Tutorial

How to Make Windows Select Wired Connection Instead of Wireless Connection

Published on April 23, 2013

Normally when your laptop or desktop (with wireless in-built) is connected to a wireless connection and you connect a wired Internet connection, the network usage will still be from wireless connection. There might be instances where you want to be connected to wireless connection but want to use the Internet from a wired connection.

You can make Windows use the wired connection instead of automatically using the wireless connection. To do this, open the Network Connections in Control Panel-> All Control Panel Items-> Network Connections. You can also access it using the command ncpa.cpl in the run command (Win+R). From the file menu, select Advanced-> Advanced Settings.

In the advanced settings tab, you can see all the connections listed. The network connections are accessed in this priority. So in case you want to use the wired connection, you need to make Ethernet to the top of the list.

Click OK when you are done. Now your computer will use the wired connection as default.

Nirmal

Nirmal is a Technology Blogger and a Microsoft MVP in Windows. He can be contacted at nirmal@nirmaltv.com. You can find Nirmal on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.

13 Comments

Brian(aka brianzion) Carr
April 23, 2013 at 9:36 pm
does not work on my windows 7 64 bit home premium i set it so the wired is default rebooted and the wireless gets priority even when the setting shows wired.
Reply
- Nirmal T V
  April 24, 2013 at 2:22 pm
  Oh thats strange! This is the process to set priority, not sure why it is not picking.
  Reply
- Anindya
  April 27, 2013 at 1:08 am
  I just tried this and have the same problem . Dont work on Win 7 64bit
  Reply
adnan
April 27, 2013 at 2:39 am
This worked for me. No issues. Just had to hit the “Alt” key to get the file menu to show up.
Reply
- Nirmal T V
  April 27, 2013 at 2:20 pm
  Oh yes, I missed mentioning that on the article.
  Reply
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tjbinno
May 9, 2013 at 11:03 pm
Yup…doesn’t work on Win 7 64 bit. Really wish a solution could be found.
Reply
- Adnan
  June 1, 2016 at 8:03 pm
  i have Windows 7 64bit, i was at the Network Connections screen and pressed the “Alt” button on keyboard, File menu appeared, and selected Advanced and so on.
  Reply
nightowl
November 7, 2013 at 8:05 pm
I have Win 7 64; I followed the steps below and I was able to promote the wired connection to the top. After which I turned on my wireless switch (I used to keep turning it OFF to force the wired connection to take effect). Once I turned it on (after I followed the steps in the article), the connection icon on the tray (right bottom) shows the wireless connection (it was previously the wired connection when I had turned off the switch). Now, how do I know which of the connections are actually being used and why is the icon showing wireless? Thanks
Reply
Lisa Lyons
December 3, 2013 at 10:08 pm
Do you know if there’s a way to roll this out using GPO?
Reply
ScriptGuy
October 21, 2014 at 12:04 pm
We have tried all above solutions and many more and neither of them were working on our Windows 7 and Windows 8. We solved it by deploying a software on all our computers that automatically disconnect wireless devices when wired LAN cable is connected. You can find details about it on the following link:
http://www.lan-secure.com/WirelessAutoDisable.htm
Reply
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Hannan Ahmad
July 10, 2015 at 11:33 am
Both wireless and wired network services have their own particular benefits. With a wired connection you will get better speed and bandwidth. On the other hand, you will get more accessibility and portability if you are using a wireless connection.http://www.cnetsys.com/computer-repair/computer-repair-locations/brighton-computer-repair/
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