Windows Vista:  How To Run ipconfig / renew As Administrator

A common problem encountered with Vista is that ipconfig doesn’t release/renew properly.  Instead, Vista reports that administrator rights must be used, even if you are logged in as the administrator.  While this may at first seem to be some sort of malfunction, it is really just your operating system taking precautions to protect the online connection against malicious or accidental misuse.

The basic rule is that you must run ipconfig in a command prompt window.  This isn’t anything new, even older versions of Windowws require ipconfig to be run in a DOS window.  What is new is that you must have administrator rights to the program, and being logged in as administrator is not the same as having those particular “elevated” rights.

To do it properly, follow these steps:

1. Click START
2. Enter “CMD”
3. Right-click “CMD.EXE” >> “Run as administrator”  OR Hold ctrl+shift, and press ENTER
4. Click “Continue” on the “User Account Control” Window
5. Run ipconfig /renew as normal.  It should release & renew the IP address.

Article written by MyComputerAid.com