DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is one of the first services anyone heading into Windows infrastructure management needs to learn — without it, a network admin would have to manually configure the IP address on every single computer in the organization. In this tutorial, we'll walk through installing and fully configuring it on Windows Server, step by step.
Step 1: Install the DHCP role
Open Server Manager, go to Add Roles and Features, and check the DHCP Server box under Server Roles. Continue through the wizard (Next until Install). After installation finishes, you'll see a yellow warning icon next to DHCP in Server Manager — meaning initial configuration still needs to happen.
Step 2: Complete post-deployment configuration
Click the yellow warning and choose Complete DHCP configuration. Here you'll need to provide an account with administrative rights on Active Directory (if you're on a domain) so the DHCP server gets Authorized in Active Directory — don't skip this step, because an unauthorized DHCP server won't respond on a domain network.
Step 3: Create a new scope
In DHCP Manager, right-click the server name and select New Scope. In the wizard:
Enter a name for the scope (e.g., "Main Office Network").
Specify the IP address range — e.g., 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200.
Enter the subnet mask (usually 255.255.255.0).
If needed, exclude a range of addresses for reserved devices (like printers or servers).
Set the lease duration (usually 8 days for typical networks).
Step 4: Configure DHCP options
In the same wizard, or later from Scope Options, make sure to set:
Router (Default Gateway): the network router's IP address, e.g., 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers: your organization's DNS server address(es)
Domain Name: if you're on an Active Directory domain
Step 5: Activate the scope
At the end of the wizard, check Activate Scope. Without this, the scope exists but won't hand out any addresses.
Final test
On a client computer, run ipconfig /release followed by ipconfig /renew from the command line. If everything's configured correctly, the client should receive an IP address from the range you defined.
Pro tip: in real enterprise networks, two DHCP servers are usually configured with Failover or Split-Scope so that if one server goes down, IP distribution doesn't stop — something covered in full detail in my MCSA courses.
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