What's this IP address in my registry?

[Julian]

I have this in my registry, and since when Vista flubs wifi connections it
sometimes comes up with a 169.... (though can't recollect if it is precisely
169.254.183.232) address (via ipconfig) I wondered whether this was the
cause...

Q: What is it, where did it come from, do I need it, (how) can I get rid of
it?

TIA, Julian

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2B393A00-17F7-47B9-8D75-5D5E53C1FD63}]
"UseZeroBroadcast"=dword:00000000
"EnableDeadGWDetect"=dword:00000001
"EnableDHCP"=dword:00000001
"NameServer"=""
"Domain"=""
"RegistrationEnabled"=dword:00000001
"RegisterAdapterName"=dword:00000000
"DhcpServer"="255.255.255.255"
"Lease"=dword:00000000
"LeaseObtainedTime"=dword:00000000
"T1"=dword:00000000
"T2"=dword:00000000
"LeaseTerminatesTime"=dword:00000000
"AddressType"=dword:00000000
"IsServerNapAware"=dword:00000000
"DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag"=dword:00000001
"IPAutoconfigurationAddress"="169.254.183.232"
"DhcpIPAddress"="0.0.0.0"
"DhcpSubnetMask"="255.0.0.0"

 

[Seth]

I have this in my registry, and since when Vista flubs wifi connections it
sometimes comes up with a 169.... (though can't recollect if it is
precisely 169.254.183.232) address (via ipconfig) I wondered whether this
was the cause...

Q: What is it, where did it come from, do I need it, (how) can I get rid
of it?

That is an "Auto config" address. When Windows detects an active network
connection, but is unable to obtain an address form a DHCP server it
configures a 169. address automatically this way if there are multiple
machines that you wish to interconnect they will have (hopefully) unique IPs
on the 169. subnet.

To get rid of it, either supply a static address, a DHCP server to give an
address or disable the network interface.

 

[Julian]

Thanks Seth - not a million miles from what I was thinking...

What is annoying though is that I have seen Vista apply this address during
the process of acquiring an IP address from a wifi router that*does* have
DHCP, and from which Vista *usually* (but not always), *eventually* (~10s
later) gets a proper address (though rarely the gateway address...)

I guess an adapter simply can't-not-have an IP address so Vista gives it
this while it is waiting... and I can't tell whether the router isn't
speaking to Vista in Vista's language or whether Vista just aint't listening
on those occasions when it gets stuck with this address.

However, you have answered the orginal question - thanks!

 

[Seth]

Thanks Seth - not a million miles from what I was thinking...

What is annoying though is that I have seen Vista apply this address
during the process of acquiring an IP address from a wifi router
that*does* have DHCP, and from which Vista *usually* (but not always),
*eventually* (~10s later) gets a proper address (though rarely the gateway
address...)

Make sure the router is at the latest firmware. There are some network RFCs
that Vista is sensitive to. For example, when I first installed Vista on
some test machines in late 2006, some network operations (AVG updates for
example) would not work through my router (LInksys RV042) till I updated the
firmware ni the router.

I guess an adapter simply can't-not-have an IP address so Vista gives it
this while it is waiting... and I can't tell whether the router isn't
speaking to Vista in Vista's language or whether Vista just aint't
listening on those occasions when it gets stuck with this address.

Actually, during the DHCP acquistion phase, you should be seeing an ip
address of 0.0.0.0. The 169 address should only appear after the
renew/acquire phase has failed. DO keep in mind, that once it has failed an
assigns the 169. address, it will continually retry in the background.

So in your case, it may be failing initially (thus the 169. address) but
getting an address later on (via auto retry).

However, you have answered the orginal question - thanks!

No problem

 

[RalfG]

You can manually configure an IP address in the correct range to connect to
the router. You can also configure an "alternate" manually configured
address in the same correct range for the adapter to use instead of the
automatic addressing fall-back address.

For whatever reason your WiFi adapter is not able to connect to the router.
It could be RF interference from external sources, settings
misconfiguration, a wrong encryption setting or even incompatibility between
the adapter and router chipsets. There can also be incompatibilities between
various manufacturer's implementations of WEP or WPA encryption or their
implementation of the WiFi standard (especially extended forms of 802.11G
or N). If it is your own router you can try switching it to use one of the
less frequently used channels, like 1 or 11 (6 is often crowded, being a
common default selection). Disable extended 802.11G or N modes (range,
speed boosting) to see if that helps.

The gateway address is the router's address so I don't quite know what you
meant by " gets a proper address (though rarely the gateway address...)".
Getting a an address through DHCP that isn't from your router means you're
connecting to someone else's network, which would suggest that outside
interference is at least part of your connection problem.