Why would I need to change my computer's IP address to access my StarTech.com networking device?

You may need to change your IP address to access your StarTech.com networking device.  To explain why, first we need to explain how IP addresses work.

IP addresses are made up of four sets of numbers generally between 1 and 254, also known as "octets".  For example, 192.168.0.1.  This is required because two devices on a network typically need to have their IP addresses configured to be on the same network to be able to view and connect to each other.

Typically in order for devices to be on the same network, the first three octets must match. The fourth octet must be different, as two devices cannot have the same IP address. For example, if your computer’s IP address is 192.168.0.1, then the network is 192.168.0.xxx. You can replace the xxx with any number, as long as it is not currently in use by another device.

Certain StarTech.com devices come with a static IP address set. This address may not be on the same network as the host computer or router that it is being connected to. Manually setting a static IP address on the host computer to the same network of the StarTech.com device will allow you to connect directly to the StarTech.com networking device. This will allow the StarTech.com device’s networking properties to be manually configured through the host computer.  Here you can set a new static IP address for the StarTech.com networking device, which will allow it to connect with your local area network (LAN).  At this point you can change your computer's IP address back to what it was previously and still access the StarTech.com networking device.