How do I Remove IPv6 in Vista?

IPv6 stands for Internet Protocol version 6. IPv6 is the latest version of the network-layer protocol for packet-switched networks. The version that is generally used is IPv4. One of the reasons for the upgrade to IPv6 is that it allows greater space and flexibility in assigning IP addresses.


For instance, IPv4 is based on a 32-bit address system that limits the number of possible unique addresses to 4,294,967,296. In a few years, the number of available unique addresses will decrease. IPv6 solves this problem by making the number of possible unique addresses practically infinite. It is said that IPv6 offers every star in the known universe 252 unique addresses!

Disabling IPv6 in Vista
It should be noted that Vista computer users cannot remove/uninstall IPv6, as it is an integral part of the operating system. However, Vista does give you the option of disabling it. There are two ways to disable IPv6 from Vista:

Disable IPv6 from your LAN interfaces and connections.
Disable IPv6 from your LAN interfaces, connections, and tunnel interfaces.
Disable IPv6 from Your LAN Interfaces and Connections
Step 1. Launch Vista and click successively on the Start menu, Control Panel, and Network Connections.

Step 2. In your Network Connections folder, click on the properties of all your network connections, and choose the Networking tab. You will see the option for Internet Protocol version 6 (TCP/IPv6). There is a check box next to this item.

Step 3. Clear this check box. You have now disabled IPv6 from your LAN interfaces and connections. It should be noted that this option does not disable the tunnel interfaces or the IPv6 loopback interface.

Disable IPv6 from Your LAN Interfaces, Connections, and Tunnel Interfaces
Step 1. Launch Vista, click on Start, and then click on Run. Once the Run window appears, type regedit.

Step 2. Once you have accessed the registry, you will add a registry value as follows: (DWORD type) Set to OxFF.

Step 3. The registry is as follows: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\DisabledComponents

This method will disable IPv6 from your LAN interfaces, connections, and tunnel interfaces, but will not disable it from the IPv6 loopback interface.

It should also be noted that once you disable IPv6, you will not be able to use specific applications such as Windows Meeting Space or any application that requires the Windows peer-to-peer networking platform.