Recently, I set up a IPv6 section of gwlab.  The devices included Vista64, Windows 2008 Server Standard, Windows 2008 Server Standard Core, and Fedora 10 64bit.  They all natively support IPv6 but typically use link-local addresses (sorta like using 169.254.x.x addresses in IPv4).  Those with gui’s are easy to change but Windows 2008 core and it’s lack of a gui make it more of a challenge.  The method I use is very simple and would also work on other versions of 2008 and vista.

On the Windows 2008 Standard Core Server (2008 Core) device log in as an administrator.  At the cmd prompt enter the following command to get a list of the interface names:

“netsh interface ipv6 show interfaces”

You should get a list of interface information.  Look for the interface that is not disconnected and not name labeled with some part being loopback.  Use caution as many of the interfaces will have similar names by default.

On my system the interface name of interest was “Local Area Connection 2″ but most devices will need to be configured on “Local Area Connection”

Now that you have the interface name issue the following command:

“netsh interface ipv6 set address ‘inteface name determined above’ ‘ipv6 address’”

In my case that means: netsh interface ipv6 set address “Local Area Connection 2″ fec0:0:0:fffe::aa

Verify you now have the correct IPv6 interface settings by using the following commands:

“netsh interface ipv6 show addresses” or “netsh interface ipv6 show addresses ‘Local Area Connection 2′”

You should also be able to ping interfaces on other IPv6 enabled systems within the same network.  So for example:

ping fec0:0:0:fffe::1%1

You probably don’t need to include the %”interface number” but I’ve found it’s just a good habit to get into.