This guide will discuss what DHCP is, what IP addresses are, and how to change DHCP lease time windows 10 step-by-step. We promise by the end of this article; all your doubts will be cleared about DHCP and DHCP lease time.
What is an IP address?
The internet needs a way to differentiate between different devices, computers, websites, etc. IP Addresses or Internet Protocol addresses provide a way to do exactly that. An IP address is a unique numerical label assigned to each device, and it helps identify the device on the Internet or a local network. An IP address consists of 4 sets of numbers ranging from 0 to 255, so an IP address range goes from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255. For example, 192.158.1.47 is an IP address. It’s one of the essential parts of forming an internet connection.
You can see all of this for yourself. The next time you are using a device connected to a network, visit the https://whatismyipaddress.com/ website and check out the IP address you are assigned to.
What is DHCP?
It’s a setting found in your internet router. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It automatically assigns a unique IP address to any device that shows up on the network. For example, your home router automatically assigns an IP address to your Phone, Laptop, TV, IoT devices, etc., using DHCP.
What is DHCP lease time?
The DHCP lease time is nothing but how long an IP address will last assigned on a computer or a device connected to that network. In most cases, like in our homes, the DHCP lease time is assigned for 24 hours.
Why do you need to change DHCP lease time?
Imagine a scenario where there is a business, say, for example, a restaurant, a dental clinic, a consultancy service office, etc., and the business provides free wifi services to its customers/clients. Suppose the business has set its public hotspot set up, and it only supports up to 20 devices at a time, and the DHCP lease time is set to 8 hours. The first 30 people who come during the business day will each get assigned to a unique IP address. Still, nobody else will get an IP address assigned to their devices for the rest of the day because those addresses will be reserved for 8 hours.
This problem can be easily solved by reducing the DHCP lease time. If you reduce the DHCP lease time to 1 hour and suppose 20 people came at 9 AM, then by 10 AM, all of those addresses are going to reset. If any previously connected device is still there in the building, they will simply re-request for a new lease and will get a new IP address assigned to them.
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Disadvantages of Reducing DHCP lease time
Some routers support reducing the DHCP lease time in seconds. Say, if you set the lease time to 60 seconds, then every 60 seconds, your router will constantly kick every device off of its network only to have them request new IP addresses and sign back on. this can lead to
- The existing devices request new IP addresses constantly. causing inconvenience to customers/clients
- It is causing a lot of overhead in your router to manage and keep track of all the IP addresses.
- Adding extra workload to your router potentially slows down your network.
Now let’s come to the actual topic at hand.
How to change DHCP lease time windows 10?
Changing the DHCP lease time via your router is an easy task. Follow these simple steps to change DHCP lease time in Windows 10 as per your requirements.
Please note that the steps explained below may vary depending upon your router’s make and model. But the logic behind the changing DHCP is the same for all the routers.
- Open the Router settings page and log in with your user id and password.
- Then go to the DHCP tab to open its settings.
- From DHCP settings under DHCP Server, you can now select the lease time from the drop-down list. You can select from One Hour, Two Hours, Three Hours, One Day, Two Days, One Week, and so on.
- Once you set the lease time, click on the Save button.
- You can restart the router for changes to take effect.
Done! You have now changed the DHCP lease time and can control the number of devices connected at a given time with different IPs. From the Address Reservation option, you can also reserve the One particular IP address to one device by entering the MAC address of that device. You can get your Device’s MAC address by reading this guide.
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Summary –
I Hope this article about how to change DHCP Lease time Windows 10 helped you fix your query. You can write to us about your queries/doubts regarding the Wifi connection and MAC address issues.
