A customer is traveling to a branch office, and the network administrator provides her with a static IP address for her laptop. Which should the customer do to use the static IP address?

To use the static IP address provided by the network administrator, the customer should configure her laptop's network settings to use the static IP address. Here are the steps to do this:

Step 1: Access Network Settings

• Open the network settings on the laptop. This can typically be done by going to the Control Panel (on Windows) or System Preferences (on macOS).

Step 2: Locate the Network Adapter

• Find the network adapter that is being used for the connection. This could be a Wi-Fi adapter or an Ethernet adapter, depending on how the laptop is connecting to the network.

Step 3: Configure the IP Address

• Go to the properties or settings of the selected network adapter.
• Choose the option to manually configure the IP address (this might be labeled as "Use the following IP address" on Windows or "Manually" on macOS).

Step 4: Enter the Static IP Information

• Enter the static IP address provided by the network administrator.
• Also, enter the subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server addresses if they were provided. If not, ask the network administrator for these details.

Step 5: Save and Apply Settings

• Save the changes and apply the new settings.
• Restart the network connection or the laptop if necessary to ensure the new settings take effect.

Final Answer

The customer should manually configure her laptop's network settings to use the static IP address, including entering the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server information as provided by the network administrator.