VMware: Windows Server defaults to APIPA address and won’t revert

Hey all so, recently I ran into an issue with a Windows Server 2012 box were the VM was unable to acquire an IP address after an ESXi host crashed. Even after deploying a new VMXNET3 adapter or a new E1000 adapter it made not difference, so I was stumped. After a little while of search on the internet and remembering some netsh commands and success with modifying registry settings, I set out to find a solution:

I found two and they seemed to work:

  1. Use Registry Editor to create the following registry key, where <var>adapter name</var> is the name of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) configured adapter where you want to disable APIPA:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\<var>adapter name</var>
  2. Add the following value to this key:
    Value name: IPAutoconfigurationEnabled
    Value type: REG_DWORD
    Value in hexadecimal: 0 (A value of 0 disables APIPA support on this adapter)
  3. After you make this change, restart your computer.

Alternatively, this worked but in my search I wanted to have a plan B, so I found this:

 

1. Open up Command Prompt.

2. type “netsh interface ipv4 show inter”

which provides this result as an example:

Idx Met MTU State Name
—  ———-  ———-  ————  —————————
1          50  4294967295  connected     Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1
22          10        1500  connected     Local Area Connection    <— this is the interface in question or match up the name of your adapter

3. Next run this command:

             C:\Users\Administrator>netsh interface ipv4 set interface 22 dadtransmits=0 store=persistent

4. Next, enter: Run > services.msc > disable DHCP Client service

5. Restart your server.

I hope these steps help someone out. 🙂

keywords: APIPA, autoconfiguration, duplicate IP address, purple screen of death