Windows DHCP Server PowerShell Commands: Complete Administration Cheat Sheet

Managing DHCP leases through PowerShell is faster and more efficient than manually navigating the DHCP console. Windows Server provides the DhcpServer PowerShell module to retrieve leases, identify MAC addresses, inspect reservations, check lease expiry, and export DHCP inventory reports.

This guide covers the most useful Windows DHCP Server PowerShell commands, from checking a single IP address to auditing an entire DHCP scope.

1. Prerequisites

Run PowerShell as an administrator on the DHCP server or a management computer with the DHCP Server PowerShell tools installed.

For a remote DHCP server, use the appropriate server name in the commands below.

Import-Module DhcpServer

Set the DHCP server and scope details as variables to simplify repeated commands.

$DHCPServer = "DHCP01.contosa.com"
$ScopeId = "10.102.12.0"

Replace these sample values with your actual DHCP server name and subnet ID.

2. Find DHCP Lease Details for a Particular IP Address

Use this command to retrieve the hostname, client identifier, lease state, and expiry time for a specific IP address.

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -IPAddress 10.102.12.12 |
    Format-List IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime

Use case: Identify which hostname and client identifier are associated with an IP address.

To query a specific remote DHCP server:

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease `
    -ComputerName $DHCPServer `
    -IPAddress 10.102.12.12 |
    Format-List *

3. Retrieve All Leases in a Particular DHCP Scope

To list every lease in a scope, including leases that are not currently active:

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

To retrieve only active leases:

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

Use -AllLeases when investigating historical lease states that remain in the DHCP database.

4. Retrieve Leases from Every DHCP Scope

First, list the configured IPv4 scopes.

Get-DhcpServerv4Scope |
    Format-Table ScopeId, Name, StartRange,
                 EndRange, State -AutoSize

Then retrieve leases from all scopes:

$Scopes = Get-DhcpServerv4Scope

$AllLeases = foreach ($Scope in $Scopes) {
    Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $Scope.ScopeId -AllLeases
}

$AllLeases |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

For a remote DHCP server:

$Scopes = Get-DhcpServerv4Scope -ComputerName $DHCPServer

$AllLeases = foreach ($Scope in $Scopes) {
    Get-DhcpServerv4Lease `
        -ComputerName $DHCPServer `
        -ScopeId $Scope.ScopeId `
        -AllLeases
}

$AllLeases |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

5. Find the MAC Address of a Host

The DHCP ClientId field commonly contains the client’s MAC address.

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -IPAddress 10.102.12.12 |
    Format-List IPAddress, HostName, ClientId

For a particular hostname:

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases |
    Where-Object {
        $_.HostName -like "IPWWBAAGLMJ20AZ*"
    } |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

Important: Not every DHCP client identifier is a conventional six-byte Ethernet MAC address. Some clients use other identifier formats, so verify the value before treating it as a physical MAC address.

6. Find a Host by Its IP Address or Hostname

Search for a particular hostname

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases |
    Where-Object {
        $_.HostName -like "*SERVER01*"
    } |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

Search for a particular client identifier

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases |
    Where-Object {
        $_.ClientId -eq "5C-ED-8C-F1-31-F0"
    } |
    Format-List *

Replace the example client identifier with the value returned by your DHCP server. The format of the identifier may vary.

7. Find DHCP Reservations

To list all reservations configured on a particular scope:

Get-DhcpServerv4Reservation -ScopeId $ScopeId |
    Format-Table IPAddress, Name, ClientId,
                 Description -AutoSize

To check a reservation for a specific IP address:

Get-DhcpServerv4Reservation -ScopeId $ScopeId |
    Where-Object {
        $_.IPAddress -eq "10.102.12.12"
    } |
    Format-List *

To retrieve reservations from every IPv4 scope:

$AllReservations = foreach ($Scope in Get-DhcpServerv4Scope) {
    Get-DhcpServerv4Reservation -ScopeId $Scope.ScopeId
}

$AllReservations |
    Format-Table IPAddress, Name, ClientId,
                 Description -AutoSize

Remember that a reservation and a lease are different. A reservation defines the address assigned to a particular client identifier; the lease records the client’s DHCP address state.

8. Find Expired or Inactive Leases

To inspect leases that are not active, use -AllLeases and filter the returned states.

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases |
    Where-Object {
        $_.AddressState -ne "Active"
    } |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

To identify expired lease entries based on their expiry time:

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases |
    Where-Object {
        $_.LeaseExpiryTime -and
        $_.LeaseExpiryTime -lt (Get-Date)
    } |
    Format-Table IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                 AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime -AutoSize

This is a reporting query only. An expired lease entry is not necessarily safe to remove manually; first confirm the address is no longer in use.

9. Check Lease Expiry for a Particular Host

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -IPAddress 10.102.12.12 |
    Select-Object IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                  AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime

The LeaseExpiryTime field indicates when the recorded lease expires. It does not establish the original assignment date.

10. Export DHCP Leases to CSV

Export every lease in a particular scope:

Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases |
    Select-Object IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                  AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime |
    Export-Csv "C:\Reports\DHCP-Leases.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Export leases from all scopes:

$AllLeases |
    Select-Object IPAddress, HostName, ClientId,
                  AddressState, LeaseExpiryTime |
    Export-Csv "C:\Reports\All-DHCP-Leases.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Ensure the C:\Reports directory exists before running these commands.

CSV reports can be opened in Microsoft Excel for inventory reconciliation, audit reviews, and hostname-to-IP mapping.

11. Search DHCP Audit Logs

Windows DHCP audit logs are commonly stored in:

C:\Windows\System32\dhcp\

Search all available audit logs for a particular IP address:

Get-ChildItem "C:\Windows\System32\dhcp\DhcpSrvLog-*.log" |
    Select-String -SimpleMatch "10.102.12.12"

Search for a hostname:

Get-ChildItem "C:\Windows\System32\dhcp\DhcpSrvLog-*.log" |
    Select-String -SimpleMatch "IPWWBAAGLMJ20AZ"

DHCP audit logs may contain assignment, renewal, release, and other events. The available event history depends on logging configuration and log retention.

To find the earliest recorded assignment, search all retained logs for the relevant IP and identify the earliest matching assignment event. If older logs have been overwritten, the original assignment date may not be recoverable from the remaining logs.

12. Check DHCP Scope Configuration

Retrieve configuration details for a particular scope:

Get-DhcpServerv4Scope -ScopeId $ScopeId |
    Format-List *

Retrieve all configured IPv4 scopes:

Get-DhcpServerv4Scope |
    Format-Table ScopeId, Name, StartRange,
                 EndRange, SubnetMask, State -AutoSize

These commands help identify scope boundaries, subnet masks, and whether scopes are enabled.

13. Check DHCP Scope Statistics

To review the address utilisation of a particular scope:

Get-DhcpServerv4ScopeStatistics -ScopeId $ScopeId |
    Format-List *

To retrieve statistics for all scopes:

Get-DhcpServerv4ScopeStatistics

Scope statistics help administrators monitor address availability and identify scopes that may be running low on free addresses.

14. Check DNS for a DHCP Client

DHCP and DNS are separate services. A lease can exist even when the associated DNS record is missing.

Check the forward lookup:

Resolve-DnsName "IPWWBAAGLMJ20AZ.contosa.com" `
    -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Check the reverse lookup:

Resolve-DnsName "10.102.12.12" `
    -Type PTR `
    -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

These commands query DNS. They do not modify DHCP leases or DNS records.

15. Quick Reference

Requirement	PowerShell command
Particular IP lease	Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -IPAddress 10.102.12.12
All leases in a scope	Get-DhcpServerv4Lease -ScopeId $ScopeId -AllLeases
All IPv4 scopes	Get-DhcpServerv4Scope
Reservations in a scope	Get-DhcpServerv4Reservation -ScopeId $ScopeId
Scope statistics	Get-DhcpServerv4ScopeStatistics -ScopeId $ScopeId
Search audit logs	Select-String -SimpleMatch "10.102.12.12"
Export leases	Export-Csv "C:\Reports\DHCP-Leases.csv" -NoTypeInformation

Conclusion

PowerShell simplifies DHCP administration by allowing administrators to inspect individual leases, inventory complete scopes, identify client identifiers, review reservations, investigate historical lease activity, and generate CSV reports.

For day-to-day troubleshooting, start with Get-DhcpServerv4Lease. For broader investigations, combine lease queries with reservation details, DHCP audit logs, and DNS lookups.

Operational note: These examples are read-only. Before removing leases, changing reservations, or modifying DNS, validate the client identity and confirm that the address is no longer in use.