Enable the DHCP function. How to enable DHCP on a router - automatic distribution of IP addresses DHCP server - what is it for?

Few users who use an Internet connection know what a DHCP client is, why it is needed and how to enable it. Without going into technical details, we will now look at the basic concepts and methodology for its inclusion (use).

What is a DHCP client and why is it needed?

To put it in a way that any modern user can understand. computer system language, the DHCP client service is a network protocol that allows you to configure Internet connections or local network V automatic mode.

In other words, when connected to any device, all basic parameters are assigned automatically, which saves the user from manual settings. Let us immediately note that by default in all Windows operating systems this protocol is initially activated. Now we will look at some steps to enable it if it is disabled for some reason.

Preliminary router settings

If you use a router in the form of a router to access the Network, you first need to check whether the DHCP client is enabled in the router settings.

To do this, go to its menu through any Internet browser (in most cases, enter 192.168.1.1 in the address bar) and find a section like “DHCP server” (in different models sections may have different names). Here we check whether the access permission parameter is enabled. If it is disabled, you need to enable DHCP. In principle, you can immediately register the start and end IP addresses, but this is recommended only if, for some reason, you need to limit access and the number of simultaneously connected devices.

How to enable DHCP through the services section?

Now let's see what can be done if this protocol is disabled. You can enable DHCP through the services section in the administration settings.

This can be done through the control panel, but it’s easier to use the command line, called from the “Run” menu (Win + R) with the cmd command, where the combination services.msc is written.

Here you need to scroll through the list and find the corresponding field. Ideally, the status bar will indicate that the service is running. If not, right-click on the properties menu and set the startup type to automatic from the drop-down list.

Administrative settings in some versions of Windows operating systems can be accessed directly through the Start menu or through its Administrative Tools subsection (for example, in Windows 10). However, which particular path to use does not matter, because the main thing is the end result.

How to enable DHCP over TCP/IP?

You can use a more or less simple method. In this case, we will need TCP/IP protocol settings. You can get to them through the properties section local connection. How to enable DHCP in this case? Again, it’s easier to enter the ncpa.cpl command on the command line and then go to the properties (the call is made in the same way as above).

Now, from the list of components, select the TCP/IPv4 protocol and in the properties indicate automatic acquisition of the IP address and the address of the preferred DNS server. Additional settings you don't have to touch it at all. In obsolete Windows versions There is no IPv4 protocol. Instead there is general setup TCP/IP.

In some cases, you may need a power management menu in which you will need to disable all available options.

Checking automatic connection

Here, in fact, we looked at the question of how to enable DHCP. Now the active connections need to be checked for functionality.

To do this, it is best to use the same command line and enter the combination ipconfig /all, then press the Enter key. That's all.

However, if the active connection icon is displayed in the system tray, it will not be difficult to look at it and visually assess the level of activity or call up information about the current connection status from the corresponding menu. I think this is one of the simplest ways.

Finally, it remains to note that in this article the main emphasis for accessing certain settings was placed precisely on using command line, since, according to many users and experts, it is the fastest solution, since it saves the user from step-by-step transitions from one menu or section to another. Naturally, this does not mean that you need to use exactly this method. If you want to use different menus and sections, no problem. Here it’s more convenient for whom.

In our digital age, when we can no longer do without the Internet for even a minute, most corporate and home networks are configured with the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) protocol, which allows the computer to automatically obtain an IP address when connecting to the Internet.

In order to enable or disable DHCP in Windows, you must follow these steps for your version of the operating system.

Note. When disabling DHCP and using a static IP address, make sure you know correct settings and they were all entered correctly. Entering incorrect settings may cause both your internet connection and your network connection to stop working.

For Windows 8 and Windows 10

• On your desktop computer, click Windows keys+ X to open the Power User menu;
• Select the Network Connections option;
• You should see at least two types of network connections: Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Double-click on an active network connection;
• In the status window network connection click the “Properties” button;
• Click the Internet Protocol Version 4 button and click the Properties button. For Internet Protocol version 6 you may need to perform some additional steps as well.
• If you want to enable DHCP, make sure that the "Obtain an IP address automatically" option is selected, as well as the "Obtain DNS server address" option automatically.

If you want to disable DHCP and enter your own network settings, read the article http://droidov.com/dhcp-chto-eto-takoe for general education and then select the “Use the following IP address” option and enter the information for the IP address, subnet mask and default gateway. Then select the “Use the following DNS server address” option and enter the details of your preferred DNS server. You can also enter a value for an alternate DNS server if you wish.

For Windows Vista and Windows 7

• Open Control Panel.
• Click the Network and Sharing icon.
• In the View Active Networks section, click the Local Area Connection link.
• In the Local Area Connection Status window, click the Properties button.
• Highlight the Internet Protocol Version 4 option and click the Properties button. For Internet Protocol version 6 you may need to perform some additional steps.

If you want to disable DHCP and enter your network settings, select the "Use the following IP address" option and enter values ​​for the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. Also select the "Use the following DNS server address" option and enter a value for your preferred DNS server. You can also enter a value for an alternate DNS server if you wish.

For Windows XP and earlier OS versions

• Open Control Panel.
• Double-click Network Connections.
• Note. Instead, you may see a “Network and Internet Connections” link. In this case, double-click on it and then select “Network Connections”.
• Right-click Local Area Connection and select Properties.
• Highlight the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) option and click the Properties button.

If you want to enable DHCP, make sure that the "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain a DNS server address" options are selected.

If you want to disable DHCP and set your network settings manually, select the "Use the following IP address" option. Then enter the appropriate values ​​for the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway. Also select the "Use the following DNS server address" option and enter a value for your preferred DNS server. You can also enter a value for an alternate DNS server.

How can I tell if DHCP is currently being used?

An easy way to determine whether DHCP is currently enabled or disabled is to use the ipconfig /all command from the command line. When you enter this command for "Ethernet Adapter LAN Connection" one of the lines will tell you whether DHCP is enabled. If enabled, you will see the line

For a modern person, life is not pleasant without the World Wide Web, and problems with the Internet connection are our worst enemies, with whom we are fighting an irreconcilable struggle. This article will equip you with the knowledge to deal with the situation if you receive the error "DHCP is not enabled on your connection" when establishing a connection. network adapter».

What is DHCP?

DHCP is network protocol, which performs the function automatic settings TCP/IP network parameters, receiving them upon request from the DHCP server.

In practice, this means the exchange of certain messages between the DHCP client on the device and the server during the establishment of a network connection. During communication, the client receives new or confirms old values ​​of the following network parameters:

IP address for the device;

subnet mask;

Default gateway IP address.

DHCP: how does it work?

The server processes client requests and leases IP addresses from its range for a certain time. If the time runs out, the client either extends the lease period or releases the address, which also happens by exchanging special messages. The server records all requests in its database to avoid address conflicts, that is, not to allocate one address to two nodes at the same time.

An address conflict can still occur if one of the devices on the network has an IP assigned manually. When connecting a new computer, the server may try to give it an address that is already occupied, as a result of which the Internet connection will not be established. How to solve this problem will be discussed further.

The DHCP protocol is widely used because it makes it possible to easily add new computers to the network and change connection settings on the server, instead of manually reconfiguring each device.

To use the DHCP protocol you will need:

configure DHCP on the router, which will play the role of a DHCP server.

start the DHCP service on the PC (it acts as a client);

In the network adapter settings, select the option to automatically obtain an IP address.

Let's look at each step in detail.

How to enable DHCP on a router?

You need to start the DHCP server on the router through the web interface. You will need to do the following:

If you can’t immediately open the router settings, try logging in from another browser or from another device. The most radical and effective solution to the problem is to reset the router settings. To do this, find the small button labeled “Reset”, press it with something thin and hold it for 5-15 seconds. It is important to keep in mind: the downside of this solution is that you will have to configure the router completely from scratch.

Launch and setup on a Windows computer

To enable DHCP on a PC under Windows control 7 or Windows 10, you need to perform a similar set of steps.

Service check

To enable the DHCP client service on your PC, or make sure that it is working, open “Run” (Win + R), write “services.msc”.

In the “Services” window that opens, find the dhcp client, right-click and select “Properties”.

If you see that the service is running and starts automatically, you don't need to change anything.

If other parameters are displayed, start the service and set it to start automatically.

Configuring the network adapter

Enter “Network Connections” by pressing Win + R and entering “ncpa.cpl”.

Open your network properties, TCP/IPv4.

- how it works and what will happen if you turn it off. By default, it is enabled on any router, be it TP-Link, Asus, Zyxel Keenetic, and so on. And in most cases it does not require additional configuration. However, if we use two routers on the network at once, then we need to enable DHCP Relay mode. That is, so that the second one works as a “Client” and receives an address from the first one.

What is a DHCP server on a router?

DHCP server is a special function built into a wifi router that allows it to automatically assign IP addresses to each connected device.

What is a DHCP server for?

As you know, every computer, laptop, phone, TV, set-top box, camera or any other device connected to the router via cable or wireless signal has its own IP address for exchanging information with each other. Knowing the IP, you can, for example, connect to a TV set-top box on Android from a client computer with Windows and broadcast video to it, which is located in a folder on the PC’s hard drive.

Also, many other more complex structures are built on the use of IP addresses. Having a working DHCP server on the router eliminates the need to manually register these addresses for each device.

Imagine if it didn’t exist - then every time we connected to wifi from a laptop or any other gadget, we would have to manually set it in the settings. What if there are dozens, hundreds of such computers...? Plus, keep somewhere all the information about which computer is assigned which address. You could completely forget about guest access, when previously unregistered devices connect to the network - your guests, who do not understand anything about network parameters, will not configure their laptops and smartphones to work on your network.

If the DHCP server is enabled on the router, then we have what we are used to. We just connect to wifi, enter the password and use it. And all this incomprehensible “kitchen” with IP addresses and ports remains behind the scenes.

But there are also situations when the DHCP server needs to be disabled or, even with the function active, assign addresses manually. This can be done not only on expensive professional Cisco equipment, but also on the most ordinary home router. So let's figure it out together what's what.

Setting up a DHCP server on the router

By default, on all routers there is no need to configure a DHCP server. It's always on and optimized for performance. But some things can still be changed.

On routers TP-Link setup The DHCP server is located in the menu section of the same name in old version admin panel or in the “Advanced settings - Network - DHCP server” section in the new

Let's look at each of the parameters available for configuration:

• Start and End IP addresses, or Address Pool - those values ​​that will be issued to newly connected devices. Using this parameter, you can limit the number of simultaneously connected gadgets with which the DHCP server will work.

  We don’t want more than 5 clients to connect to our wifi, so we set it from 100 to 104. For our own computers and smartphones, we can manually set the IP outside this range.

• Address validity period is the time in minutes during which the issued IP address will work. The time has expired - a new one is issued.
• The main gateway is the address of the router, that is, the “gateway” behind which the local network ends and the global network—the Internet—begins.
• Preferred and Alternative DNS server - here you can leave the fields empty, or again register the router IP, or specify addresses from or.

DHCP server on ASUS router

U ASUS routers DHCP settings are located in the “Local Network - DHCP” section

Enable DHCP in the Zyxel Keenetic router

On Zyxel Keenetic routers, the DHCP server is enabled in the “Home Network” section, “Segments” tab. The logic of operation here is based on the fact that you can enable or disable it separately for each type of network - main or guest.

Initially it is also enabled, but for fine tuning DHCP on Zyxel Keenetic click on the line with the right network. Here everything is the same as on the others, only the rental time is indicated not in minutes, but in seconds.

If you bought yourself a new Keenetic router, then you manage the DHCP server settings in the “Home Network” section. There is a lot of stuff here, so we need to find the “IP Parameters” block

Here you set the router’s IP and mask, and also activate the DHCP server. You can also disable it completely or use another router (Relay) as it.

If you click on “Show DHCP settings”, you will open additional options, such as address pool, start IP, gateway and DNS servers

I also found a good article on the configuration of the DHCP server on Kinetics on their support site. You can read it too.

DHCP is not enabled on the network adapter - how to configure the Windows 10 client?

After you have enabled the DHCP server on the router, you need to configure the computer's network adapter with operating system Windows 10, or 7-8.

It happens that when you try to connect to wifi, you get an error that DHCP is not enabled on the network adapter. This means that the connection parameters were assigned manually.

To fix it, we need to go to the “Network Control Center” in “Change adapter settings”. Here we open the configurations " Wireless connection", if the laptop is connected via wifi, or "Local network connections" if the computer is connected to the router by cable. And in the properties, check the boxes for “Automatically obtaining” IP addresses and DNS servers.

Today, that’s all I wanted to tell you about enabling a DHCP server on a router and setting up a connection to it on a computer running Windows 10, 7 or 8. If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments.

Video on how to enable the router's DHCP server

On a local network, each device has its own unique IP address - a set of numbers that identifies it and allows other devices to exchange data with it. IP addresses can be registered manually for each device, but this is inconvenient, as it requires separate configuration of each computer to work with the network. To automate this process, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is used.

What is DHCP

In large, complexly structured networks, a special computer - a server - is responsible for distributing IP addresses. For home network or a small office network, this is not necessary; a regular router is enough.

All modern routers have a built-in DHCP service in their functionality. If it is configured and enabled, you do not need to separately configure the network connection on your computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone. For wireless devices just need to turn on Wi-Fi, find it in the list wireless networks yours and enter the password to connect to it. If the connection to the network is made via a cable, it is enough that it is connected to network card your computer.

When a new device appears on the network, the DHCP service checks the list of free IP addresses and assigns one of them to it. In this case, duplication of addresses is excluded.

How to set up DHCP

By default, the DHCP service is already configured on routers. It is enough to connect the client device via Wi-Fi or cable and it will be automatically assigned an IP address. However, you may need to change your DHCP settings to disable or enable it. Let's look at setting up DHCP using a TP-link router as an example. For other routers, the algorithm will be exactly the same.

We go to the web interface of the router and in the menu on the right we see the “DHCP” item and the “ DHCP setup" On the tab that opens, you can change the default settings. You can also enable or disable the DHCP service here.

The DHCP service must have a range of usable IP addresses that fit into the appropriate fields. The starting IP address is the first address in the range, and the ending IP address is the last. The default IP range is from 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.199. But you can register, for example, from 10.1.1.1 to 10.1.1.99. You can generally specify a range within two or three addresses, for example, by the number of client devices.

The next required item is the address validity period in minutes. This is the time for which a specific IP can be assigned specific device. After it expires, the IP can be changed or assigned to another device.

It is not necessary to fill out the remaining items; DHCP itself will indicate the necessary parameters for client devices. However, these parameters can be entered manually if desired.

The main gateway is the IP address of the router - the channel through which traffic is exchanged with the Internet. It is usually indicated if Internet access is provided through an access point with a different address. But if there is only one router on your network and it is connected to the Internet directly, you do not need to register anything here.

The default domain is domain name your network. In small networks where a small number of client devices are used, it does not make sense to configure it.

The preferred and alternate DNS server are usually specified by your ISP. But you can enter Google’s public DNS servers here – 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. This, for example, helps troubleshoot problems with Internet access - it happens that the provider’s DNS is faulty, there is a connection, but the pages do not open. This also often allows you to bypass access blocks to certain resources, for example, torrents.

After making changes, click the "Save" button to apply the new settings.

In order for your network to start working with the new parameters, the router must be rebooted.

In order for client devices to connect to the DHCP service, they must have the “Obtain an IP address automatically” option set in their network connection settings.

How to enable DHCP

If the DHCP service is disabled on your router, you can enable it here, in the DHCP menu - DHCP settings. To do this, check the “Enable” box and click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page. The service will start. If this does not happen, reboot the router.

How to disable DHCP

If you don’t need the DHCP service, when, for example, you decide to manually register an IP for all your devices, you can disable it in the same way. Go to the “DHCP Settings” tab and check the “Disable” box. Save the settings. Now client devices when connecting to your network will not be able to obtain IP addresses automatically.

Client list

In order to see which devices are currently connected to your DHCP service, in the “DHCP” menu item of your router’s web interface, go to the “DHCP Client List” sub-item. Here you will see a table with information about your current connections.

ID - means serial number.

The client name is the name of the device, if assigned to it.

MAC address - respectively, the MAC address of this device.

Assigned IP address that was assigned to the device by the DHCP server.

Validity period - accordingly, the remaining time during which this address will be valid.

If you have any concerns that someone else has connected to your network, you can check information about connected devices on this tab at any time. To update the current information, click the "Update" button. The list of connected devices will be updated.

Address reservation

The DHCP service provides IP addresses to client devices for a certain period of time. After this, the address can be changed. Also, when connecting to the network, each computer or smartphone will receive a new address each time. And the address that it previously used can be provided to another device. Typically, changing addresses occurs unnoticed by the user and does not affect the operation of the network. However, it may be necessary to ensure that a specific computer's IP address does not change. This may be relevant if you play games over a local network or this computer assigned some specific functions, which will only work with a static IP.

There is a simple way to solve this problem using DHCP - reserve an IP address for a specific computer.

To do this, go to the “Address reservation” sub-item of the “DHCP” menu item. If you have previously reserved addresses, a list of devices will be available here, which can be edited as needed. If not, click the “Add” button.

In the window that opens, you need to enter the MAC address of the device and the IP that will be reserved for it.

Here you can enable or disable address reservation for this device by changing the corresponding parameter in the “Status” item.

After saving the settings, you will return to the previous window. The list of devices will now show the one you just added. By clicking "Edit", you can edit the address reservation parameters. And using the “Delete” item, remove the device from the list and cancel the reservation.

Using the “Enable All”, “Disable All” and “Delete All” buttons, you can manage address reservation for all devices in the list.

To apply the changes you have made, you will need to reboot the router. A reminder about this will appear at the bottom of the window.