6

We don't use IPv6 and we are not planning to use it. Apparently Windows Server 2008 R2 is installed with IPv6 on by default. We would like to uninstall it or totally disable it. I have unchecked the check boxes that link IPv6 to each network adapter in my servers, but the machines still register IPv6 addresses with the DNS server.

Is there any way to totally remove IPv6 from my network? Or am I missing something? Thanks.

CesarGon
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    While I agree with your motivation to do this it does present a bit of a wider problem. IPv6 is not going away, and more and more systems are coming on stream that are only fully tested with IPv6 enabled. This is the case for pretty much all current MS OS level software for example and while they don't currently refuse to support environments where IPv6 is disabled they will at some point. – Helvick Sep 10 '10 at 19:28
  • @Helvick: I agree; in fact, I am aware that we might want to keep IPv6 as well as IPv4. However, maintaining and administering it seems like an unnecessary cost at this stage. – CesarGon Sep 14 '10 at 00:08

2 Answers2

9

We would like to uninstall it or totally disable it.

Nine times out of ten you do not want to do this. The defaults are default for a reason.

The IPv6 network stack is integrated into places you wouldn't normally expect it to be. There is the potential to break features in Remote Assistance, HomeGroup, DirectAccess, and Windows Mail (Source). There are plenty of reports of strange behavior or breakage in BranchCache, Exchange Server 2007 and 2010, and Microsoft Outlook that were resolved when IPv6 was re-enabled.

If you are going to disable IPv6 realize that Microsoft does no testing with IPv6 disabled and that you are going against their recommendations. Make sure you have a good reason to do so.

7

Yes, we've noticed this ourselves. Windows 2008 (and Win 7 for that matter) will use certain tunneling IPv6 addresses. You can turn them off by setting a registry setting. It's described here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852

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

Create a new 32-bit DWORD named "DisabledComponents". Set it to 0x01 to disable the tunneling interfaces.

sysadmin1138
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