Member Avatar for yngtech

Name J, like the man in black

I am using this as a question forum as I do not have a lot of tech experience.

I have have simple question:
I rebuilt my computer using an old (ish) hard drive, tower and power supply, everthing else is brand new. now should I have an IP address even if unconnected to the internet?

yes i know simple but i am a nub

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Xlphos

Dani AI

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Short answer: yes — if the machine has a network adapter (Ethernet or Wi‑Fi) and the OS has the driver loaded, the stack will usually give that adapter an address even when there is no working Internet connection. As and pointed out, those addresses are for local use only and do not mean the computer is actually online.

Quick checks you can run right now:

Run this on Windows:

ipconfig /all

Look for the adapter entry: if it shows “Media disconnected” there is no physical link. If an IPv4 address is present but there is no Default Gateway or DNS servers, you will not reach the Internet. To test connectivity, try pinging a hostname or a known public address; failure shows no route to the Internet.

On Linux/macOS, list addresses with:

ip addr show

or

ifconfig -a

Those commands tell you which interfaces are up and what addresses they hold.

If you prefer no network addresses at all, disable or uninstall the adapter in the OS (Network Connections or Device Manager), turn off the Wi‑Fi radio, unplug the cable, or disable the onboard LAN in BIOS. Also check for virtual adapters (VM software, VPN clients) — they often create their own addresses even when the physical link is down.

For : using an old hard drive does not change this behavior; IP assignment is driven by the adapter and OS, not the drive.

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Member Avatar for HoustonIT

If you have a network card with default settings, you should have a 169.254.x.x. IP address.

Member Avatar for Xlphos

If you do have a network card then it will automatically assign itself ip addresses. for example 127.0.0.1 is a loop back address. An IP it not important if your not connected to a network and if you do connect to a network you will most likely be assigned one automatically.

Put simply don't worry about an IP address.

Does this help?

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