: Can I change my IP address to an IP that does not exist? I want to change my IP address but I don't want to use someone else's IP address. Can I change my IP address to an IP that is

@Sherry384

No. IP addresses follow a format and range and requires sub-net masking. All of this requires some level of planning. Random numbers will not work. Each octet must be within 0-255. Even then with essentially all IP addresses are allocated in some way, you will conflict with someones address space if you were to effectively make up an IP address. This is not recommended! Private IP addresses are designed to allow people to use non-routable IP addresses for private purposes.

If the computer is used within a network not directly available to the Internet, you can use private IP addresses. These are not supposed to be routable.

If you plan to make these computers available to the Internet, then you can still use private IP addresses within the local network and use NAT (network address translation) within your router to the WAN (Internet).

If you are using a web host, then no private IP addresses can be used unless the host has a provision that allows it. It is best to contact your host for details.

Private IP Addresses:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserved_IP_addresses en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address
NAT:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_address_translation
The topic is too vast to discuss here, however, this detailed article from Cisco should help clarify things and get you started.
computer.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm

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