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Delegating Access to DHCP in Windows

Managing DHCP either Active Directory or locally.

Table of Contents

Security Groups

Two security groups are responsible for managing DHCP locally or through Active Directory. The two groups are:

  1. DHCP Users: Members who have view-only access to the DHCP service
  2. DHCP Administrators: Members who have administrative access to the DHCP service

Users to both groups will receive the highest permission level.

Finding Root Cause

  1. Open computer management
    1. If the DHCP server has a GUI, with an account that has administrative privileges open computer management locally; or,
    2. If the DHCP server does not have a GUI or is managed remotely from a different device, open computer Management on the device -> right-click Computer Management (Local) -> Connect to another computer… -> in the pop-up window, either type the computer name in the box; or,
      1. Click the button Browse… and find the DHCP server -> Once the DHCP server is located, hit the Ok button
    3. Hit the Ok button
  1. Once connected to the DHCP server, expand System Tools -> Local Users and Groups ->Click the Groups folder. If you see DHCP Administrators and/or DHCP Users. It means the server uses the local security group; otherwise, it uses the Active Directory group.

Resolution

Managing DHCP Groups via Active Directory (requires the server to be on the domain)

  1. Open up Computer Management and navigate to the Groups folder just like the Finding Root Cause section
    1. Delete both DHCP Administrators and/or DHCP Users groups
  2. Restarting DHCP Server service
    1. Open up Services the same way we opened up Computer Managed in the Finding Root Cause section but with Services
    2. Locate the service DHCP Server and right-click -> Restart
  3. Active Directory will now start managing the access control

Managing DHCP Groups Locally

  1. Open up Computer Management and navigate to the Groups folder just like the Finding Root Cause section
    1. Locate the DHCP Administrators and/or DHCP Users groups are missing, it means that Active Directory is managing DHCP permissions
  2. On the DHCP server, open up PowerShell and type:
    1. Add-DhcpServerSecurityGroup
    2. Restart-Service DHCPServer
  1. Refresh Computer Management, and DHCP Administrators and DHCP Users groups will be a part of the Groups
    1. If the server is part of a domain, you can add domain-level groups into the respective local groups to allow users at the domain-level security group to manage the server; Otherwise,
    2. Individual users and/or groups can be added to the local DHCP Administrators and/or DHCP Users groups
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Murphy
Michael “Murphy” has BA in Computer Technology from Wayne State University and is a System Engineer for a food manufacturer in the Chicagoland area.
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