Why is Windows' default IP address 169.xx.xx.xx?
Fresh3 days ago
Mar 15, 2026151383 viewsConfidence Score0%
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Problem
My Windows system got an IP address the other day, and I fixed the issue, but why did Microsoft chose this address as the default? Why not or ? Did one guy at Microsoft say Hey, pick a number 1 to 255....who just said 169?! OK, we're going with that for our Windows default IP address.
Error Output
169.xx.xx.xx
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Fix for: Why is Windows' default IP address 169.xx.xx.xx?
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It's not MS it is the ISOC ;-) Have a look at reserved IP address RFC 5735 under special use IPv4: here 169.254.0.0/16 - This is the "link local" block. As described in [RFC3927], it is allocated for communication between hosts on a single link. Hos…
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