Disable IPv6 connectivity on Windows without restarting the computer

Question

I am trying to disable IPv6 connectivity on my computer without restarting it, I saw that some VPN applications delete routes from routing table in order to disable IPv6 connectivity, but when I try to do the same using netsh command (netsh interface ipv6 delete route {route} {interface} store=active) they disappear for some time but the table gets restored after few minutes, why is it so? Should I do something else to do that?

I'm aware that the proper way to disable IPv6 is either in adapter setting or in registry but it requires to restart the machine and it is not acceptable in my case.

Answer 1

Disabling IPv6 in the adapter settings has immediate effect and does nor require a reboot.

This is done in :

• Enter Settings > Network & Internet > Change adapter options
• Right-click the interface and select Properties
• Uncheck "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)"
• Click OK.

To re-enable, redo the above and set the check-mark. The effect is immediate.

To check if IPv6 is enabled or not, you may use the command ping -6 google.com. Or you could use ipconfig and check if the computer has an IPv6 address.

Answer 2

I assume you disabled IPv6 using the registry, that is to change the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\TCPIP6\Parameters\DisabledComponents to 0xFF, and indeed this requires a restart.

I've seen a few times a suggestion to use the following netsh commands from an elevated prompt:

netsh interface teredo set state disable
netsh interface 6to4 set state disabled
netsh interface isatap set state disabled

These will work if your IPv6 address is obtained through a network that lays over IPv4 (eg. tunneling) but may not work if your router is natively IPv6-aware.

Another thing you can try is to use PowerShell:

Disable-NetAdapterBinding -Name "Ethernet" -ComponentID ms_tcpip6

You will need to replace "Ethernet" with the name of the network interface that is getting the IP address.