How to Change Your IP Address: Local vs Public

“Change my IP” can mean changing a computer's LAN address, the router's WAN address or the exit address a website sees. These are not necessarily the same. Renewing a local DHCP lease may leave the Internet-facing address completely unchanged.

Record the current interface first

On Windows, inspect the active adapter, gateway and DHCP configuration:

ipconfig /all

On Linux, inspect addresses and the default route:

ip -br address
ip route show default

On macOS, use network settings or ifconfig; do not assume the Linux ip utility is installed. Separate Ethernet, Wi-Fi and VPN interfaces. An external address-check service reports the exit used for that request, not necessarily the path used by every application or by both IP families.

For a local address, work with the network's allocation plan

Where DHCP is provided, automatic configuration and a server-side reservation are usually more manageable than choosing an arbitrary address. A Windows DHCP renewal can be scoped to the actual adapter name:

ipconfig /renew "Ethernet"

A renewal can return the same address. The ipconfig reference documents adapter selection and renewal. Even a renewal can disrupt remote management, so arrange local access or recovery first. Running /release first explicitly gives up the current address and can terminate your session.

If a static address is required, obtain an allocation from the network administrator and record the prefix, gateway and DNS settings. Changing only the last number is not a safe allocation method and may create an address conflict. Keep the original settings and a way to restore them before making changes.

A public address is controlled by the provider

Restarting a router does not guarantee a different dynamic public address. The provider may reuse the same allocation. A static public address change needs provider coordination; entering an unrelated public address on your PC does not assign it to you. WAN changes can also interrupt other users, inbound services and remote access.

If the router's WAN address differs from the observed exit, another translation layer may exist upstream. 100.64.0.0/10 is shared address space for CGN, distinct from the RFC 1918 private ranges. Confirm the provider's architecture rather than diagnosing it from one mismatched display.

A different exit is not a new identity

A VPN or proxy can change the visible exit for traffic it carries without changing your local address or provider allocation. Split tunneling, application configuration and IPv4/IPv6 routing can leave some traffic on other paths. Signed-in accounts and browser cookies remain separate identifiers; an IP change is not an anonymity guarantee.

After the change, compare the same interface and address family. Verify the gateway, name resolution and the application you actually need. If the goal is a stable local endpoint, use the distinction between reservations and static configuration instead of repeatedly trying to obtain a different address.