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    Auto connect to ethernet and not wireless

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by eats7, Sep 7, 2011.

  1. eats7

    eats7 Notebook Evangelist

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    hey guys,

    i have my house wireless but have it wired in my bedroom. it connects to wifi fine but when i connect my ethernet cord, it connects but the internet remains using the wifi. the only way to use the wired is to turn of my wifi card. on my old computer it would auto connect to ethernet as soon as i connected the cord, and would take precedence over the wifi. how can i fix this?
     
    eats7, Sep 7, 2011
    #1
  2. Croatoan

    Croatoan Notebook Consultant

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    have a look through your wireless settings, either remove the wireless network of remove the option to connect automatically.

    You would have been given this option when you first logged on to the network. I'm wired on this machine.

    Network and Sharing centre then adapter settings I think :)
     
    Croatoan, Sep 8, 2011
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  3. eats7

    eats7 Notebook Evangelist

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    but i DO want it to auto connect to wireless, but only when not connected to ethernet. the problem is, it would rather be connected to wireless, even when the ethernet is connected. only way around it, is to turn off wifi.. which is a pain to do in my networking course. i've looked into metrics and changed the settings but to no avail.
     
    eats7, Sep 8, 2011
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  4. chqshaitan

    chqshaitan Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi bud,

    the way around this is to set the metric value under the ip settings for the ethernet card so the value is 1, as opposed to automatic.

    This way it will route all traffic via the ethernet while it is connected, and use the wireless as the backup.
     
    chqshaitan, Sep 9, 2011
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  5. GIJoeMyGoodness

    GIJoeMyGoodness Notebook Geek

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    Another quick way is just to use the Fn + F3 (WiFi) button and disable WiFi. It will then default to ethernet. When you unplug, just enable the WiFi adapter again. Takes seconds.
     
    GIJoeMyGoodness, Sep 11, 2011
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  6. thewooddogg

    thewooddogg Notebook Enthusiast

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    Good tip! Thanks!
     
    thewooddogg, Sep 11, 2011
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