1. Connect the NAS Drive

Perform the following steps in order to connect a NAS drive to the network:

• Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to your NAS drive and the other end to the LAN port of your router.
• Connect the NAS drive’s power cable to an AC outlet and switch it on.

2. Check IP Addresses

If the IP addresses of the clients on your network are assigned by DHCP (and this is the case for most home Windows networks) then it shouldn’t be necessary to check for IP conflicts since every client in the network would have a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. A unique IP address will be generated by the router for the NAS drive after you connect it to the network.

If IPs have been assigned manually, however, it is always best practice to check if there is any duplication in the IP addresses of the clients connected on the network before installing the NAS software. You can get a list of all the IP addresses of the clients connected in your network via your router’s configuration utility or by looking the IP address up on each computer.

On a Windows system, you can perform the following steps to find your router's IP address:

• In Windows XP, click the Start button, and then select Run, or in Windows Vista, type run in the Start Search area and hit Enter)
• Enter cmd in the open box and click OK
• Enter nslookup in the command prompt and press Enter

The address displayed in the address line is the IP address of your router. Open your browser, and enter http:// followed by your router's IP address. A router configuration utility window will then appear. Assuming you know your router’s username and password, you can login and check the list of IP addresses of clients on the network.

Alternatively, view the connection status of your local area network connection.

In Windows XP, click Start, My Network Connections, then View Network Connections (on the left). Double click on Local Area Connection and click on the Support tab. The IP address is listed there.

In Windows Vista, Start, click on Control Panel and double click Network and Sharing Center. Click on Manage Network Connections (on the left) and double click on Local Area Connection. Click on the Details button and you will see the IP address listed.

If IP address conflict is found, then you need to change the NAS drive's IP address. You can do this by using the software utility that is provided with the drive.