and the DHCP server is the same as the gateway, you’re in luck. It’s a super basic network. If the DHCP server is different, it still doesn’t matter much it’s just something to keep in mind. Likely the range is 192.168.1.100-192.168.1.200. So just cross those IP’s off your list of possibilities.
Personally, for servers I like to start low. So open a command prompt and type “ping 192.168.1.2” and see if you get a response. If you do, type the same thing except change that last 2 to a 3 and keep doing that until you don’t get a response. When you don’t get a response, that’s you’re IP address. Likely as not you won’t get one on your first try if it’s a really small network and they don’t have a server, but there might be some network printers or something in the way and you don’t want to have conflicting IP addresses.
Now if it’s a regular PC or something I like to start higher, so I personally would start at around 240 and start pinging.
Step 3 – Enter the IP Information Into your Server or PC.
Take your newly found IP address and the information you wrote down and enter it into the server using the steps above. Make sure it matches. Practically every time this will work. If you get a “Duplicate IP Address” warning just go back to pinging on a working PC until you find another free one. Sometimes firewalls or something have pinging turned off. There is also free network scanning software you can download that will make this process a lot faster.
Note: If anyone has a better, faster, or quicker way to find a free IP address that you can do from a normal workstation on a network or something I’d be glad to post it. Like I said, this is the method I’ve been using for small networks for a long time where I’ve had no information going in and just needed to install a printer or appliance or something.