Disabling the Gratuitous ARP Functionality in Windows 2000 (280524)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

This article was previously published under Q280524

SYMPTOMS

When a Windows 2000-based computer starts, a packet that contains the computer's TCP/IP address is broadcast on the network to prevent the use of duplicate addresses on the same network. This is called a gratuitous Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) packet. Routers and other network hardware may cache routing information that is obtained from multiple gratuitous ARP packets. For both performance and maintenance reasons, you can disable this feature in Windows 2000.

Note that the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article mentions setting the ArpRetryCount value in the registry to 0 (zero) to stop the gratuitous ARP packet, but this method results in three gratuitous ARP packets being sent:

219374 How to Disable the Gratuitous ARP Function

CAUSE

This issue occurs because Windows 2000 recognizes only data values 1, 2, and 3 for the ArpRetryCount value. If you use a value of 0 (zero), the default value of 3 is used.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name
   -----------------------------------------------------
   12-May-2000  19:11  5.0.2195.3055  311,376  Tcpip.sys

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Windows 2000. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about how to install Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 hotfixes at the same time, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

249149 Installing Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Hotfixes

Modification Type:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	9/26/2005
Keywords:	kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbbug kbDirServices kbfix kbWin2000PreSP3Fix kbWin2000sp3fix KB280524