Learning to configure LAN connection with priority over WiFi or vice versa is important in case you have both WiFi and Ethernet.
You have probably noticed that depending on the versions of Windows, it automatically switches to Ethernet when connected. This happens due to the automatic network priority that Windows assigns to all of your network adapters.
In general, this is good. However, if you want to force one particular network over the other, then you will be forced to disable the other network adapter.
For example, when there is a problem with the broadband connection or when there is a failed result after a WiFi speed test, it tries to use the mobile data through the USB connection.
What is it, what is it for and how does the broadband connection work? These are questions that must be known to understand what is talked about in this tutorial.
However, most of the time Windows refuses to use the new connection due to its lower priority compared to the desktop Ethernet adapter.
If you have multiple network adapters, you should consider setting up LAN priority over WiFi instead of disabling the adapter.
Setting the priority of wired and wireless adapters in Windows
Some users experience connectivity issues when docking or undocking a wired connection to a wireless. Next I am going to teach you how to configure LAN connection with priority over WiFi in Windows to avoid the loss of network communication.
- You must first click on the ” Start ” button.
- Right-click on Network and then left-click on ” Properties .”
- Now that you are in the ” Network and Sharing Center ” window , you must select ” Change adapter settings “.
- On the new ” Network Connections ” page, select the ” ALT ” key on your keyboard to bring up the menu window.
- Click on the ” Advanced ” menu and then ” Advanced Settings .”
- In the ” Advanced Settings ” window you will see the ” Adapters and Bindings ” tab and in ” Connections ” you will see the order in which they are.
You can use the arrows to the side to move the priority of the ” Wireless Network Connection ” up for this example.
Change network priority through adapter settings
Through the adapter settings, you can also configure the LAN connection with priority over WiFi or vice versa. To perform this type of configuration you simply have to perform the following steps that I will show you below:
- You should first start the Settings application by clicking the ” All Settings ” button in the Notification Center or by searching for it in the Start menu.
- In the settings application, go to ” Network and Internet “, then ” Status ” and click ” Change adapter options ” in the right pane.
- The above action will open the network adapter page in control panel. Find the network adapter for which you want to increase the priority, right-click on it and select the ” Properties ” option .
- In the properties window select the option ” Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP / IPv4) ” and click on the ” Properties ” button.
- The network priority option is hidden in advanced settings. You must select the ” Advanced ” option .
- Uncheck the ” Automatic metric ” option and enter a number less than 10. Click the ” OK ” button to save the changes.
- Just as a demonstration, I am entering the lowest possible number, for example “1”.
Generally, Windows uses priority numbers above 20, so any priority below 20 should be fine. If not, you can always change it to something lower. - Close all other windows and restart the system for the changes to take effect.
That’s it. From now on the network with the highest priority will be favored over the other active networks. If you ever want to go back, just select the ” Automatic metric ” box in step 5.