I was wondering whether or not there was a method to auto disable my wireless connection whenever I connect through a LAN/ethernet line? I'm looking for a solution that can be done either through a script or program. I've heard of AirSafe but am having trouble getting a hold of a sales rep and was curious about other possible solutions.
Thanks.
On 10 Jul 2006 12:29:23 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in :
Windows will use the last connection you make.
John Navas hath wroth:
I beg to differ. Windoze assigns different route metrics to the ethernet and wireless connections. Ethernet is considered the "better" route and is used if available. See my tinkering at: |
Why? I'm curious what problem you're trying to solve with such a script or program.
You can just right click on the network connection icons in the system tray and simply disable/enable the required interface.
Or, if just gotta do it with a script or program, try: | netsh interface set interface (nameofInterface) ENABLED | netsh interface set interface (nameofInterface) DISABLED
To get the interface names, run: | netsh interface dump It will probably be something like "Local Area Connecton 3" (with the quotes).
You can also use devcon (device control) program to do the same thing: |
On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:15:28 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :
The table right below that quote is more complete than your experiments, with differing metrics for different interfaces. Note that:
That what I was thinking of, but of course my statement wasn't correct in the general case. [blush]
So if the OP has 100BaseT, then it will automatically take over from wireless, which is what he wants. If on the other hard he has 10BaseT. then it won't trump 802.11a or 802.11g, and might not even trump
802.11b.Read on in that article for more insight on how to control the metric.
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 05:50:55 GMT, John Navas wrote in :
Since then it's been bugging me why Windows has automatically switched to lower speed connections I've made, which wouldn't seem to make sense given the above. For example, here's a route table with two Internet connections, excellent Wi-Fi "g" at a reported 54 Mbps, and EGPRS(EDGE) at under 200 Kbps over Bluetooth (with a virtual port speed of 460 Kbps):
|Active Routes: |Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric | 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.199.205.61 10.199.205.61 1 | 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 172.16.8.2 172.16.8.43 26 | 10.199.205.61 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 50 | 10.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 10.199.205.61 10.199.205.61 50 | 127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1 | 169.254.0.0 255.255.0.0 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 30 | 172.16.8.0 255.255.255.0 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 25 | 172.16.8.43 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25 | 172.16.255.255 255.255.255.255 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 25 | 192.168.100.101 255.255.255.255 10.199.205.61 10.199.205.61 1 | 224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 25 | 224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 10.199.205.61 10.199.205.61 1 | 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 10.199.205.61 3 1 | 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 10.199.205.61 10.199.205.61 1 | 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 1 |Default Gateway: 10.199.205.61
Wi-Fi "g" Interface is 172.16.8.43; EGPRS Interface is 10.199.205.61 The EGPRS Metric of 1 trumps the Wi-Fi "g" Metric of 26 (note how it was bumped up from 25 to 26), making it the Default Gateway. If I now disconnect the EGPRS:
|Active Routes: |Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric | 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 172.16.8.2 172.16.8.43 25 | 127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1 | 169.254.0.0 255.255.0.0 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 30 | 172.16.8.0 255.255.255.0 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 25 | 172.16.8.43 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25 | 172.16.255.255 255.255.255.255 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 25 | 224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 25 | 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 172.16.8.43 3 1 | 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 172.16.8.43 172.16.8.43 1 |Default Gateway: 172.16.8.2
This behavior is what I had in mind when I originally wrote, "Windows will use the last connection you make." It happens because EGPRS is a Dial-Up connection. This behavior is controlled by the option "Use default gateway on remote network" in Advanced TCP/IP Settings for Dial-up Network Adapters.
For non-Dial-up Network Adapters, Metrics can be controlled with the Interface Metric option in Advanced TCP/IP Settings. This would allow the OP to do just what he wants no matter the speeds of the wireless and wired connections.
On 10 Jul 2006 12:29:23 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in :
If your Ethernet is 100BaseT, it will always get preference over Wi-Fi when connected. 10BaseT might not, unless you do the following:
Interface Metrics control which interface will be used at any given time. To display them, Run "ROUTE PRINT" in a Command window. (To see which Interface corresponds to which IP address, Run "IPCONFIG /ALL".) The lowest Metric is given preference, and shown as the Default Route.
Metrics can be controlled with the Interface Metric option in Advanced TCP/IP Settings. To ensure what you want, set the Metric of Wireless to
40, and it will be automatically overridden by Ethernet, even 10BaseT.John Navas hath wroth:
(...)
Nice investigation. I was wondering how this worked. I had the same experience. As soon as I fired up a dialup connection, my ethernet connected network connection died and the default route went to the dialup.
I did some digging in the MS Knowledge pile and found:
An explanation of the Automatic Metric feature for Internet Protocol routes
Description of the Wireless LAN Route Table Metric Behavior
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