I’ve sat on this far too long. In 2013 I was setting up SBS 2011 (rebuilding it for a Slingshot client, actually), and hit the classic gotcha where the Connect To Internet Wizard insists on being the DHCP server. My workaround was usually to temporarily disable the router’s DHCP, finish the wizard, then re-enable the router’s DHCP.
Unfortunately, this time I was working remotely after hours, and had no access to their router or its admin to do anything about it, so I was at risk of losing the night’s work and the client finding their stuff still down the next day.
Fortunately, I already had Microsoft support on the line for other matters. They knew a workaround for this — when I asked about it, this is the registry screenshot I got:
For the record, that’s HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\Networking and a DWORD of SkipDHCPConfig = 1
I asked if this was public knowledge, and the answer was no. I’ve saved this for a while, but with SBS 2011 now abandoned I think the knowledge should benefit others. So I hope this helps someone else! (I actually just needed that info myself, for a similar situation 🙂
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