Consider the following scenario:

• You connect a Windows Vista-based computer to a network.
• A router or other device that is configured as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is configured on the network.
• The router or the other device does not support the DHCP BROADCAST flag.

In this scenario, Windows Vista cannot obtain an IP address.

You configure the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server service to set the default gateway address of a DHCP client computer to be the same as the IP address. After you do this, a Windows Vista-based client computer cannot connect to any off-link addresses.

When you start a Windows Vista-based computer, you may notice the following:

• The computer first uses an Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) IP address.
• Later, the computer acquires an IP address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.

When the IP address configuration changes from an alternate IP address to a static IP address in Windows Vista, both the alternate IP address and the static IP address remain on the network interface.