Hello everyone, I am looking for some information on the mechanism that is used in windows for automatic configuration of IP addresses on nodes within an ad-hoc network. I am aware that in such a case APIPA (automatic Private IP addressing) is used to select a link-local IP-address within 169.254/16 range. a node selects an address from the aforementioned range and then queries the local network with an ARP packet to check whether the same address is use by any other device within the network. If no reply comes then it assumes the address to be free and starts using it otherwise the same procedure is repeated with another selection. this is fine when the ad hoc network is only single-hop (all nodes are in range of each other). Where I need help is that i do not know if the same method will work when the adhoc network is MULTI-HOP. I can create a Multi hop ad hoc network using OLSR on windows but am not sure what to do for IP address configuration (static IP configuration is not an option :( ). Does windows have any such algorithm implemented which can do so? Any help is greatly appreciated. Regards, Pratyush

Hello Pratyush M Singh, By definition, ad-hoc networks are temporary local networks, also sometimes refered to as peer to peer networks, so having multiple hops would not fit this definition. As far as APIPA addresses please see the following KB article: How to use automatic TCP/IP addressing without a DHCP server http://support.microsoft.com/kb/220874 Regards, Clark Satter Microsoft Online Community Support Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Any reason you do not want to use a DHCP Server to assign and manage the IPs? Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.