Any one have a problem with 7 giving itself a preferredIP address without contacting the DHCP server. Matter of fact I can stop the DHCP service at the one server in my lab and it still gets an automatic address.... I'm talking about the RC by the way. Is this a (very serious) bug or am I missing something, honestly no other client can get DHCP besides the one windows 7 client.

What sort of address is it? Is it an APIPA address (169.254.x.x)? APIPA addressing has been standard procedure in the client OS since Win98. It allows local networking with the standard network config (ie obtain an IP address automatically) even if a DHCP server is not available. It is only effective on the local segment and is not routable.Bill

I'm sorry, I should have gone ahead and given the address in my first post. It's not an APIPA, it's a 192 address. Having the 7 client configured to recieve DHCP, and to give itself an APIPA when it can't get DHCP, however, with the DHCP server turned off it still gets a 192 address, points to an incorrect DNS server and default gateway. This is a standalone network that does not get DHCP relays from another subnet. It is in a standalone lab with no connection to an outside network other than the internet, however, with it pointing to incorrect address for IP information there is no internet connectivity. The exact configuration is:IP: 192.168.1.4 (preferred)subnet: 255.255.255.0Gateway: 192.168.1.254DNS: 192.168.1.254192.168.1.254 is the address of the router, out of the five other clients on the network,one Linux, one XP,oneMac, and two Vista, no others recieve a valid IP (APIPA'sand no IP in thecase of Linux).Theserver runs Hyper-V, so when stoppingDHCP and renewing IP's of the VM, none of the virtual machines recieve a valid address. (one server 03 andone SUSE)Can't quite figure this one out.

What happens if you do a IPCONFIG /RELEASE then /RENEW?

Edit: Problem is that about half the time it will do it when the DHCP server is running.

It will do what? I thought the problem was that it gave you an IP even when you turned DHCP off.

Yes, it will give itself an IP address when the DHCP server is off, the scope is down, or I unautherize the server. Some of the time when the DHCP server is on, ( the lease time is only 15 minutes) it will get the same IP , 192.168.1.4, which is not even within the scope. The scope is addresses 192.168.1.10-192.168.1.100.

In the results of ipconfig /all you should see the address of the DHCP server. Is Windows 7 running in a vm?Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

There is not DHCP server indicated in ipconfig /all

Please post the full results of ipconfig /all both when the connection is working and when it's not.In the TCP/IPv4 properties for the NIC have you specified an alternate configuration?I would also check group policies. The time frame sounds like it could be group policy. From a command prompt type:gpresult /rto see what policies are being applied.Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience