Autoconfiguration is performed on multicast-enabled links only and begins when a multicast-enabled interface is enabled (during system startup or manually).
Nodes (both, hosts and routers) begin the process by generating a link-local address for the interface. It is formed by appending the interface identifier to wellknown link-local prefix FE80::0. The interface identifier replaces the right-most zeroes of the link-local prefix.
Before the link-local address can be assigned to the interface, the node performs the Duplicate Address Detection mechanism to see if any other node is using the same link-local address on the link. It does this by sending a Neighbor Solicitation message with target address as the "tentative" address and destination address as the solicited-node multicast address corresponding to this tentative address. If a node responds with a Neighbor Advertisement message with tentative address as the target address, the address is a duplicate address and must not be used. Hence, manual configuration is required.
Once the node verifies that its tentative address is unique on the link, it assigns that link-local address to the interface. At this stage, it has IP-connectivity to other neighbors on this link.
The autoconfiguration on the routers stop at this stage, further tasks are performed only by the hosts. The routers will need manual configuration (or stateful configuration) to receive site-local or global addresses.
The next phase involves obtaining Router Advertisements from routers if any routers are present on the link. If no routers are present, a stateful configuration is required. If routers are present, the Router Advertisements notify what sort of configurations the hosts need to do and the hosts receive a global unicast IPv6 address.

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