I installed OpenSuse KDE, Kubuntu, and Mint KDE and on all three distros i am not able to configure a static ip address. Can somebody explain why KDE users are unable configure a static ip address? I apologize if this is not the proper forum to post this question, but i am hoping that an official KDE member will answer my question and also, hopefully create other discussion about this topic. The fact that i can't configure any part of my Linux OS kind of irks me, please don't mistake this as a demand, I'm more curious and would like to know what the thinking is. I did some googling about KDE and static ip configuration but didn't find anybody asking why, i did find plenty of people asking how to fix the situation, but I think people would like to know why. If this has been answered already please point me toward the link. Thanks, and i appreciate all replies and feedback.

Are you sure you can't? I'm in Fedora, but that shouldn't make any difference to SystemSettings. Open the Network page > Network Connections > highlight your connection and hit Edit. You should be able to change it through the IP Address tab. Unless, of course, your distro uses other tools to set it up, such as system-config-network. Give the SystemSettings method a try.

I have tried right clicking the network icon in my tray, there is no place to edit eth0 connection. I open the KDE network manager and it doesn't even give my eth0 connection as a connection that i can edit. I created a new wired connection, eth1, and configured my static ip, and clicked the use this connection automatically check box, and on a restart Mint KDE, Kubuntu, and OpenSuse KDE all still use the eth0 connection. I even went to the /etc/network/interfaces file and tried to use that to configure my network connection...all did not work. I don't know what else to do. I found work-arounds on the net that instruct people to uninstall the KDE network manager and install the gnome network manager. i really don't want to have to go through all those steps but there is nothing else i can think of to get around this issue.

Please re-read what I wrote and try it.

Does yours look like this?

yes, but when i go to the wired tab, there is no eth0 (which is what is listed as my ethernet adapter when i use ifconfig at the console) listed.

Strange. I get the same options as in the screenshot above with wired and the eth0 shows.

KDE Network Management uses profiles to connect to various networks. The default profile for wired adapters (which is a system wide one, which can't be edited) is to use DHCP to connect. This is why you see nothing under Wired.

To use a static IP address, use "Add" on the "Wired" tab to create a connection, giving it the appropriate settings.

Then, open the Network Management applet and select your new static IP profile. KDE Network Management will then apply the settings of that profile.

I was aware of that, but my problem is that when i restart my machine it will not automatically use the new wired connection settings. i checked the connect automatically check box and i tried editing the /etc/network/interfaces file configured toward the new wired connection but that doesn't help. Ideas?

forgot to ask in my last post, but can you explain to me why KDE is setup like that?

I don't think it has anything to do with KDE, as such. This is, to some extent, guesswork, based on what I've seen distros do.

There are two ways that you can control your network, the "network service" in which you control your connections by issuing commands such as "ifup eth0" to bring up your network (this is normally the cabled interface). Then there is NetworkManager - and most distros configure that to be the norm. NetworkManager takes care automatically of connections, but is, in my experience, more difficult to get to behave exactly as you want it. I think that NetworkManager is, in your case, overriding settings that would otherwise be used by the network service. If you want to try the other method you need to look (as root) at /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. There you will find ifcfg-eth0, for instance, and in that file will almost certainly be "NM_CONTROLLED=yes". Change that to "no". You may need to reboot to get the file read again. You will still be using dhcp, but then you need to re-configure it to your static requirements. When you've done that, try "service network restart". Hopefully that will get you where you want to be.

Naturally you can reverse these steps.

Note that KDE 4 settings cannot be applied until you login. In addition, as the System wide DHCP connection has "Connected" your system to the network, your static profile won't be connected with until you manually select it.

I recommend you follow annew's method.

Annew' method seems to work for me too. Nice explanation.

Lanny wrote:Annew' method seems to work for me too. Nice explanation.

Yes, indeed.

But that does not work in *Ubuntu/SuSe, cause these ditributions don't have /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts.

Does anyone know how to set "NM_CONTROLLED" in *Ubuntu/SuSe?

In openSUSE, you can edit /etc/sysconfig/network and change NETWORKMANAGER to "no" from "yes". Notice that this will however disable NM for all connections.