Elevate Permission on local machine to change IP address

Question

I am currently running a local 2012 server with local domain. I need to enable specific field personnel to be able to change the IP address from DHCP to static and back again depending on the location.

We have mostly Windows 11 but a few Windows 10 clients.

I have tried adding them to the Network Configuration Operators group on the server. Do not work

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Hi Tom Lisenby,

Thank you for posting in the Microsoft Community Forums.

1. Confirm user permissions

Verify group membership: Ensure that the user has actually been added to the Network Configuration Operators group. This can be verified by checking group membership in Local Users and Groups in Computer Management.

Check Group Policies: Make sure there are no group policies that prevent these users from modifying network settings. In particular, check if there are any policies applied to these users or computers that restrict network configuration changes.

2. Grant additional privileges

Power User permissions: If the permissions in the Network Configuration Operators group are not sufficient, you might consider adding users to the Power Users group. This group provides more privileges than the Users group, but usually not enough to perform administrator-level tasks.

Direct assignment of privileges: Assign privileges to users to modify network configurations directly through the Local Security Policy. This can be done through the User Privilege Assignments setting under Local Policies.

3. Configure client computers

Ensure client support: Ensure that both Windows 11 and Windows 10 clients support the required network configuration changes. This usually means that they need to be running Windows versions and updates that support these changes.

Configure network adapters: On the client computers, locate the network adapter you want to configure and manually set its IP address to static (if required). This can be done through the Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel.

4. Testing and Verification

Test Configuration: After making the above changes, test that the user was able to successfully change the IP address from DHCP to static and back again.

Verify Permissions: Ensure that users do not encounter permission errors when making these changes.

5. Logging and Monitoring

Logging Changes: Log all network configuration changes so that they can be traced back in case of problems.

Monitor Permission Usage: Monitor user usage of network configuration permissions to ensure there is no abuse or improper use.

Best regards

Neuvi