Recovered VM gets an APIPA (169.254.x.x) address despite static IP and Re-IP settings

Recovered VM gets an APIPA (169.254.x.x) address despite static IP and Re-IP settings

Machine-distilled from a resolved support ticket on 2026-09-28. Source ref: acfa31733f86. Verify before relying on it.

Applies to: Zerto on vSphere (version not confirmed), VPGs using Re-IP for failover test or failover

Symptom: During a failover test or boot test, one or more recovered Windows VMs come up with an APIPA (169.254.x.x) address instead of the IP address configured in the VPG NIC settings. The source VM has a static address on its NIC and the Re-IP settings in Zerto look correct.

Cause: Two contributing factors were found. First, Re-IP depends on VMware Tools running in the guest, so VMs without VMware Tools installed at source are not re-addressed. Second, even with a static address at source and current VMware Tools installed, some VMs still failed to take the configured IP address until guest customisation was enabled for the recovered VM. The root cause for the second case was not fully established.

Resolution: 1. Confirm VMware Tools is installed and running on the source VM. If it is missing, install it at source and let the change replicate before retesting.

2. Confirm the source NIC has a static address and that the VPG NIC Re-IP settings (failover and failover test) are populated correctly.

3. If the recovered VM still receives an APIPA address, enable guest customisation for that VM in its recovery settings.

4. Run a further failover test and confirm the VM now receives the configured address. Watch it over subsequent tests to confirm the fix is stable.