How to configure DHCP on windows server 2016

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is the automatic distribution of IP address to the clients in a networking system. In addition to IP, DHCP provides subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS.

First, we should install the DHCP server role. Then configure the scope and options. You can do such tasks following the official guide from the Microsoft books. However, consider the following technical issues:

1. Go to ‘Virtual Network Editor’ and disable DHCP: click on ‘Change Settings’. You might choose the NAT type. Then uncheck ‘Use local DHCP service to distribute IP address to VMs’. If you don’t disable it, your DHCP server can’t distribute IP address. Instead the clients will receive their IP from the local DHCP under the ‘Virtual Network Editor’.
2. After disabling the local DHCP, go to CMD on your client and type the following commands to see the result: ipconfig /release, then ipconfig /renew.
3. Now you might not be able to ping the client from the server while you can ping the server from the client. So go to ‘Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings’ and ‘Turn on file and printer sharing’.

Now you can check the IP Address Leases on the DHCP server to confirm the distributed IP address to the clients.

Note: this tutorial is provided for those who are running Windows Server 2016 on VMware Workstation and practice with virtual machines.