Make Windows 7 ignore WiFi when ethernet is available

Question

When I dock my Windows 7 laptop, I want it to prefer the wired ethernet connection over WiFi.

This is a pretty straightforward thing to do on my Mac - I just reorder my network preferences, and it "does the right thing." I just can't figure out how to achieve the same thing on my Win7 laptop.

So, when I'm docked, it connects to WiFi, and then fails to connect to servers on the local wired network. How do I fix this?

score 115 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 18 '11 at 19:49

It's on Windows 7, but it's pretty well hidden.

Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings -> The hit Alt to get the menu and choose Advanced -> Advanced Settings.

Then you can re-order your connections in that list.

Although Windows should already automatically prefer your wired over your wireless connection. It chooses what adapter to use based on the lowest interface metric, and a wirelesss connection should have a higher metric than your wired. Run route print from the command prompt to see that.

score 28 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 11 '14 at 08:39

28

Click Start and, in the search field, type View network connections.
Press the ALT key, click Advanced Options and then click Advanced Settings.
Select the Wireless Connection and move up for top priority.

answered Feb 11 '14 at 08:39

pulsarjune

1,299

score 18 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 30 '12 at 09:53

Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings -> Then 'Right Click' on the Wireless network and select Status Then click Wireless Properties and make sure that if you have it set to connect when in range that it is also set to connect to Connect to a more preferred network if available.

score 14 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 18 '11 at 19:50

Two things: first, you can add a metric to each interface to specify that one is better than another. Using the GUI, go to your network connection's properties, TCP/IP, Advanced, uncheck Automatic metric, and fill in the appropriate number. Since the metric represents a cost, Windows will automatically use the interface with a lower metric if it can't decide. This KnowledgeBase article describes the feature you're disabling.

Second, you shouldn't ever have a problem that requires one interface to be used over another. If both interfaces are the same network, then you'll always want the fast one. If they're different networks, then routing tables will automatically send packets out the proper interface to reach the network they belong to.

Perhaps you have two physically separate networks with the same IP block? This is a misconfiguration, and you should fix it.

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 19 '14 at 08:23

Go to Control Panel > Network & Internet > Network Connections
Right click on your Wifi Network Adaptor usually titled "Wireless Network Connection"
Select Properties
Click on the "Configure" button
Select Advanced tab
Under "Property" Scroll down to "Disable Upon Wired Connect" and highlight it
On the Right-hand side under "Value", select "Enabled" in the drop down menu
Hit OK
Disable then Enable back Wireless Network Connection.

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 18 '11 at 19:49

1

If you have a wireless switch on your laptop, you may want to turn that off. Another thing you can look at is whether your ethernet port is operational in the device manager. You can also set this up through your internet options as well.

answered Feb 18 '11 at 19:49

w7pro

692

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 02 '13 at 07:34

1

I got it working by setting the metric setting to 10 for wired and 1000 for wifi, all the other suggestions I found didn't work.

edited Sep 02 '13 at 07:34

Mokubai

95,412

answered Sep 02 '13 at 04:53

Morbia

111

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 17 '15 at 19:32

1

Simple way to disable the wireless is windows button+X, turn off wireless. Repeat process to turn it back on.

answered Apr 17 '15 at 19:32

Kiyotaka

19

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 17 '13 at 02:54

0

My problem was that DHCP was not enabled for my LAN Connection - ran the troubleshooter, it turned it on and all is well now.

answered Oct 17 '13 at 02:54

AVH

101

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Jun 06 '14 at 00:10

i had a similar problem at home when i ran an ethernet wire to my computer after using wireless for a long time. my wifi was set to connect automatically, even though i had an ethernet connection.

my solution:

control panel
network sharing
change adapter settings
right click on wireless network, while connected
click status
wireless properties
uncheck "connect automatically when this network is in range"

not exactly the same but someone might find this usefull.

Make Windows 7 ignore WiFi when ethernet is available

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