Should I disable IPv6 or not?

Marie SWE · Mar 8, 2026

@cheaterslick
You can measure the difference in a few ms ipv6 VS ipv4. But you will never notice the difference yourself.
The only time you can notice the difference if something is temporary overloaded or some NAT rule that acts up.
and that ipv6 do not go over NAT and can gain a few ms that way. But your speed internet speed will still be identical.

So will you notice ipv4 VS ipv6 over wireguard. If you do a speed test and look at the number becoming 1-4% lower ms.. so on 100ms you can lower it to 96ms. So you can see it.. but can you notice a 4ms difference IRL.

jimbo45 · Mar 9, 2026

Marie SWE said:
Facebook has ipv4 as i can open facebook.com
So they as many has both ipv4 and ipv6
But websites with only ipv6 is rare.. small niche sites might have, but i have not run in to any website yet that dont have ipv4

The problem is that the number of available IP addresses mathematically available on IPv4 is running out -- rather like phone numbers on old exchanges -- and these days there are more and more new web sites etc coming on stream so a new system needed to be introduced. So eventually some sites will only be available via IPv6. No conspiracy, govt data hacks , other scams / hacks here. Just plain simple boring elementary mathematics (and IPv6 in any case has better secure protocols too -- why not if a new addressing system comes into play add extra security too).

Cheers
jimbo

allan · Mar 9, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Thing is I'm thinking about switching my protocol to using WireGuard and that WireGuard (correct me if I'm wrong) utilizes IPv6 to work more effectively. I haven't fully decided to do that yet. That's why I'm looking for feedback.

Unless you all know that WireGuard uses IPv4 just as effectively as anything else..

That makes no sense. If WireGuard uses IPv6, why are you posting asking if you should disable it? This whole thread doesn't ring true.

Bottom line, leave everything alone and move on.

steveg · Mar 9, 2026

allan said:
That makes no sense. If WireGuard uses IPv6, why are you posting asking if you should disable it? This whole thread doesn't ring true.

Bottom line, leave everything alone and move on.

Good point. WireGuard uses peer to peer so keeping IPv6 enabled should make it a bit faster it would seem.

cheaterslick · Mar 9, 2026

allan said:
That makes no sense. If WireGuard uses IPv6, why are you posting asking if you should disable it? This whole thread doesn't ring true.

Well it rings true to me. I wouldn't be asking it, otherwise.

And because I haven't decided whether to switch and use WireGuard or not, with IPv6 privacy being one of the (but not the only) determining factors. That's what got me to thinking about the subject of using IPv6 in the first place.

I want to weigh both options. Better streaming (say, for example, use of WireGuard) vs. privacy (leaving IPv6 disabled). If the risks outweigh any benefits then I'll leave it as is.

~

That being said, going back to a previous question

"That said, some users worry about IPv6 tracking risks and its impact on their online anonymity. There is some basis for this concern: unlike IPv4, which often uses shared or dynamic addresses, IPv6 can assign unique, persistent identifiers to devices, which in theory could make tracking easier. However, most modern systems use privacy extensions that generate temporary, randomized IPv6 addresses to avoid this issue."

Again, what "privacy extensions" are they talking about?

Thanks

XxXxX · Mar 9, 2026

cheaterslick said:
Again, what "privacy extensions" are they talking about?

Thanks

this may help explain but if you going to use a VPN or Cloudflare Warp
then that is all done at their DNS server end.

IPv6 Privacy Extensions: What They Are and How to Enable

Improve privacy on IPv6 with temporary addresses. Learn what privacy extensions do, trade-offs to expect, and how to enable them.

ipaddresslocation.net

best of luck Steve ..

Winuser · Mar 9, 2026

allan said:
Bottom line, leave everything alone and move on.

cheaterslick · Mar 9, 2026

XxXxX said:
this may help explain but if you going to use a VPN or Cloudflare Warp
then that is all done at their DNS server end.

IPv6 Privacy Extensions: What They Are and How to Enable

Improve privacy on IPv6 with temporary addresses. Learn what privacy extensions do, trade-offs to expect, and how to enable them.

ipaddresslocation.net

best of luck Steve ..

Windows 10/11 and Windows Server

Windows supports randomized interface identifiers and temporary addresses; PowerShell is the authoritative interface for persistent changes, while netsh remains useful for inspection and quick toggles.

Show current global IPv6 protocol settings: Get-NetIPv6Protocol | Format-List

Enable randomized IIDs and temporary addresses persistently: Set-NetIPv6Protocol -RandomizeIdentifiers Enabled -UseTemporaryAddresses Enabled

Classic netsh toggle: netsh interface ipv6 set privacy state=enabled

Inspect privacy status: netsh interface ipv6 show privacy

List addresses and spot temporary ones: Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv6 | Where-Object SuffixOrigin -eq 'Random'

If you run services bound to a specific address, bind them to your non-temporary or to a stable per-subnet address while keeping temporary addresses for browsers and other client processes.

That's what I'm looking for. I will quote it here in case anybody else is interested in it in the future

I appreciate that link & thanks.

Marie SWE · Mar 9, 2026

jimbo45 said:
The problem is that the number of available IP addresses mathematically available on IPv4 is running out -- rather like phone numbers on old exchanges -- and these days there are more and more new web sites etc coming on stream so a new system needed to be introduced. So eventually some sites will only be available via IPv6. No conspiracy, govt data hacks , other scams / hacks here. Just plain simple boring elementary mathematics (and IPv6 in any case has better secure protocols too -- why not if a new addressing system comes into play add extra security too).

Cheers
jimbo

I know all that.

And that is why a lot of ISP's using CG-NAT to get more users over the same IP in the same way as VPN does.
and also cloudflare running more webbservers over the same front IP as it also minimize ddos attacks on a specific website.
So ipv4 and NAT has a lot more pros then cons.

Should I disable IPv6 or not?

I almost never bite.......

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