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I have a HPE 1920S managed switch which I just want to use as a normal unmanaged switch. I set to factory defaults and tested in my network and it works fine with devices plugged into it; however, I would like to change the password as extra security even though no one should be able to access my network. The default IP address doesn’t work as the manual states the DHCP server should assign one. I do not see the switch listed in my list list of assigned IP’s. Can I just use it as is without changing password because I am going to use it as a normal switch. Any help would be appreciated.

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Hi and welcome to the community!

While you can use it as-is without changing the password, I would still verify the IP that’s being used to gain access to it, because eventually, someone will access it…you or someone else. I’m guessing that the DHCP call failed and it pulled a default 192 type IP.

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Thanks. The default IP address in the manual doesn’t work. How can I determine what the IP address would be?

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If it’s truly pulling DHCP from your domain, check your DHCP leases. It’ll tell you what IP’s were handed out. You can then test one by one, or if you have a LAN scanner, run it. Otherwise, you can take it totally out of your network, so that you plug only your one computer into it, see if you can then use the IP in the manual.

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If it can not grab DHCP it will be either at 192.168.1.1, or at an address based on it’s MAC address, 169.254.x.y where x and y are the last 2 hex pairs converted to decimal (this only helps if you know it’s mac address)
Which one of those depends on the exact version.
(There may be an IP printed on the back label also)

(Note that the IP can also be set in the admin console, then it becomes static, and the switch will ignore DHCP, if you factory reset it, then that won’t be true)

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I went through something like this a couple years back, trying to figure out what the IP was on a switch. I ended up setting up wireshark on a laptop. I had the switch disconnected from everything except that laptop. I started wireshark to be listening, then power cycled the switch, so that wireshark would record the broadcasts from the switch. Eventually, the switch sent out a request, and, in so doing, revealed it’s oddball IP address.

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Why do you want to go to unmanaged?

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Got it. Thanks for the advice.

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Be aware that a managed switch in factory default configuration will only pass untagged traffic. Any packets tagged with a VLAN will be blocked.

I don’t know how or even if you can configure every port to pass all traffic regardless of tagging.

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Most managed switches have an option for a management VLAN, and depending on the brand, the IP interface for the switch will only be visible on that VLAN. This way you can hide the switch’s interface entirely from regular users. Bear in mind that if you don’t assign a port to that VLAN, you can lock yourself out of the management interface too (which may be desirable if it’s going to sit on a user’s desk or some such), and a factory reset would be the only way to get back into it.

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My intention with the switch is to just use it as a switch in a home network situation. I have 3 - 4 port unmanaged switches tied together now, but since I was able to take this from my hotel and it has 24 ports and I need more ports I was going to use this as a plain unmanged switch and get rid of the mess I have now.

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My intention with the switch is to just use it as a switch in a home network situation. I have 3 - 4 port unmanaged switches tied together now, but since I was able to take this from my hotel and it has 24 ports and I need more ports I was going to use this as a plain unmanged switch and get rid of the mess I have now.

Should the switch work for this application.

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As a home switch, this would likely be overkill, noisy fan and higher than expected power consumption. You’d be better off getting a higher-port dumb/desktop switch for this application.

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To check addresses, “Advanced IP SCanner”, a free to use.
You problem maybe that the switch has an address, just in a different range. I believe there is a reset button on the switch. That or find out the range that was used at the site.

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Thanks. The default IP address in the manual doesn’t work. How can I determine what the IP address would be?

One detail with this, you won’t be able to just put 192.168.1.1 into the browser and go.

– If you already have a 192.168.1.x network at your location, it’s highly likely the existing router/access point/dsl or cable modem/etc. is at 192.168.1.1 and you’ll then have an IP address conflict. (I put mine at the other end, so 192.168.1.254 would be the main device… DSL modem in my case.. when I had a second access point it was at 192.168.1.253, wireless bridges would e at 192.168.1.252 and 192.168.1.251, etc.)

– If your network is at like 192.168.0.x or any other range, connection attempts to 192.168.1.1 will go out through the default route (like 192.168.0.1 probably if you have a 192.168.0.x address) and that router won’t know where to send things to get to 192.168.1.1.

– If you’re just connected to the switch (and it’s not connected to anything else), your computer might not have an IP address at all so it’ll just give “no route to host” or “network unreachable” for any request.

In Linux you’d do something like “ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.5” (or “ifconfig eth0:1 192.168.1.5”, which would let you keep your ‘main’ IP address on eth0 while setting a second address simultaneously.) Manually give your computer an ip address in the 192.168.1.x range. Then loading the admin interface will have the computer making a connection from 192.168.1.5 to 192.168.1.1 which will work. Windows, similar procedure, click into the GUI and set a manual IP address. When you’re done switch it back to getting a dhcp address.

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