If you’ve ever gone hunting for a simple “DHCP Reservation” option on a Cudy router, you’ve probably discovered that Cudy likes to play a little game of hide-and-seek with its terminology. The feature is there, it works well, but it’s not always called what you expect. That’s why reserving an IP on a Cudy router is one of those tasks that feels harder than it should—until you know where to look. Once you crack the language barrier, though, the process is straightforward and incredibly useful.
The big benefit of reserving an IP address is consistency. Devices like printers, servers, or cameras really don’t appreciate surprises, and neither do the apps or computers that talk to them. By reserving an IP, you’re telling your router, “Hey, this device gets this address every time—no exceptions.” In my case, I used an HP DeskJet 2600 as the example in the video, because printers are famous for breaking the moment their IP address changes. One reservation later, and those “printer not found” errors magically disappear.