How to disable TCP/IPv6 - WKB9503

OBJECTIVE or GOAL

Disable IPv6 in the network card properties.

ENVIRONMENT

• UNIFI 1.9.4 and earlier
• waters_connect / UNIFI 
• Empower 3 server
• LACE/E32
• MassLynx

PROCEDURE

• Download and run the attached file (DisabledComponents.reg) and follow the prompts, OR
• Follow the steps below.

To disable certain IPv6 components, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.　

2. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.　

3. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:　

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\　

Note: If the DisabledComponents entry is unavailable, you must create it. To do this, follow these steps:　

4. Double-click DisabledComponents to change the DisabledComponents entry. 
   1. In the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.　
   2. Type DisabledComponents, and then press Enter.　
   3. Double-click DisabledComponents.　
5. Type ff in the Value data field, and then click OK.
6. Reboot (after a reboot IPv6 will be disabled on all interfaces).　

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sometimes, clearing the Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) check box in the network card properties does not fully disable the IPv6 address, as when you attempt to ping, an IPv6 address is still returned (instead of the expected IPv4). This procedure disables it in the registry. Ping localhost to see if it returns an IPv6 or IPv4 address to confirm the change was made.

refer to microsoft KB929852

This article was updated to reflect Microsoft's new guidance in KB929852 indicating DisabledComponents should be set to FF instead of the previously communicated FFFFFFFF. This will prevent a bootup delay of 5 seconds.

Be aware that the migration readiness check tool in waters_connect 3.1.0 expects to see FFFFFFFF, and will mistakenly tell you that IpV6 is not disabled if you've used FF.

Some of the customers have a group policy that sets DisabledComponents to 0x20(32) across all over the computers, Type 0x20 to prefer IPv4 Over IPv6 by modifying entries in the prefix policy table. here created a group to bypass the group policy and added the required LAB computers.

Configure IPv6 for advanced users - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn