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Asked: 2026-06-15T04:23:10+00:00

I would like to know what a valid IPv4 address is in the context

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I would like to know what a “valid IPv4 address” is in the context of the win32 GetIpAddrTable function call. The documentation indicates that this function does not return invalid IPv4 addresses on Vista and above. It does not explain how it determines validity.

On Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, the IPv4 addresses returned
by the GetIpAddrTable function are not affected by the media sensing
capability of the TCP/IP stack on a local computer. The GetIpAddrTable
function returns only valid IPv4 addresses.

I am digging into a problem where a call to this function is not returning the address for a functioning adapter. The adapter uses the driver’s DHCP server to assign a link-local IP address. On most systems this works fine. On a specific customer system, it does not.

Ping and traffic tests work fine and the adapter shows up in output from GetAdaptersAddresses. My other question seems to indicate that the only difference should be IPv6 support. The adapter in question receives a link-local IPv6 address as well, but that shouldn’t prevent it from showing up in GetIpAddrTable output should it?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Simple Answer: It does exactly what it says it does – it returns connected interfaces which are running IPv4.

    I’ve now confirmed that GetAdaptersAddresses also skips our network adapter when limiting to IPv4 interfaces. So it appears that there’s a problem between the driver and Windows in identifying as an IPv4 interface.

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