What to do if there is a conflict of ip addresses Windows 11
An IP address is the address of your device on the network, which helps you receive and send Internet traffic to your device. Each IP address is required to be unique, as are mobile numbers, in order to correctly identify each device connected to the network and correctly convey the requested information.
An IP address is provided to your computer by the router through which you are connected. Many times, in a peculiar scenario, two devices are assigned the same IP address. Hence, you may get an “IP address conflict” warning on your computer.
Luckily, this problem is extremely easy to fix as it is not hardware related and is usually a short term issue. However, this problem can occur for several reasons; thus, you may need to try a few of the fixes listed in this guide.
But before you jump into solving the problem, let’s first take a quick look at how an IP address conflict occurs in the first place.
How does an IP address conflict happen?
There are two ways to assign an IP address to a device. The first is through a router that uses DHCP and automatically assigns unique IP addresses to each device connected to it. Another way is that you assign a static IP address to your device, which remains the same whenever you try to connect to the network.
The main reason for IP address conflict is when a static IP address is assigned to a certain device and then you connect it to a DHCP enabled network without first reserving that static address on the router. Sooner or later, the router assigns this address to another device and a conflict arises. Another reason is that you are mistakenly assigning the same static IP address to more than one device.
In addition, there may be a situation where the router may fail and assign the same IP address to two or more devices. Or, sometimes, when the device becomes active after being idle for too long, this can also cause a conflict. Consider this: your computer has been in sleep mode for weeks now. During this time, its IP address expired and the router assigned it to another device. But when the computer connects to the network, it still uses the same IP address, which causes a conflict.
But no matter what, the solutions listed in this guide will help you solve all these problems. Now that you are familiar with how the problem occurred, let’s move on to solving the problem on your computer.
Method 1: Restart your router
If you don’t have computers with a static IP address and the IP address conflict issue still occurs, it’s best to reboot your router first, as it’s highly likely that the root cause of the problem is a malfunctioning router.
Restarting the router will automatically update the router system and update the leases of all your devices with a new IP address. This should fix the issue almost immediately for you.
To restart your router manually , you can press the Power button, usually located on the back of your router, to turn it off and turn off the power. Then wait a couple of minutes and turn your router back on to restart it.
Alternatively, you can also restart your browser using the web interface . To do this, go to the web address 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 using your preferred browser. After the page loads, enter your router credentials (usually located at the bottom of the router) to access the system settings.
Then on the next screen, locate the System Tools/System tab on the left sidebar and click it to expand the section.
Now in the advanced section of the web page, find and click the Reload button to continue.
Then, on the right side of the page, read the information displayed on the page and click the Reload button to restart the browser.
After restarting, the IP address conflict issue should no longer bother you.
Method 2: Remove Static IP from Settings
If you have previously set a static IP address on your computer, all you have to do is simply remove it and that will solve the problem for you. The process is pretty simple. Just go to your control panel to make sure it’s not the case when you encounter this issue.
To do this, first go to the start menu and type Controlsearch. Then, in the search results, click on the Control Panel tile to open it.
After that, in the Control Panel window, click the drop-down menu in the upper right corner and select the Large Icons option to switch to Icon View.
Then find and click the Network and Sharing Center tile in the options grid.
Then click on the “Change adapter settings” option in the upper right corner of the window. This will open a separate window on your screen.
Now, from a separately opened window, right-click on the “Ethernet” tile if you are connected via LAN. Otherwise, right-click on the “Wi-Fi” tile and select the “Properties” option from the context menu to continue. This will again open a separate window on your screen.
Now, in a separately opened window, scroll down to find and double-click the “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” option to continue.
In the IPv4 properties window that opens, click the radio button in front of Obtain an IP address automatically. This will remove the statically set IP address on your PC. Similarly, make sure you click the switch in front of the “Obtain DNS server address automatically” option to make sure the settings are correct. Finally, click the OK button to apply the changes and close the window.
Wait a couple of seconds after changing the adapter properties and the issue should be resolved on your PC and you will be connected to the internet.
Method 3: Disable and re-enable the network adapter
If you are using a wireless network adapter or a USB adapter, turning it off and on again will solve the problem, as the network configuration will be reset and the router will treat your device as a new connection.
To do this, first go to the Start menu and type “Control Panel” in the search bar. Then, in the search results, click on the Control Panel tile to open it.
Alternatively, press the Windows+ keys Ron your keyboard at the same time to bring up the Run utility. Then type Control and press Enter on your keyboard to open it.
Now in the Control Panel window, click on the drop-down menu in the top right corner and select the Large Icons options to switch to Icon View.
After that, find and click “Network and Sharing Center” to continue.
Then on the next screen, click “Change adapter settings” located on the top left side of the window to continue. This will open a separate window on your screen.
Now in a separately opened window, find “WiFi”/”USB” adapted from the options grid and right-click it to open the context menu. Then click to select the “Disable” option. This will immediately disable the network adapter.
Now wait a couple of minutes, right-click the adapter tile again and select the Enable option from the context menu to enable the adapter on your system.
Now reconnect to the network and check if the IP address conflict issue is still there.
Method 4: Renew IP Lease
If disabling and re-enabling the network adapter did not solve the problem, you can manually update your IP address using the command line.
Go to the start menu and type in Terminal the search bar. Then, in the search results, right-click on the Terminal tile to open the context menu. Then click “Run as administrator”.
The UAC (User Account Control) screen will now appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an administrator account, enter the credentials for it. Otherwise, click the “Yes” button to continue.
In a terminal window, click the down arrow at the top of the window. Then click “Command Prompt” to open Command Prompt in a separate tab. Alternatively, you can press the ++ keys on your keyboard at the same time to Ctrlopen it.Shift2
Now on the command prompt screen, enter the command below and press Enteron the keyboard to execute it and release the current allocated IP address.
ipconfig/releaseThen type the command below and press Enter on your keyboard again to renew the lease.
ipconfig/renewAfter that, the IP address conflict issue should be resolved.
Method 5: Disable IPv6 on your system
Many users have reportedly been able to resolve the IP address conflict issue on their system by disabling the IPv6 settings on their PC, assuming everything is fine with the system.
Open Control Panel on your PC.
Now find and click the Network and Sharing Center tile in the options grid to continue.
Then click on the “Change adapter settings” option in the upper right corner of the window. This will open a separate window on your screen.
Then, if you’re using a wired connection, right-click on your network adapter and select Properties from the context menu. Otherwise, if you are connected via Wi-Fi, right-click on the Wi-Fi adapter and select Properties to continue. This will again open a separate window on your screen.
Now in a separately opened window, scroll down to find and check the box in front of the “Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IP)” option to uncheck it. After that, click on the “OK” button to apply the changes and close the window.
Once closed, wait a couple of seconds and you should be able to connect to the internet without any problems.
Unable to connect to internet – sucks. We hope this guide will help you resolve the IP address conflict on your Windows computer quite easily and get you back online quickly.
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