CP Plus IP Finder: find your recorder's IP address and change it

Every recorder and network camera has an IP address, the number other devices use to reach it. Most people never need it until they set up a PC program, or until a camera drops off after a power cut. An IP finder tool scans your local network and lists the devices it finds, with their addresses. Most camera brands have one. CP Plus's is called IP Finder. Hikvision has SADP and Dahua has ConfigTool.

CP Plus describes IP Finder as software for searching and configuring cameras on a local area network. The release note for the current version lists a new look and batch actions: upgrade, change IP address and initialise several devices at once. It also lists restoring all the devices it found to factory settings, changing their passwords, and resetting the password of locked devices.

It only sees devices on the same local network as your PC. It cannot find a recorder over the internet.

Go to cpplusworld.com. Open Support, then Download, then Software. Under Orange, find CPPLUS_IP Finder_Eng_Win, version V4.0, and click its download icon. The file is a single installer (.exe) of about 38 MB. CP Plus lists a Windows file only, with no Mac or phone version.

Only download it from there. A tool that can change addresses and reset passwords on your recorders is exactly the kind of program you should not take from a third-party site. Run the installer, then open IP Finder.

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• A Windows PC on the same network as the recorder. That means the same router or switch, and not a guest Wi-Fi network. Many routers keep guest Wi-Fi devices apart from everything else.
• The recorder or camera switched on, with its network cable plugged in.
• The device's username and password, if you want to change its address. The username is usually admin. Your installer set the password.

Open IP Finder with your PC on the same network as the recorder. It lists the CP Plus recorders and cameras it can see, with the IP address of each. If the list is empty when the tool opens, start a new search with the tool's search or refresh button.

If you have several devices, match the right one by comparing details with the recorder's own screen. Under Main Menu, Network, TCP/IP the recorder shows its IP address and its MAC address.

You can read the address straight from the recorder. Connect a monitor and mouse, log in, and go to Main Menu, Network, TCP/IP. It shows the IP address, subnet mask and gateway.

For cameras plugged into an NVR, go to Main Menu, Camera, Add IP Cam. The list of connected cameras shows each one's address.

If nobody ever changed them, CP Plus's manuals list these factory addresses: 192.168.1.240 for the DVR, 192.168.1.245 for the NVR and 192.168.1.250 for a network camera. Your installer has probably changed them, so treat these as a last guess, not a plan.

Change the address when two devices share one, when the recorder sits in a different range from your router, or when your router hands the recorder a new address every few days and your apps keep losing it. The fix is a fixed address that the router will not give to anyone else.

A good fixed address starts with the same first three groups of numbers as your router. If the router is 192.168.1.1, the recorder could be 192.168.1.50. The subnet mask is usually 255.255.255.0 and the gateway is the router's address. Pick a number outside the range your router hands out automatically, and write it down.

• On the recorder: go to Main Menu, Network, TCP/IP. Switch DHCP off first. Type the IP address, subnet mask and gateway. CP Plus's manual says the address and the gateway must be in the same network range. Use the Test button to check them, then Apply.
• With IP Finder: select the device, choose the tool's option to modify its IP address, and type the new IP address, subnet mask and gateway. Expect to be asked for the device's username and password before it changes anything.
• For cameras on an NVR: go to Main Menu, Camera, Add IP Cam, tick the camera and click Modify IP. Choose DHCP, or Static and type the address. For several cameras at once, tick them all and enter an incremental value, so the last number goes up by one for each camera.
• When the address changes, update every place that used the old one. A recorder added in KVMS Pro Lite or gCMOB by IP address needs the new address. One added by serial number does not.

Work down this list. Most empty results come from the first three.

• Different network: the PC and the recorder must be on the same network. CP Plus's camera manual says the same for setting up a device: the PC's address and the camera's address must be on the same network. Check you are not on guest Wi-Fi or a VPN, and that both plug into the same router or switch.
• Power and cable: check the recorder is on, the cable is in and the network light blinks.
• Windows Firewall: when you first open the tool, Windows may ask whether to let it use the network. Allow it on your private network. If you clicked No, open Windows Security, then Firewall and network protection, then Allow an app through firewall, and tick IP Finder.
• Different address range: if the recorder is in 192.168.1.x and your PC is in 192.168.0.x, the tool may not see it. Read the address from the recorder's own screen and change it to match your router, as above.
• Cameras on the NVR's own PoE ports: the NVR looks after these itself. CP Plus's manual says it initialises a camera plugged into a PoE port and gives it the NVR's password. Check them on the NVR, under Main Menu, Camera, Add IP Cam.
• A brand-new camera: a new CP Plus network camera must be initialised, which means setting its password, before it can be used. The manual says you can do this on the camera's web page, with IP Finder, or from an NVR.
• Not a CP Plus device: IP Finder is made for CP Plus. For Hikvision use SADP, and for Dahua use ConfigTool.

IP Finder's release note lists resetting the password of locked devices and changing passwords on several devices at once. How a reset works depends on the device and its firmware, so start with your installer, who usually has the password. CP Plus support can also help: support@cpplusworld.com, or +91 88009 52952. Have the model and serial number ready. We do not cover ways to get past a password.

On the same network, many CP Plus recorders open in a browser when you type their IP address, and some ask you to install a plugin from the CP Plus software page first. You can also add the recorder to CP Plus's Windows software. Our KVMS Pro guide covers that, and our guide to gCMOB for PC covers the phone app.