What is IP conflict?

An IP conflict, or specifically an IP address conflict, occurs when two computers over the Internet or a local area network have the same IP address. An IP conflict occurring between two computers can result in either both or just one computer becoming unable to perform network operations.

IP conflicts can occur for several reasons, including a manual system administration error, a malfunction in the DHCP server managing the network, or an error on the part of the Internet service provider that assigns two customers identical IP addresses. A computer that is configured to work with two or more network adapters can also experience an IP address conflict.