-3

I'm using Windows 10. I need to figure out whether a DHCP server is started and running. I used ipconfig /all command and the output says that the DHCP Server is 192.168.4.1. I don't know if that means the DHCP server is started and running. Then this webpage says we can use net start command to check whether DHCP server is started and running. I ran it but only see "DHCP Client" in the output results; there is no "DHCP Server" that I am searching for. So this seems to suggest that DHCP server is not started and running. So I'm confused. Also, my network is connected using a switch, but I heard that only router can provide DHCP server. If it turns out that I don't have a DHCP Server, is that because I don't have a router, and will I have a DHCP server after I buy a router? Thank you.

Improve this question
5
  • What's your network topology actually look like?
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented May 6, 2023 at 14:17
  • 1
    I think you need to understand DHCP. i don't know why my answer was downvoted
    – anon
    Commented May 6, 2023 at 14:25
  • Its really hard to answer without going to first principles without actually understanding what the user's network looks like
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented May 6, 2023 at 14:26
  • 1
    "Then this webpage says we can use net start command to check whether DHCP server is started and running. " Thats for windows server - which can run a DHCP server as part of a corporate network. Its not something you run on a workstation/desktop OS like windows 10
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented May 6, 2023 at 14:42
  • 2
    This is an XY problem. Why do you want to check if the DHCP server is running in the first place?
    – gronostaj
    Commented May 6, 2023 at 14:56

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

The DHCP server itself normally would have IP (in terms of the subnet that it serve) assigned statically. Only the clients would be getting IPs from the server. So I have no idea why you want to check whether the host has DHCP server running on it while it is apparently served by one.

The fact that your ipconfig output shows a DHCP server indicates that very likely there is a DHCP server serving it and the other hosts in their "common" subnet.

Also, my network is connected using a switch, but I heard that only router can provide DHCP server.

This is partly true. While usually only a consumer-grade router but not switch will have builtin DHCP server, it does not mean that one cannot set up a DHCP server on other hosts in the subnet.

For example, you could use / be using a single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi as your DHCP server. (It may or may not at the same time act as a "router" / default gateway, but certainly if that's the case it will need to have more than one NIC and one of them would be connected to the Internet or, some "WAN".)

Also when you enable the "hotspot" feature on a phone or PC, the story is essentially the same. (The phone / PC is essentially a "router" with DHCP server and so on.)

So in some typical case, the answer could be yes, you should get a router instead of a switch, but that does not mean that's the answer in your case, especially when everything seems to be already "in place".

(In other words, the real question comes down to, why were you even bothering whether a DHCP server is running, when you don't seem to know much of networking / the network in concern? What were you trying to set up, achieve, or solve?)

Improve this answer
1
  • What his ipconfig/all showed was the current server being used for DNS queries. It was not showing that a DHCP service was running on his PC.
    – Marnix A. van Ammers
    Commented Feb 9 at 20:02
0

That's easy to answer :

You say that the DHCP Server is at IP address 192.168.4.1. This means that it's running, because if it was not running, then it wouldn't be marked as the DHCP server.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) describes how this works : The client computer issues a broadcast message to entire network looking for a DHCP server. The server that answers will become the DHCP server of the computer and will be listed by ipconfig.

The IP address of 192.168.4.1 is probably your router, and your computer should have an IP address in the range of 192.168.4.x. This is another verification that the DHCP server is running as marked.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .