Idea: TCP/IP Configuration Save/Restore

[Tekzel]

I work on people's computers for a living and often find myself having to change their IP configuration as a test for networking problems.  I was doing this yesterday, first I go to a command prompt and do an "ipconfig /all > ip.txt" command so I can restore the config.  I was thinking how cool it would be if I had a little app that I can run that will save that ip configuration to a text file unique to that pc, maybe one named for the machines host name so it will know what was that machines original config and then you can have some presets for other configurations (like a straight dhcp one) you can select and load with a couple of clicks.  Then you can revert the changes with a click or two.  Any geeks want to second me on this one?

[lanux128]

this was asked before & i suggested this program: Netchange.

[f0dder]

Oh, I think I'll grab that program for future use - I was just in massive IP switching bat country today, having to deal with bringing a laptop from one net to another, then configuring brand new access points, then... etc.

Thanks

[Tekzel]

Thats a neat little app, but it doesn't do most of what I want.  It doesn't have the ability to save the current config, only to apply saved profiles.  I read through the linked thread, but there was nothing there either.  Basically what I am looking for is a program that I can save some profiles (mostly 1, a DHCP enabled profile, but more is nice too) and it allows me to store the current ip configuration of the machine and then apply a saved profile, like the DHCP enabled profile.  Then when I am done, it would allow me to reapply the original configuration.

[f0dder]

Thats a neat little app, but it doesn't do most of what I want.  It doesn't have the ability to save the current config, only to apply saved profiles.

Yeah, it's a bit of a shame it doesn't allow you to save current config. I wonder whether it's because the author doesn't know how to read it, and only knows how to do netsh.exe calls to change config?

[mwb1100]

"netsh dump" may be helpful - it generates a netsh script file corresponding to the current config.  The resulting script may have too much stuff, so may need to be culled.

you can have netsh generate a subset for you by specifying the sub-context.  Ie., "netsh interface dump" creates a script of netsh configuration commands for  your network interfaces.

[AbteriX]

http://www.NetSetMan.com/

[mouser]

Another such tool:
http://www.ipswitcher.com

[Tekzel]

Unfortunately neither of those work either. 

NetSetMan does not have the ability to save the current configuration (so I cant store it then pop it back in when im done) and Ipswitcher does not work as a portable app.  I know I didn't state the portability as a requirement explicitly, but I did imply it when I said I want to run it off a USB tech tool hard drive.  Both of those programs were designed to make it easier to reconfigure a portable machine when moving from network to network.  I am looking for exactly the opposite.  I want to make it easier to reconfigure multiple machines on one network!

[patthecat]

NetSetMan does not have the ability to save the current configuration...

In NetSetMan's IP and DNS Server section, there is a little icon of a "checkbox".  If you click on it, it gets the current IP / DNS settings which you can then save to an adapter's profile.

[patthecat]

Technitium MAC Address Changer has a feature which allows you to save NIC settings into config presets.
http://www.technitium.com/tmac/index.html

[patthecat]

In NetSetMan's IP and DNS Server section, there is a little icon of a "checkbox".  If you click on it, it gets the current IP / DNS settings which you can then save to an adapter's profile.

My above reply was in reference to version 2.4.0

It appears that in 2.4.1 the checkbox is gone.  To save the current settings, right-click on a tab and select "Get all current settings".

[Tekzel]

Thanks for the reply Patthecat.

Re: Netsetman, at first I thought your input would help a lot, while not perfect I thought it would make it work for my purposes, but then when testing its ability to do what I need, I realized it didn't recognize the network adapter in my machine.  Then I tried it on several others, and the same thing, the dropdown box at the top just said no adapter found or something.  At first I though it might have been because I was trying to use it portably (which is one of my requirements) and something needed wasn't installed.  So I actually installed it on one of the machines and got the same issue.  So, unfortunately this one wont work.

Re: Technitium MAC Address Changer, besides just being weirdly designed and just plain uncomfortable to use, I couldn't find any way to actually save the current config to a preset.  I was able to create a preset to enable DHCP, but not one to reapply the current config.  To be honest, as odd as this one is, I would rather keep doing it manually than use it.

Edit: One other thing I hate about the TMAC one, is it defaults to close to the tray and there is no way I could find to turn off this "feature".  That kind of thing drives me wacko! haha

[patthecat]

With NetSetMan, "out of the box" it would say no adapter found since the settings.ini file is not populated.  If you press the "Refresh" button it would read your network adapters, populate the  drop down box and save it in the settings.ini file.

To use on another machine just delete the settings.ini file and the app will create a new one.

To use it portably, install with installer and copy the install directory to another place, excluding the unins000.exe and unins000.dat files.

[Tekzel]

With NetSetMan, "out of the box" it would say no adapter found since the settings.ini file is not populated.  If you press the "Refresh" button it would read your network adapters, populate the  drop down box and save it in the settings.ini file.

To use on another machine just delete the settings.ini file and the app will create a new one.

To use it portably, install with installer and copy the install directory to another place, excluding the unins000.exe and unins000.dat files.

Oh wow, weird.  I never even thought to hit the refresh button initially.  I mean, thats something that should happen automatically on program start.  Its so obvious that I never even imagined that someone would write a program that way. haha