WiFi DHCP Lease time?

joe2cool

Hi I've just got a laptop connected to a home network. The DHCP lease time on the desk top PC, is set automatically to '0', where as on the laptop the 'details' show 'Lease Obtained & Lease Expired' within a date & time for 24hrs, is this normal? & this lease for the laptop should renew automatically? Is there a way of changing the lease time on the laptop? (unlimited Lease Duration) Or should it not be needed? Laptop is set to connect automatically when network within range.
Is 24H a good lease time in DHCP servers configurations?
Thx

Paulingreenwich

I wouldn't worry. it just means that you will be re-assigned a new IP adress every 24 hours. Not a bad thing in my opinion.

joe2cool

Hi & thx for your quick reply, so with the laptop I shouldn't need to reconnect to the internet once 24hrs up?, only reason asking is not noticed anything until the other day, when my ISP was recognised said connected to the internet but wasn't? So after a disconnect/reconnect, all well again.

Paulingreenwich

Hmmm...not too sure why that happened. The DHCP assigns IP addresses for any computers that are linked to your router. It should then re-assign a new one when the lease has expired. Some routers will carry on using the old IP address if you have not switched your PC off overnight.

joe2cool

OK Thx again

bod1467

For the desktop PC - is that also connected by wifi, or by ethernet (cable)? If it is wifi then check whether it is configured (in the router) to always use the same IP address. You could also try this with the laptop (which might effectively set an infinite lease).

joe2cool

Desktop is by ethernet, so you think a static IP address for laptop?

Thx bod

bod1467

Doesn't hurt to try. Not saying this will definitely fix the issue though.

joe2cool

OK Thx guys

John_Gray

I've never found a good reason why you need worry about the value of the DHCP lease time on a home network. When an IP address is assigned at the expiration of the lease, there's a good chance that it will be the previous one! All you need to happen is that when a device wants an IP address, it receives one. Lots of fascinating facts about DHCP in this Microsoft Technet article.

joe2cool

Just have to check laptop connects automatically once lease expires.

Thx