Manual setup in Windows Vista is just like manual IPv4 setup. In the Internet Protocol Version 6 properties, enter the address and prefix length (always 64). Enter a router address if you do not wish to rely on router advertisements. Enter at least one nameserver address if you have a v6-enabled nameserver.

Vista's DHCPv6 client is enabled by default. Run ipconfig /all to view the client DUID. The DUID is also in the registry as \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\Dhcpv6DUID and can be modified. DHCPv6 authentication is currently unavailable in Vista.

IPv6 support for Windows XP is somewhat incomplete. An IPv6 driver and some related executables were first available with SP1 for Windows XP Pro. As detailed in the addressing scheme document, address autoconfiguration will not be available on most subnets. Furthermore, the driver does not permit manual address configuration through the networking control panel. The ipv6 command included with the IPv6 driver is the only way to manually configure IPv6 parameters aside from enabling the IPv6 driver itself.

See Microsoft's Windows IPv6 FAQ for detailed information.

A third-party client is the only DHCPv6 option under Windows XP. See the configuration examples for details.

To add a site-local or global address, first execute ipv6 if at a command prompt to determine the index of the interface to which you wish to add an IPv6 address.

Next, execute the command

ipv6 adu <index>/<address>

Repeat the command as many times as necessary for the number of addresses you wish to configure on the interface. The interface at the specified index should now be configured for IPv6.

Note: There appears to be no way to specify the prefix length; presumably, the IPv6 driver learns it from router advertisements.

To automatically configure the interface at system startup, create an executable file containing the above ipv6 adu command(s) and then open the task scheduler and create a task to run the executable at system startup. Note that the index of a particular interface can change when the computer is rebooted, so it is a good idea to come up with a programmatic way of determining the index of the interface(s) you wish to configure.

Using the task scheduler to run this command file may not work under XP SP2. DHCPv6 is likely a better way to enable IPv6.

Windows 2003 Server is reportedly extremely similar to XP in terms of IPv6 features/configuration. No other information at this time.