Virtual machine is assigned an invalid IP address after a reboot

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After restarting a virtual machine, the IP address is changed from the assigned static IP address to 169.254.x.x.
• The guest operating system network interface with a static IP address fails to communicate with the network until the IP address is changed to DHCP and then back to a static IP address.

Cause

This issue occurs because the IP address registry values are incorrectly overwritten by a newly added IP address, instead of the whole list of IP addresses.

Resolution

Note: Before proceeding, for Cisco switch environments, see False Duplicate IP Address on Microsoft Windows virtual machines on ESXi.

To resolve this issue, perform one of these options:

Reconnecting the network can remove issues with the virtual connection:

1. Edit the settings on the virtual machine.
2. Select Network Adapter.
3. Deselect Connected.
4. Click OK to apply the settings.
5. Navigate to Edit Settings.
6. Select Network Adapter.
7. Select Connected.
8. Click OK to apply the settings.

If the above steps did not resolve the issue, proceed in changing the registry in the virtual machine. Note: This procedure modifies the Windows registry. Before making any registry modifications, ensure that a current and valid backup of the registry and the virtual machine is in place.

Manually edit the registry login to Windows using VM console:

1. Click Start > Run , type regedit, and click OK. The Registry Editor window opens.
2. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces registry key.
3. Select each GUID under Interfaces to find the 169.254.x.x IP address. This is the value that must be edited.
   Note: GUID is a placeholder for the Globally Unique Identifier of the network adapter that is experiencing this issue. For example, {25892e17-80f6-415f-9c65-7395632f0223}
4. Change or add these strings:
   
   Note: To add a new value right-click, select New > String Value. To confirm the version of Windows, click Start > Run, type winver, and click OK.
   
   Name = IPAddress
Type = REG_SZ
Data = IP address of the virtual machine

Name = SubnetMask
Type = REG_SZ
Data = Subnet mask of the virtual machine

Name = DefaultGateway
Type = REG_SZ
Data = Gateway address of the virtual machine

Note: Double-click the name to enter the data value. 

For more information, see IPv4 Alternate Configuration Tab.