Disable Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) in Vista/XP/2003/2000

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Automatic Private IP Addressing, or APIPA as it is better known, is a feature of Windows 2000 , XP,2003 and vista operating systems that allows for the automatic assignment of IP addresses in a network where there is no DHCP server present. APIPA automatically assigns an IP address in the class B network 169.254.0.0 when it cannot successfully obtain one from a DHCP server on a network. There are many reasons why this may happen even on a network where a DHCP server is present. These reasons include heavy traffic on the server, a system hang, or the server being offline.

Solution 1

Click Start > Run. Type regedit and press OK.

Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\Adapters

Double click on the IPAutoconfigurationEnabled entry, and change its Value data to 0.

Close Regedit and restart.

If you wish to disable APIPA for only a particular number of network interfaces then you can simply browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\Adapters and change the same registry key.

Solution 2

Click Start > Run. Type regedit and press OK.

Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Tcpip\Parameters

Right click this entry and select New Dword. Rename the new entry ArpRetryCount (leave it set to 0 by default). Restart the computer.