Static Ethernet IP addresses under CE

Windows CE does not support static IP addresses (i.e. if an IP address is
in the registry at boot time, CE crashes!) so DHCP must be used to get a
dynamically allocated address. When the system is up and running and I want
to input an IP address, it is suggested I use the network control panel.
However I do not have a graphical interface because I'm only using Windows
CE for its networking features. What exactly does the network control panel
do to activate the IP address? Just writing it to the registry does nothing
and my Ethernet chip is ISA, i.e. not plug and play. Do I have to write an
application to unload and reload the driver or what?