Multiple LAN Connections - Different Locations - One Network Card
Is it possible to create multiple LAN connections on Windows XP Sp2 (Professional Edition)?

We have a laptop (IBM ThinkPad – X61s lenovo) with one Ethernet 802.3
Adapter (Intel® 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection). We want to be able to connect this laptop to two different (Ethernet) LANs in two different
buildings (not at the same time, of course :-)

I am able to establish LAN connections in both places, but the problem is
each time I have to overwrite the IP settings from the previous location
(LAN).

So, the question is -- similar to being able to create and choose from
multiple "wireless" networks on Windows XP, is there a such feature for
multiple LAN connections/profiles too? The idea is to save a LAN setting in
the system and use it later by simply choosing that connection by name,
Without having to re-enter IP settings again.

Any advice?

I'm not entirely sure it will work on IBM computers but Asus provides such an internet configuration switcher for their notebooks. I've tried to install other utilities from them on non-Asus computers and they worked just fine so you definitely should give it a try.

Unfortunately, I can't hotlink the download or even the download page because of their silly ASP site. You need to go here and select 'Notebook' from the product type. Then I suggest going for the F9 series with an F9J model. This one is old enough to have proper XP support and smart enough to also have Visa x32 and x64 versions of all software too. After selecting the desired OS and pressing 'Search' go to the 'Utilities' section and look for the latest version of 'ASUS IP Switch Utility'. Download, unzip, install and, hopefully, enjoy.

Doesn't the network properties window have an alternative configuration tab? You could use that to set a different IP - but that works only if the primary configuration uses DHCP, as far as I know (if it can't get the DHCP lease it will use the alternative address)

See How to use the Alternate Configuration feature for multiple network connectivity in Windows XP for more information.

As far as I am aware, you simply create a new network connection in control panel / network connections. Take whichever options (defaults usually work fine) and instruct the wizard to add a dektop icon for each, and the option to show in active toolbar bottom right. Then you simply click on the desktop icon of the one you want. To switch, right click in the active applications bar and select disconnect. Then click another connection.

That's the way I connect to my work WAN or the internet (latter being the default of course).

You may need to adjust firewall settings but various other security settings are usually taken care of during the connection setup. Some routers can also need a lot of jiggery-pokery, but most allow any outgoing connetion to respond inwards with no further settings

as a client system, making the configuration via DHCP should cover all the bases transparently; ie no need for tweaking any settings. What do you typically need to change when relocating systemA to networkA vs networkB?

as a server (where fixed IP addresses are most common), that's entirely a different ball game. If you're in a Domain Controller environment, then the DC DHCP server should see your MAC and assign an appropriate IP address AND update the DNS.

As I recall you need to add that system to the other location profile on active directory. Each company has has different name AServe, BServe, CServe in the Domain Dropdown. So say your IP address was 10.10.9.100 and you were logging onto that domain BServe but you were on AServe. You would log out of AServe then load into BServe with the active directory domain profile that was setup for the user say Bsmith09 ID.

Well this is how I would do it. How don't know are you have your Domains setup or managed.