Most home devices receive changing local IP addresses from the router. That is fine for phones, but printers, NAS drives, cameras, and servers often need to stay reachable at the same address.
Does this affect you?
Use this if a printer connection, port forwarding rule, NAS shortcut, camera app, smart hub, or game server breaks when the device local IP changes.
Set a DHCP reservation
This is the recommended method because the router stays in charge of addresses.
- Find the device MAC address from its settings, label, or the router connected-device list.
- Log into the router admin page or app.
- Open DHCP Reservation, Address Reservation, Static DHCP Lease, LAN Setup, or Network Settings.
- Select the device from the connected list or enter the MAC address manually.
- Choose the local IP it should keep. If your router shows the DHCP range, pick an address outside that range when allowed.
- Save the reservation.
- Restart the device or wait for it to renew its lease.
- Check after one or two restarts that the address stays the same.
Set a static IP on the device
Use this only if your router does not support reservations.
- Check the router DHCP range first. If DHCP uses .100 through .200, pick something outside it such as .50.
- Open the device network settings.
- Change IP assignment from Automatic or DHCP to Manual or Static.
- Enter the chosen IP address, subnet mask such as 255.255.255.0, gateway address such as 192.168.1.1, and DNS server.
- Save, reconnect, and confirm the device is reachable at that address.
More control
Reservations avoid common conflicts
Manual static IPs can accidentally duplicate another device address. DHCP reservations let the router reserve the address instead of guessing.
Port forwarding depends on a stable local IP
Forwarding rules, printer installs, NAS bookmarks, and camera access all expect the device address not to drift.
Reservations survive restarts
The rule is saved in the router configuration. It should continue after unplugging the router or device.
Restart stubborn smart devices
Some gadgets hold the old lease for a while. Power cycling them usually makes them request the new reserved address.
Sources
- Cloudflare Learning Center – What is a static IP address? (2025)
- Microsoft Support – TCP/IP addressing basics (2024)
- Netgear Support – Setting Up a DHCP Reservation (2025)