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Windows 7 is always switch to Wifi connection once I connected to Wireless LAN. How do I prevent that ?

How can I force LAN as primary connection while Wifi is only used as backup ?

When I move around, I'll need Wifi but when I am at my desk, I preferred LAN for faster speed. Can we make LAN connection as default ?

How to use LAN as primary connection ?

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    This is somewhat dependent upon your device manufacturer and drivers. There may be an option to automatically disable WiFi completely upon connection to a wired network, and re-enable it upon disconnection from the wire. Alternatively, there's probably a hot key combination (Fn key plus one of the F keys) that will easily toggle the WiFi or "Airplane Mode" on-demand. Note that setting of auto-switch may override your hot key's capability.
    – Iszi
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 6:27
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    Depending on your device, the option to set the auto-switch may be in your BIOS/UEFI and/or in the "Advanced" tab on the Properties dialog for it in Device Manager.
    – Iszi
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 6:29
  • Thanks for hinting to the right direction - I knew there was an option to make LAN higher priority than Wifi. I just don't know which term to search for xD
    – Dio Phung
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 7:42

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Thanks guys for pointing to the right direction.

I have found how to make LAN the main connection while still connected to Wifi, so that we can enjoy both mobility and performance. Here are the how-to steps:

  1. Click Start --> Run, type in ncpa.cpl It will open Network Connection control applet.

  2. Click Advanced --> Advanced Settings, under Adapters and Binding tab, move your LAN connection to the top. See the explanation: connections are listed in the order which they are accessed by network services. enter image description here full size

  3. To test it, I copy 15GB file over the network. So even though I am connected to Wifi, the copying is still using LAN bandwidth (which is way faster than Wifi). You can see the Network Utilization percentage. enter image description here full size

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  • Not quite the fix I was suggesting, but that'll work too.
    – Iszi
    Commented Feb 10, 2015 at 14:49
  • On Windows 10, using wifi as a backup connection to wired ethernet lan cable is different because in windows 10 Adapters and Bindings it's gone. This alternate powershell method works for me: Set-NetIPInterface –InterfaceIndex <the ifIndex of the interface in output from Get-NetIPInterface> –InterfaceMetric <a number lower than the wifi InterfaceMetric> Set it larger than InterfaceMetric of your vpn connections, if you have any. You'll still see multicast bonjour/zeroconf announcements on the wifi but routed traffic will go through the wired cable. source: is.gd/D8baOj
    – Costin Gușă
    Commented Mar 18, 2022 at 11:19

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