---
title: "How to renew the DHCP lease (IP address) on a Mac · Kilobat Guides"
url: "https://kilobat.app/guides/renew-dhcp-lease-mac"
description: "Get a new IP address, router and DNS servers from the network on a Mac with Renew DHCP Lease, and check the result in Terminal."
---

IP, routing and IPv6

# Renew the DHCP lease on a Mac

A DHCP lease gives the Mac its IP address, router and DNS servers. A renewal asks the DHCP server for them again.

Applies to: macOS 13 Ventura and later for the System Settings steps. The Terminal commands work on all current macOS versions. · Checked: 29 October 2026

## Symptoms

- The Mac has a self-assigned or wrong IP address.
- The router changed, but the Mac keeps old DNS servers.
- The connection stopped after the router restarted.

## Likely causes

- **An old lease.** The Mac keeps its lease until it ends. A change on the router does not always reach the Mac at once.
- **A short lease time on a busy network.** Apple says that you can need to renew often when many computers use one DHCP server.
- **A DHCP request that failed.** The request did not get an answer, for example after sleep or a cable change.

## How to check

1. Find the device name of each network port, for example `en0` for Wi-Fi.

   ```
   networksetup -listallhardwareports
   ```
2. Show the current address.

   ```
   ipconfig getifaddr en0
   ```
3. Show the lease from the DHCP server, with the router, DNS servers and lease time.

   ```
   ipconfig getpacket en0
   ```

## How to fix it

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings > Network.
2. Click the network service, then click Details.
3. Click TCP/IP, then click Renew DHCP Lease. Click OK.
4. Run `ipconfig getpacket en0` again and compare the values.
5. If nothing changes, turn Wi-Fi off and on again.

   ```
   networksetup -setairportpower en0 off
   ```

   Needs an administrator password.
6. Turn Wi-Fi on again.

   ```
   networksetup -setairportpower en0 on
   ```

   Needs an administrator password.

## With Kilobat

1. The CLI turns Wi-Fi off and on in one step.

   ```
   kilobat wifi restart
   ```

## Questions

**Do I always get a new IP address?**

No. Many DHCP servers give the same address back to the same device.

**What does scutil --renew do?**

The scutil man page says that it starts a new check of the network configuration on the interface.

## Sources

- [Apple Support: Renew your IP address from the DHCP server on Mac](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchlp1545/mac)
- ipconfig(8), man page installed with macOS 27.2
- networksetup(8), man page installed with macOS 27.2
- scutil(8), man page installed with macOS 27.2

Sources checked on 29 October 2026. Man pages are the ones installed with macOS; open one with `man <name>` in Terminal.

## Related guides

- [Mac has a self-assigned IP address](https://kilobat.app/guides/self-assigned-ip-address): If the Mac gets no answer from a DHCP server, it gives itself a link-local address from 169.254.0.0/16.
- [IP address conflict on a Mac](https://kilobat.app/guides/ip-address-conflict-mac): Two devices on one network cannot use the same IP address.
- [DNS not resolving on a Mac](https://kilobat.app/guides/dns-server-not-found): When DNS fails, the Mac cannot change a name such as apple.com into an IP address.
- [See Mac network settings in Terminal](https://kilobat.app/guides/network-settings-terminal): macOS includes command-line tools that show the same network settings as System Settings, and more.