Monday, January 6, 2014

How to Disable IPv6 in Windows Server 2012


The world is running out of Internet addresses. IPv6 is the answer to that problem, but in some cases and implementations it can cause problems of its own. There's no reason to disable IPv6 if it's not causing a problem. If it is, it can be disabled with an easy registry hack.

Editing the properties of a network adapter and unchecking the IPv6 box only unbinds the protocol from the adapter and does not disable it. This can have unintended consequences and cause other problems.



To disable IPv6 entirely on your system you'll need to edit the registry.

To display your IPv6 address and confirm that IPv6 is enabled, open a command prompt and run ipconfig.



In the example above we see that there is an IPv6 address and the 6to4 virtual adapter. We'll need to add a registry key to disable IPv6.

There are two ways to do this. The first method uses the registry editor (regedit) to add the key and the second uses the command prompt. The command prompt method is a little more prone to error, but if you're comfortable using the command prompt, jump past the regedit method for a more direct and faster method.

Method 1: Regedit

Press the Windows Key and the R key at the same time to bring up the Run dialog box.



Type regedit in the Run dialog box and click OK




Use Registry Editor to expand the registry tree and browse to:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TCPIP6\Parameters



Right click on Parameters, expand New, and select DWORD (32-bit) Value



Enter DisabledComponents into the Name field



Double click on the new DisabledComponents value, enter ffffffff into the Value data dialog box, and click theOK button



Confirm the new registry value contains the required data.



After restarting the computer, run ipconfig again at the command prompt to confirm that IPv6 is disabled.



ipconfig shows nothing but good old reliable IPv4.

Method 2: Command Prompt

Alternately, the required registry key (DisabledComponents) and data can be added to the registry with the Reg Add command.

Start a command prompt with administrative permissions and enter the following command:

reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\tcpip6\parameters /v DisabledComponents /t REG_DWORD /d 0xFFFFFFFF



If you entered the command correctly, after rebooting, ipconfig should show no IPv6 addresses or 6to4 adapters.

Regardless of what method you've used, if something goes wrong, use the registry editor to verify the new registry key is in the correct spot in the registry, the name is spelled exactly as it should be, and the data is the proper value.

9 comments:

  1. This data is severley outdated and should be updated with the correct registry key 0xFF to prevent a 5 second bootup delay on certain services, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929852/how-to-disable-ipv6-or-its-components-in-windows

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    1. "Severely outdated" is a bit of a stretch. Many have used this on a wide range of devices without issues. I've used it on several devices and OS's from 7/2008 to 10/2016 without a problem. That said, if you prefer to use the CURRENT Microsoft method, or if this method causes a boot delay, it would be silly to fault you for using it?

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  2. I don't understand what they mean by 0xff :
    Is it 0x000000ff or 0xff000000 ???

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  3. the only way i can enter a value of 0xff is to enter all 8 digits as ff000000 the entry shows as:
    0xff000000 (4278190080)
    the old way shows as:
    0xffffffff (4294967295)

    I'm leaving as delay setting for now since I'm not sure. Can anyone tell me if ff000000 is correct way to enter for "no delay" setting?

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  4. https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929852/how-to-disable-ipv6-or-its-components-in-windows

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  5. Just to add my 0.02, that article is currently ineffective, Microsoft neutered it to no longer relay how to disable IPv6, it only speaks to re-enabling IPv6

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. You can enter it as decimal instead of hex (0xff is 255 in decimal form)

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  8. will disabling ipv6 causes any issues in DC ???

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