Ethernet Doesn’t Have a Valid IP Configuration – 8 Fixes to Solve the Problem

So, you’ve booted up your computer to hop onto the internet to check your email, only to find that you cannot connect. When troubleshooting the issue, you get a networking error back saying that your Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration. Unfortunately, a valid IP address is necessary for your computer to communicate with your router, and if your router or network interface card is faulty, you’ll get an incorrect IP designation and won’t be able to connect to the internet. Let’s take a look at why this happens and how you can fix it.

What Causes a Missing Valid IP Configuration?

The most common reason that you’ll get the “Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error is when your network interface card fails or becomes faulty. Also known as the network interface controller, this is a hardware component that connects your computer to a computer network and is what your Ethernet cord gets plugged into. While this is the most common reason, if your router becomes faulty or physically damaged or an IP address has been incorrectly assigned to your computer, you may get an invalid IP configuration error.

8 Methods to Solve Ethernet Doesn’t Have a Valid IP Configuration

1. Turn Fast Startup Off & Reboot.

If you are on Windows 10 and have the Fast Startup feature turned on, it will reduce the time it takes for your computer to boot up from a complete shutdown. If your computer does not properly shutdown, compatibility issues can pop up with certain hardware devices. This may be what is causing the “Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error pop up and requires you to turn Fast Startup off and do a reboot to fix.

1. In your computer’s search bar, type in “control panel” and open it up.
2. The “hardware & sound” section is what you want as the power options are located here.
3. Click into “power options” and choose what the power buttons do from the left-hand menu.
4. Click on the “change settings that are currently unavailable” to make the grayed out boxes accessible.
5. Uncheck the Fast Startup box.
6. Save the changes and reboot the computer.

See if the problem persists.

2. Check Your Network Adapter Settings

Your internet router is going to designate your computer an IP address automatically, but if it doesn’t and this default setting isn’t turned on, it may cause problems. Here is what to do.

1. Open up the “run diagnostics” app by tapping your Windows key + R on your keyboard or searching for it via your computer’s search function.
2. Enter in the following command and hit okay: ncpa.cpl. This brings up your network connections.
3. Find your Ethernet connection and right-click it.
4. You need the properties option from this list.
5. This brings up the Ethernet properties window. You need “internet protocol version 4 (TCO/IPv4)“.
6. Click on it and hit the properties button.
7. In the properties window, you want to enable the options obtain an IP address automatically and obtain DNS server address automatically.

Hit okay to save, close down all menus, and reboot your computer. If this doesn’t work, you can manually change both the IP address and the DNS address. Here is how to do this.

1. Repeat steps 1-6 above so that you are back on the internet protocol version 4 (TCO/IPv4) properties window.
2. Click the “use the following IP address” and “use the following DNS server addresses” to manually make the change. Most people prefer to make the change to Google’s DNS server addresses since these are stable and have been up for more than 10+ years. You can view the numbers here.

3. Restart Your Router & Check the Ethernet Cable

Now that you either have an automatic IP/DNS connection or have manually made the change, you can restart your router and check to see if the Ethernet cable is functioning.

1. Head to your router/modem and unplug it or turn it off.
2. Wait 5-10 minutes.
3. Turn your router/modem back on and see if your computer has a valid IP configuration.
4. If it does not, use a spare Ethernet cable to see if the issue is with your cord.

Once you are done with these steps, move on to reinstalling your network adapter. If this step does not solve the problem, you may need to replace your router/modem.

4. How to Reinstall Your Network Adapter

Now that you have changed the IP/DNS server addresses and restarted your router, the next step is to reinstall your network adapter. Here is how to do this.

1. Open up the “run diagnostics” app by tapping your Windows key + R on your keyboard or searching for it via your computer’s search function.
2. Enter in the following command and hit okay: hdwwiz.cpl. This brings up your device manager.
3. In the list, find your “network adapters” and hit the arrow to expand it.
4. Find your Ethernet connection in the list and right-click it and hit uninstall.
5. A confirmation box will pop up. Choose to uninstall.
6. Reinstall the network adapter using the appropriate driver for your hardware.

If reinstalling the Ethernet network adapter does not solve the issue, you may need to reinstall the network interface card using the latest driver from your motherboard’s manufacturer’s website.

5. Use Command Prompt to Reset the IP.

If you’re still getting “Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration”, you can use the command prompt application to reset your IP address. Here is how to do this.

1. In your computer’s search bar, type in command prompt. Or hit the Windows key + X on your keyboard and choose it from the menu that pops up. If you do not have command prompt available, you can use the PowerShell Admin program.

2. In command prompt/PowerShell, use the following command lines:
   • netsh winsock reset
   • netsh int IP reset

3. Hit [enter] after each command.

Restart your computer to apply the changes and see if the issue persists.

6. Fix It By Disabling IPv6.

Some users have been able to fix the “Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” by simply disabling IPv6 protocols. You can do this by completing the following steps.

1. In your system tray, right-click it and choose to open the network & sharing center.
2. On the network status page, you’ll see the option to change adapter settings. Click on this.
3. Right-click on your Ethernet network connection and hit properties.
4. Find internet protocol version 6 (TCP/Ipv6).
5. Uncheck it and hit okay to save the changes.

If the problem persists, you can try disabling IPv6 in your registry editor. But only do this if you are confident in your technical know-how, as editing the registry incorrectly can cause major problems.

7. Set or Assign a MAC Address.

All network devices attached to your computer are assigned a MAC address which is a unique identifier that is assigned to a network interface controller. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ethernet all use MAC addresses for communications. If yours is not set, this might be causing the “Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration” error.

1. You will need command prompt in its admin mode. You can search for the program using your computer’s search bar. To open as admin, right-click on the command prompt program and find it in the menu.
2. With the command prompt open, enter in IPconfig /all and hit enter.
3. A long list of information is going to pop up. Find your physical address value in this list. This is your unique MAC. Write it down.
4. In your system tray, right-click it and choose to open the network & sharing center.
5. Click on change adapter options and find your ethernet connection.
6. Right-click the Ethernet connection. Click properties.
7. Find your network controller in the list and hit configure on it.
8. Find the advanced tab at the top and navigate down to the network address under the property list.
9. Click on value and enter your MAC identifier into it.
10. Hit okay to save your changes.

8. Enable DHCP Manually.

If troubleshooting your network adapters did not resolve the issue, you may need to enable DHCP manually. DHCP is a Windows component that automatically assigns your computer an IP address.

1. Open up the “run diagnostics” app by tapping your Windows key + R on your keyboard or searching for it via your computer’s search function.
2. Enter in the following command and hit okay: services.msc. This brings up a service menu.
3. Find the DHCP client in the list and double click it to bring up its properties.
4. Under the “general” tab, set the startup type to automatic and hit okay.
5. Back in the services menu, right-click the DHCP client and restart it.
6. Click yes when the confirmation box appears.

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We hope that by now you could successfully fix your Ethernet IP configuration. Please let us know in the comments section below which method worked for you.