Forcing Laptop To Use Wired Connection Over Wireless

[AndyCan]

I'm finding that when our laptops are plugged in with a network cable and the wireless is on, they are still choosing to use the wireless connection over the wired. How can i set it to prioritize the wired connection when available over wireless??

[soveryapt]

1. Click the Start Button

2. Right Click "Network" and then left Click Properties

3. From the "Network And Sharing Center" window click "Change Adapter Settings"

4. On the "Network Connections" window, press the ALT key on your keyboard to being up the menu bar

5. Click the "Advanced" menu and then "Advanced Settings"

6. In the "Advanced Settings" window you will see the "Adapters and Bindings" tab and under "Connections" you will see the order they are in, you can use the arrows to the side to move the connection priority up and down.

 

It will still connect all 3, unless you tell it to disable them....but at least traffic will go over the ethernet port first (when connected)

 

(sourced from Set network device priority in Windows 7 - [H]ard|Forum)

[Steve21]

If you run

netstat -rn | more

 

It should show how your current priority list is set,

 

e.g. (as mine doesn't have wireless, but same should apply)

 

===========================================================================
Interface List
10 ..."BLANKED MAC"...... Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
21 ..."BLANKED MAC"...... VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
 1 ........................... Software Loopback Interface 1
24 ......"BLANKED MAC"...... isatap.cable.virginmedia.net
12 ..."BLANKED MAC"...... Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
23 ..."BLANKED MAC"......   isatap.{517B8B23-0B7D-436F-964D-D14BFFDBBA09}
===========================================================================

 

If you go to the network connections, go to properties, then ipv4 properties, then advanced

 

there's a thing called "metrics". By default set to automatic.

 

Changing automatic to a number = priority, (Don't think you can ever use 1 as that's default loopback)

 

Any help?

 

Steve

[AndyCan]

i knew of the Metric way but that never worked for me. I just tried the way suggested by soveryapt but even with my wireless connection 2nd in the list, i turn it on and do speedtest and its clearly using my wireless connection because i switch it off and run the test again and get a massive speed increase!

[soveryapt]

Silly question, but you never know, it is windows after all, have you made the changes and then rebooted your machine to make sure that it's picked up those changes? If not, might be worth a shot.

[twin--turbo]

Check the BIOS, there is often an option to disable the wifi when a CAT5 connection is present. Can't remember the common name for it though.

 

Rob

[ADMaster]

I have tried the method mentioned by soveryapt in the past but just don't trust it. I am in the habit of flipping the wireless switch when I plug in a cable.

[cypwrx]

I have been disabling the wireless adapter, but never thought about a bios change, thanks for the thought.

[edutech4schools]

Found this that might be of use to someone in the future - How to bring harmony to your mixed wired and wireless networks - Spiceworks