In this article I will present how to enable DHCP in Windows 10. Most of the companies around the world use DHCP network. It will be very helpful in assigning an IP address to your computer automatically. But, if DHCP is disabled on your computer, there may be problems connecting to the internet (in some cases).
How to enable DHCP on Windows 10 (PC/Laptop)? We will try to find out the steps and make a tutorial on how to enable DHCP on a Windows 10 PC/laptop.
What is DHCP?
Before we go any further and understand how to enable DHCP in Windows 10, it might be worth discovering what DHCP really is and how it affects your configuration on a corporate network.
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It is a network configuration protocol used in the case of TCP/IP networks. The DHCP server will assign an IP address to each computer on the network and thus configure it to communicate with other computers over the network. DHCP also configures several other network management settings on the target computer.
Why should you enable DHCP server on Windows 10 computer? Well, enabling DHCP in Windows 10 helps you to avoid misconfiguration. It does this by assigning a unique IP address to each computer in the network and then sharing this IP address with other computers over the IP network.
How to Enable DHCP in Windows 10?
Your computer needs an IP address to communicate over the internet. IP addresses can be of two types – static and dynamic. A static IP address, as the name should indicate, is fixed for a specific computer and doesn’t change between different internet sessions. The dynamic IP address does not change for each internet session.
Ideally, your computer’s IP address will be static, and dynamic IP addresses are disabled by default. However, if your ISP – Internet service provider supports dynamic IP addresses, you can enable a DHCP server on your Windows 10 device (or for that matter a computer with any version) to take advantage of dynamic IP addresses for better connectivity. Enabling DHCP on Windows 10 will make your computer get a dynamic IP address automatically.
Here are the steps that you can use to find out how to enable DHCP in Windows 10:
open Control Panel and select Network and Sharing Center.
Select the network that you are connected to and click on it. This will take you to the state of your network connection.
It should tell you how to enable DHCP in Windows 10. Your computer is now configured to accept dynamic IP addresses. If your ISP fills in a dynamic IP address, your computer will take advantage of it and connect you via the dynamic IP address.
If you are using IPV 6 or Internet Protocol Version 6, you will have to repeat the above steps for IPV 6 on the WiFi Status window.
The DHCP server keeps a record of all available IP addresses, and when an internet connection is sought, it assigns one of the currently available IP addresses by selecting one from a pool of IP addresses. The IP address assignment has a time frame after the lapse of time it takes the device to send another request to initiate an internet connection. The timeout period usually lasts 24 hours. Thus your device will receive different IP addresses for different internet sessions.
Also read: How to Activate Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) Windows 10 Home Edition
How to disable DHCP on Windows 10?
There may be cases where you don’t want to use dynamic IP addresses and switch to static IP addresses. In such a case, you need to enter the static IP address yourself. The steps will remain the same except for the last one where you have to enter a static IP address value.
Follow all the steps above until the last one and make the correct settings.
Select an option for Use the Following IP address and use options use the following DNS server addresses and then enter the correct values for the IP address and DNS server address. Make sure you know the correct address when making changes. If you configure wrong entries in the dialog box, you end up not connecting to the network.
How can you tell if you are using DHCP?
Are you not sure if you are using DHCP on Windows 10 or not? There is an option to check if you are using DHCP server on your Windows 10 computer (This method uses Command Prompt).
Follow the steps here to find out if you are using DHCP on Windows 10:
- Launch Command Prompt. You can do this by typing CMD in Windows Search and selecting the right option from the search results.
- Type the following command and press ENTER
ipconfig / all
You will see all available network adapters on your computer. Check the network you are using and find the line that says DHCP Enabled. If you are using DHCP on Windows 10 (or any operating system version), you should find the following line
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
The results will be available on all connections including WiFi and Ethernet.
Red Thread | Enabling DHCP on Windows 10 will go a long way in getting access to the best internet connection on your Windows 10 computer. If you are wondering how to enable DHCP in Windows 10, I hope the steps described above will provide you with complete information on how to enable it.
