How to connect IP camera to the computer without a router

If you are looking for the information on how to connect IP camera computer without a router, don't look any further because I have the solution for you just right here. Just keep reading...

People also look for the information on how to connect cctv camera to computer with cable, which is essentially the same thing and I will cover the topic here.

You can connect your IP camera directly to a PC via network cable as long as you have a power supply to power up the camera and minimum skills for the setup.

The process takes just a few minutes, so get ready to have your IP camera up and running by the end of this article....

Later in this article you can also watch a video where I show how to connect IP camera directly to laptop. 

IP camera connection diagram

Before working on the setup, let's take a look at an IP camera connection diagram, so you can better understand how everything must be connected.

The diagram below shows a laptop connected to a PoE Injector which is connected to an IP camera via a network cable (also known as UTP cable).  

As you can see, I'm not using a router on the diagram (as per the article title).

I'm sure you know what a laptop and an IP camera are, but perhaps is the first time you see a PoE Injector. If that's the case you just need to know that this device is the power supply that sends the power to the IP camera via a network cable.

Can you see how the laptop IP address  (192.168.2.10) is similar to the IP camera address (192.168.2.180) ?  They are in the network IP range.

That's what you have to do, just physically connect everything together as shown in the diagram and setup the IP addresses on both sides (laptop and IP camera). 

Perhaps you are here to look for an answer for the question "Can I connect my camera directly to my PC via network cable?" The answer is yes, you can if you use a power supply directly to the camera, so there's no need for the PoE injector.

Anyway, let's see more details with pictures and everything else...

Poe Injector, IP camera, cables, and laptop

The picture below shows everything that is necessary to connect the IP camera to a computer (or laptop), from left to right you can see the PoE Injector, the IP camera, power, and network cables, a power strip and the laptop.

You just need to connect everything together as shown in the previous diagram, don't worry if your IP cameras look different from this one, the principle is still the same even if you are using a dome camera or some other model.

If you need to buy a PoE Injector but don't know what the specification is, just make sure it's compatible with the 802.11af or 802.11af standard depending on your camera model, just take a look at your IP camera specs to find the information.

--> Here's a recommendation for a PoE Injector you can purchase on Amazon.

Let's see more details on how to connect the IP camera to the computer...

The IP camera

The IP camera model you see in the picture is the SNB-6004 that used to be manufactured by Samsung Techwin (discontinued model). It's an expensive camera used for professional applications and I don't recommend you to use in your home just because it's like "kill a fly with a sled-hammer".

For your home, I recommend you to use something simple but still with good quality such as a Hikvision 4MP dome camera you can also find on Amazon. 

Anyway, l just purchased this model you see in the picture because I used to work as a Samsung CCTV engineer and I know everything about this camera.

The picture below shows the details of the back part of the Samsung IP camera.

The part I'm pointing to is where you can connect the network cable.

According to the international IP network standard, you can use a network cable with up to 328 feet (100m). I believe that will be enough for your application.  

The next picture shows the network cable connected to the IP camera. You can buy some pre-made cables with different categories, cat5e or cat6 are the good ones.

Here is an example of a Cat6 Network cable you can buy on Amazon.

The other end of the cable goes to the PoE Injector, read what comes next... 

The PoE Injector

 As I said before, the PoE injector is nothing more than the power supply that sends power to the camera using the network cable. (PoE = Power Over Ethernet).

The picture below shows the Data & Power output where you need to connect the IP camera. As long as the camera is 802.11af or 802.11at standard it's OK.

The other port (Data In) is used to connect to the same router or switch your laptop or computer is connected to, or in the case of this article, you can connect directly to your computer or laptop since the title of the article is how to connect IP camera to computer without router, that's exactly what I'm teaching you!

You just need to connect the cable that comes from the IP camera to the PoE Injector Data & Power Out as you can see in the next picture below, and obviously, you need an extra cable to connect from the Data In to the computer.

I hope you got that right, see again the connections:

• Data & Power --> IP camera
• Data IN --> Computer

After connecting everything you should have something as shown in the picture below. ( I'm using a red network cable from the PoE Injector to the laptop).

And now, you just need to configure the computer and the camera...

The computer and camera configuration

And now, you just need to configure the computer and the camera...

You need to configure your computer network IP to the same range used by the camera, or vice versa. Just read the camera manual to find out the default IP.

Let's say your IP camera has the default IP 192.168.2.180, your computer must have an IP such as 192.168.2.10 or something similar that falls in the range of 192.168.2.x where X is a number between 1 and 254 (don't worry with the details, just keep your devices in the same IP range). See picture below for details.

Open the Control Panel --> Network and Internet --> Network connections to configure your computer IP as shown in the picture above.

Take a look again at the IP camera connection diagram, as you can see, the laptop is using the IP 192.168.2.10 and the camera 192.168.2.180, so they are in the same range (obviously your network could have a different IP range).

Test your IP camera via Web Browser

Now it's time to test your IP camera. Just open a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome and input the IP camera address.

Just by doing that, the web browser sends a command to the IP camera which responds by asking for a username and password before sending the video.

After entering the username (usually admin) and the password you can have access to the IP camera main menu and the video streaming.

(consult your camera manual to find out the camera default password).

Alright, now you can do your happy dance and enjoy your IP camera 🙂

Some cameras only work with the Internet Explorer, so be prepare to use it.

Just to make sure you understood everything in this article, watch the video to quickly recap what was explained in the article.

Video: How to connect IP camera to a computer

Watch the video below where I show how to connect IP camera directly to laptop and keep the reading the article for more details.

OK, perhaps just like other people, you also have the question: "how to connect multiple IP cameras to a computer?".   That's what I will show you next...

How to connect multiple IP cameras to a computer

The answer to this question is very simple, you just need to use a switch or a router to connect all the network devices (cameras and computer) together.

See the IP camera diagram below for more details.

As you can see, it's very simple. You just need to use another IP for the second camera as long as it is in the same IP network range. Now the PoE switch is used instead of the PoE injector, so now the switch sends power to the camera.

Again I strongly recommend you to read the article: PoE switch for IP cameras.

How to find your IP camera in the network

Let's say you don't know the default IP for your camera or it was changed, you can use a tool to scan the network and find the camera, all depends on the model you are using and if the manufacturer has such tool available. 

The picture below shows the Wisenet Device Manager which is the tool used to locate the Samsung cameras in the network. It's a free tool.

See how the tool scans the network and finds the IP camera.

If you are using a Hikvision camera, for example, you can use the Hikvision tool, the same with Dahua, Bosch, Panasonic, and other brands.

Just keep in mind that some inexpensive non-branded cameras (manufactured in China) don't have such a tool, so just be careful with your choice.

Final thoughts 

Now you know how to connect an IP camera to a computer without a router, but I must say that is not usual. I'm just teaching what is possible to do besides the fact that I think it's better to use a switch or router, so you can have more control over your IP camera and have remote access to it even from the Internet.

There are also different ways to connect an IP camera to a computer or a mobile device. You can use consumer IP cameras that use Wi-Fi and avoid cables or even USB cameras. There are basically many ways to get the job done.

You can also use a regular power supply instead of the PoE Injector. The Samsung IP camera I used as an example in this article has a power supply connector.

If you are a professional CCTV installer or want to become one, I strongly recommend you to take a look at the Ultimate Security Camera Guide collection, just click the links below to learn more...