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False duplicate IP address detected on Microsoft Windows Vista and later virtual machines on ESX/ESXi when using Cisco devices on the environment (1028373)

Symptoms

When you assign an IP address on Windows Vista and later versions, you see a duplicate IP address conflict.
When you reboot a Windows Vista and later versions, you receive a 169.254.x.x IP.
When you set up the same virtual machine on a vSwitch with no uplink port on the vSwitch, the IP address is assigned successfully.
When you assign the same IP address to a Windows 2003 virtual machine on the same vSwitch, the IP address is assigned successfully.

Cause

This issue occurs when the Cisco switch has gratuitous ARPs enabled or the ArpProxySvc replied to all ARP requests incorrectly.

Resolution

Note: The information provided in this article is a workaround. Investigate the network configuration at the physical layer for the root cause.

To work around this issue, turn off gratuitous ARP in the guest operating system.

Note: This procedure modifies the Windows registry. Before making any registry modifications, ensure that you have a current and valid backup of the registry and the virtual machine. For more information on backing up and restoring the registry, see the Microsoft article 136393.

The preceding link was correct as of June 25, 2014. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

To turn off gratuitous ARP in the guest operating system:

Open the Registry editor.
- In Windows XP to Windows Server 2003 - Click Start > Run, type regedit, and click OK.
- In Windows 7 and Current - Click Start, type regedit, and click OK.
Locate this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Click Edit > New, and click DWORD Value.
Type ArpRetryCount.
Right-click the ArpRetryCount registry entry and click Modify.
In the Value box, type 0 and click OK.
Exit the Registry Editor.
Shut down the guest operating system and power off the virtual machine.
Change the virtual machine back to a network vSwitch with the uplink.
Power on the virtual machine.

Alternatively, you can disable gratuitous ARP on the physical switch.

For example, to disable gratuitous ARP in Cisco IOS, run this command:


# no ip gratuitous-arps

For more information, see the ArpRetryCount Microsoft TechNet Article.

Additional Information

To disable gratuitous ARP requests, see the Microsoft TechNet article 219374.

For more information on gratuitous ARP from a Windows virtual machine, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 199773.

This issue is also seen to occur on Windows 2012.

As of TAC document release 116529 , duplicate addressing has been identified to cause this issue in some scenarios this is caused by ip device tracking .

The problem is when a Duplicate IP Address 0.0.0.0 error message is received by clients who run Microsoft (MS) Windows Vista and later versions.

The primary method used in order to work around the issue is to delay the probe from the switch, so that Windows has time to finish duplicate IP detection. Enter this command in order to delay the probe.

From a SSH or Telnet session to the switch, run this command:

ip device tracking probe delay 10

This is not a VMware issue. Ensure to refer the preceding TAC document for more information before proceeding.

Note: This issue can also occur because of gratuitous ARP on an ASA firewall. Run this command to disable gratuitous ARP on an ASA firewall:

sysopt noproxyarp inside

Note: The links in this article were correct as of June 24, 2014. If you find a link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

It is possible to capture the packets that conflict between duplicate ip detection and cisco ip device tracking features with wireshark - highlight with the following capture filter:
arp.opcode==2 && arp.dst.proto_ipv4==0.0.0.0

Related Education

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This Article Replaces

2006747

Update History

01/19/2012 - Added link to Microsoft KBs 199773 and 219374 09/02/2013 - Added ESXi 5.1 to Product Versions. 10/18/2013 - Added ESXi 5.5 to Product Versions. 08/25/2014 - Added Note under the Additional Information section on disabling gratuitous ARP on an ASA firewall

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