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what is "preferred IP address" in Vista / Windows 7?

7,395 1,488 February 1, 2009 at 12:45 AM
I've been experiencing strange DHCP / IP problems in Vista / Windows 7.

Occasionally I am not able to change IP addresses when connecting via ethernet, and when I look at IPCONFIG I see the IPv4 address (eg 192.168.0.113) with the words "preferred".

When I see that, Vista / Windows 7 is unable to pick up new IP addresses when I do a IP address release / renew.

Anyone know what the "preferred" next to the IP address means??Confused
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Demosthenes9
02-01-2009 at 12:56 AM.
02-01-2009 at 12:56 AM.
Quote from cheap_bastid :
I've been experiencing strange DHCP / IP problems in Vista / Windows 7.

Occasionally I am not able to change IP addresses when connecting via ethernet, and when I look at IPCONFIG I see the IPv4 address (eg 192.168.0.113) with the words "preferred".

When I see that, Vista / Windows 7 is unable to pick up new IP addresses when I do a IP address release / renew.

Anyone know what the "preferred" next to the IP address means??Confused
Don't know what the "preferred" references, but, you aren't getting a new IP address because the DHCP lease hasn't expired on the router.

You might be able to flush the leases via the router config pages or try power cycling the router.

That or just set your IP address manually (be sure you know the details first.)
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UniformedHorse
02-01-2009 at 06:49 AM.
02-01-2009 at 06:49 AM.
Quote from cheap_bastid :
I've been experiencing strange DHCP / IP problems in Vista / Windows 7.

Occasionally I am not able to change IP addresses when connecting via ethernet, and when I look at IPCONFIG I see the IPv4 address (eg 192.168.0.113) with the words "preferred".

When I see that, Vista / Windows 7 is unable to pick up new IP addresses when I do a IP address release / renew.

Anyone know what the "preferred" next to the IP address means??Confused
total guess:
could it be an IP from you preferred wireless network taking precedence?
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abeo
02-01-2009 at 07:00 AM.
02-01-2009 at 07:00 AM.
I believe that network adapter ports can be assigned multiple IP addresses and one of the IP addresses is assigned as the "preferred" IP address. Cool If you only have one IP address, it is by default the "preferred" IP address.
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Naota
02-01-2009 at 11:45 AM.
02-01-2009 at 11:45 AM.
There are multiple DNS ips that you can connect to. The one at the top of the list is your preferred.
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GoneForNow
02-01-2009 at 12:15 PM.
02-01-2009 at 12:15 PM.
Quote from bhaberle :
There are multiple DNS ips that you can connect to. The one at the top of the list is your preferred.
From the OP's description, this is in the output of ipconfig. So this has nothing to do w/ DNS.


Looks like the term indicates some state about the address. More info below.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-u...26952.aspx

States of an IPv6 Address
IPv6 hosts typically automatically configure IPv6 addresses by interacting with a router and performing stateless IPv6 address autoconfiguration. After being verified as unique, autoconfigured addresses are in one or more of the following states:

Valid An address for which uniqueness has been verified and from which unicast traffic can be sent and received. Autoconfigured addresses have a valid lifetime assigned by the router.

Preferred A valid address that can be used for new communications. Autoconfigured addresses also have a preferred lifetime assigned by the router.

Deprecated A valid address that cannot be used for new communications. Existing communication sessions can still use a deprecated address.

Invalid An address for which a node can no longer send or receive traffic. An address enters the invalid state after the valid lifetime expires.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-u...27003.aspx

Autoconfigured Address States
Autoconfigured addresses are in one or more of the following states:

Tentative

The address is in the process of being verified as unique. Verification occurs through duplicate address detection.

Valid

An address from which unicast traffic can be sent and received. The valid state covers both the preferred and deprecated states. The Router Advertisement message includes the amount of time that an address remains in the valid state. The valid lifetime must be greater than or equal to the preferred lifetime.

Preferred

An address for which uniqueness has been verified. A node can send and receive unicast traffic to and from a preferred address. The Router Advertisement message includes the period of time that an address can remain in the tentative and preferred states.

Deprecated

An address that is still valid but whose use is discouraged for new communication. Existing communication sessions can continue to use a deprecated address. A node can send and receive unicast traffic to and from a deprecated address.

Invalid

An address for which a node can no longer send or receive unicast traffic. An address enters the invalid state when the valid lifetime expires.
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Original Poster
cheap_bastid
02-01-2009 at 12:38 PM.
02-01-2009 at 12:38 PM.
Thanks for the info. yes, I was on a corporate network in which my PC would not release the IP address it first acquired, even if I moved to different ethernet connections.

Even after a IPCONFIG /release and /renew, it would stubbornly cling on to the first IP address it acquired.

I had to put in a fixed IP address to get a new IP address. This was a problem because the first IP address the PC acquired was on a subnet that did not have access to certain network resources. Only after putting in a fixed IP address could I get the network shares.

It is very frustrating to try to deal with, because Windows XP would simply renew the IP address with whatever new IP address was available, instead of stubbornly clinging on to an old IP address.

I guess XP is still far better than Vista and Windows 7. I would hate to see XP go away.
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Calvy
02-01-2009 at 12:42 PM.
02-01-2009 at 12:42 PM.
Did you try disabling the network adapter and then re-enabling it to see if it grabs DHCP info properly? My girlfriend's work computer seems to have this problem. When she brings it home, she always has to disalbe the wifi adapter then re-enable it and it gets the proper IP address for my network. Otherwise, it stays with her company's DHCP network info.
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cheap_bastid
02-01-2009 at 12:46 PM.
02-01-2009 at 12:46 PM.
This was a problem with the ethernet connection. My wireless was disabled.

I don't recall if I disabled the LAN connection or not. I think I did a "repair" on it, which didn't help.
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Naota
02-01-2009 at 02:41 PM.
02-01-2009 at 02:41 PM.
Try the following method first:

Also trying assigning a static IP address
restart your computer
Then try re-enabling yourself as DHCP .

If that doesn't work u should take a look at your tcp/ip settings and see what your settings are if you haven't yet.

While your there, another method is to:
go to your TCP/Ip settings
change your protocol and make netbios the default protocol
then make sure your firewall is disabled
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Last edited by Naota February 1, 2009 at 02:52 PM.
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