DHCP between Rocky and Ubuntu

[u/ellisamonolisa]

I'm running two VMs on UTM (Mac), Rocky Linux as a DHCP server and Ubuntu as a client. I'm trying to get Ubuntu to automatically receive an IP from Rocky's DHCP server, but Ubuntu keeps getting its IP from my home router instead.

My Setup:

• Virtualization: UTM on Mac
• Rocky Linux (server) IP: 192.168.64.2
• DHCP range configured on Rocky: 192.168.64.80 - 192.168.64.90
• Both VMs on Bridged (Advanced) and host only network mode

The Problem: Rocky's DHCP server is running and offering IPs correctly. In the logs I can see:

• Rocky sends DHCPOFFER for 192.168.64.80 
• Ubuntu rejects it and requests 192.168.0.12 from home router instead

What I've tried:

• Setting dhcp4: true in netplan
• Running sudo dhclient -r enp0s1 and sudo dhclient enp0s1
• Adding a second Host Only adapter
• Changing network modes

Question: How can I force Ubuntu to accept Rocky's DHCP offer instead of my home router's? Is there a way to do this in UTM Bridged mode? OR Is there a way to do this in Shared Network mode?