Title: Tip: Modify Windows Vista network connections priorities
Slug: tip-modify-windows-vista-network-connections-priorities
Date: 2009-03-14 05:41:00
Author: Kartones
Lang: en
Tags: Systems-IT, Windows, Troubleshooting
Description: A tip on how to modify Windows Vista network connections priorities to avoid confusion between LAN and Wireless networks, ensuring the preferred connection is always used.

 <p>This is a quick tip for a problem that I had with my development laptop at home.</p>  <p>I have a LAN network, and a Wireless subnetwork (for those pcs outside my "workshop" room). If I booted my laptop with the wireless router switched on (and the LAN cable plugged), Vista got confused about what network to set, and I ended having to re-disable my wireless, unplug and re-plug the cable. Even with Wireless off on the laptop, an ASUS application tried to connect to wireles if available at Windows start time.</p>  <p>But a colleage at work told me how to fix this once and for all :)</p>  <p>We have to go to network connections:</p>  <p><img src="https://images.kartones.net/posts/kartonesblog/network_conns_priority_01.jpg"> </p>  <p>And in my case, open the Properties of the LAN connection.</p>  <p>Open the IPV4 TCP/IP properties, click on the Advanced button, and in the lower part we will se a check called "Automatic metric":</p>  <p><img src="https://images.kartones.net/posts/kartonesblog/network_conns_priority_02.jpg"> </p>  <p>This means that by default, it is left to the OS to choose the preference of the network. If you uncheck it and set a 1 as the value, you will assign the highest priority to LAN, so that even if the wireless is on, it will prefer LAN to it.</p>  <p>And that's all, problem solved!</p>  <p> </p>  <p>Another situation in which this can happen is when you have a VPN connection; Vista might prefer any non-VPN connection, leaving you without connection. Set the VPN metric to 1, apply and there you go :)</p>