[Fixed] Windows has Detected an IP Address Conflict on Windows 10

If you have multiple computers and network devices on the network, you are likely to get ‘Windows has detected an IP address conflict’ message. It will prevent your computer to connect to the local network and the Internet. In this guide, we show you the six simple ways you can solve this error by your own in home or office network.

The Reason of the Error

An IP address is very important for a network device like computer, printer, and smartphone to communicate properly over the network. Moreover, the IP address should be unique for every single device on the connected network. If you are on the home or office network, one device should have a unique IP address that should not duplicate or conflict with any other devices on the same network.

Obviously, duplicate IPs will confuse the network traffic and may stop the network connectivity of the conflicting devices. When a Windows computer experiences this issue, it gives the IP conflict message and the network stops working. There could be several reasons for this issue and the below steps will solve them by simple steps that any normal computer user can do.

How to Fix Windows has detected an IP address conflict

1) Try to get the new IP from DHCP.

It can be done easily by unplugging the network cable from your desktop computer.

If it is wireless, just simply disconnect the Wi-Fi by using a hardware switch on the laptop.

By doing these methods, you are simply disconnecting the network from your computer and trying to connect with the new IP. This time the DHCP server may issue the different new IP that will not conflict with the other network devices.

2) Another Way of getting new IP

If the above method somehow doesn’t seem feasible for you (for example, unplugging the networkable from the desktop which is under your table is a difficult task), then you can disable the network adapter and enable it. It is similar to disconnecting and reconnecting the network. It can be done in the Control panel. Your computer may get new IP this time which should not conflict with others.

3) Let’s Renew the IP like Geek

This method is to get the new IP address without trying above two methods. It can be done with the following easy commands.

Open the command prompt with administrative access, and release the existing IP like this.

ipconfig /release

Once it has released the existing IP, do renew it (ask the DHCP server for new IP).

ipconfig /renew

The below video can give more information about how to release and renew IP by using command prompt.

4) Use netsh commands

If the above three steps did not work for you, you can try some more commands to reset the network settings of the computer. Make sure you have opened the command prompt as administrator.

ipconfig /flushdns

netsh winsock reset catalog  
netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log 

These steps are similar to fixing Windows 10 has limited connectivity issue that we discussed earlier here.

5) Restart the router or Reconcile the DHCP server

As mentioned earlier, your home internet router will be issuing IPs to computers, smartphones, and tablets. When the router conflicts or confuses with the existing IPs, it may give duplicate IPs to the clients that will lead to the IP conflict issue that we are talking here. To overcome this issue, simply restart the router.

If you can access the router via the web browser with admin user name and password, then restart it softly. If not, power off and power on the router physically. The DHCP service and scope should be fine after the restart, therefore, your Windows computer should get new unique IP on the network now.

If you have a Windows or Linux DHCP server in office network, reconciling the DHCP scope will help to troubleshoot duplicate IP issues on the network. Even restarting the DHCP service on the server may help in this case.

6) Remove the static IP (If you have static IP)

This tip will work if you have static IP configured on your computer, which means you set the IP manually for the particular network adapter for some reasons. If you have static IP and you are getting “Windows has detected an IP address conflict”, that means another device is having the same IP on the network.

So, what are the solutions?

Instead of finding the device which is having the same static IP as yours, you can simply remove your static IP and wait for your computer to obtain a new different IP from DHCP server (that could be your home internet router). If no DHCP service available on your network to provide IP automatically, then you have to find or guess the free IP and assign it to your network adapter.

This method would be helpful if your network adapter is having static IP only.

With the above 6 methods, I’m sure you should be able to fix the ‘Windows has detected an IP address conflict’ on your Windows OS computer and connect the network. Do let us know which step really helped to solve the problem or you did find any more extra steps which can be shared here.