Swapping between wireless and wired networking

[Orc]

I have a wireless enabled Windows 7 laptop which connects to my home network
normally when the network cable is unplugged or via the cable when it is
plugged in from boot. If I plug the network cable once connected to the
wireless, to gain extra speed when copying files etc, the laptop continues
to use the wireless over the wired route.

On my XP machines it would switch seamlessly to the fastest.

Is this a new and undocumented feature of windows 7 or do I need to change a
setting to make it swap automatically?

Thanks for your help

Orc

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I have a wireless enabled Windows 7 laptop which connects to my home network
normally when the network cable is unplugged or via the cable when it is
plugged in from boot. If I plug the network cable once connected to the
wireless, to gain extra speed when copying files etc, the laptop continues to
use the wireless over the wired route.

On my XP machines it would switch seamlessly to the fastest.

Is this a new and undocumented feature of windows 7 or do I need to change a
setting to make it swap automatically?

Thanks for your help

Orc

Try rebooting after plugging the cable in, since evidently that works.

 

[Orc]

Thanks
but that's not a very sophisticated solution.
I can just disable the wireless and then restart it but that's not the point
in XP you didn't have to and that seems odd me.
Previously I could swap between wired and wireless without doing any other
action I.E. while the large file was being copied. Now I have to stop the
copy, turn off the wireless and start again.

do you have any other suggestion?

Orc

 

[Seth]

Thanks
but that's not a very sophisticated solution.
I can just disable the wireless and then restart it but that's not the
point
in XP you didn't have to and that seems odd me.
Previously I could swap between wired and wireless without doing any other
action I.E. while the large file was being copied. Now I have to stop the
copy, turn off the wireless and start again.

Are you sure it was XP that was doing that and not a utility supplied by the
OEM? I have always used OEM utilities for that on my machines so I can't
remember if XP actually had that built-in.

 

[Orc]

There was no application involved as far as I know

if I was moving a file across the LAN via the wireless and plugged in the
network cable the transfer rate would rise from the wireless rate to the
cabled rate.
watching the task manage I can see the network traffic move from the
wireless graph to the wired and back if unplugged. I have 2 XP machine -
different makes that do this.

If there was some background program outside XP monitoring and controlling
this behavior I'm not aware of it but the machines used different wireless
card (integrated on one usb on the other)

Orc

 

[The Seabat]

Go to Network connections (quickest way is to just type it in the
address bar). Next, press alt and let go, then go to Advanced, and
click Advanced Settings. You should be able to reorder the preference
of connections.

 

[SC Tom]

I have a wireless enabled Windows 7 laptop which connects to my home
network normally when the network cable is unplugged or via the cable when
it is plugged in from boot. If I plug the network cable once connected to
the wireless, to gain extra speed when copying files etc, the laptop
continues to use the wireless over the wired route.

On my XP machines it would switch seamlessly to the fastest.

Is this a new and undocumented feature of windows 7 or do I need to change
a setting to make it swap automatically?

Thanks for your help

Orc

On my Gateway running Win7 Home Premium 32-bit, when I plug my UTP cable in,
it becomes the primary connection, even with wireless still enabled. If I
open Task Manager and go to the Networking tab, then run one of the internet
speed tests (Speakeasy or Argonne usually), the majority of the activity is
on the UTP connection. I can unplug it, run the test again, and the wireless
(of course) is running. Then when I plug the UTP cable back in and run the
tests, it becomes primary again.
The NIC is a Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller (built-in) and the wireless
is an Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN. There's only one icon in the system
tray, unlike my old Compaq which had an icon for each connection (although I
had XP Home on it). You might want to check your laptop's website for any
driver updates for Win7, although I'm not too sure that would be much help.
Gateway has no Win7 drivers for mine- I had to rely on Vista drivers.

 

[Orc]

Thanks
I've set the wired network for priority but that doesn't change the behavior
of staying with the wireless when the cable is plugged in during the
transfer

Orc

 

[Orc]

Thanks,

It could we be an issue with the network cards and drivers rather that Win 7
then.
(my apologies to Microsoft if it is)
I'll see if there are any newer dell drivers - but won't hold my breathe!)

Cheers

Orc

 

[Orc]

I've checked the drivers,

the wireless card was up to date but the wired card wasn't so that is now up
to date

testing again and the same behavior exists when plugging or unplugging the
network cable.

Thanks for the suggestion

Orc

 

[SC Tom]

You're welcome. Sorry it didn't work for you.

 

[Roy Smith]

I have a wireless enabled Windows 7 laptop which connects to my home
network normally when the network cable is unplugged or via the cable
when it is plugged in from boot. If I plug the network cable once
connected to the wireless, to gain extra speed when copying files etc,
the laptop continues to use the wireless over the wired route.

On my XP machines it would switch seamlessly to the fastest.

Is this a new and undocumented feature of windows 7 or do I need to
change a setting to make it swap automatically?

Thanks for your help

Just so you don't feel left out, you're not the only one that's noticed
this same behavior. This happens with my laptop as well and it didn't
happen with Windows XP. So I Googled WIndows 7 network priority and
came across this:

1. Click the Start Button
2. Right Click "Network" and then left Click Properties
3. From the "Network And Sharing Center" window click "Change Adapter
Settings"
4. On the "Network Connections" window, press the ALT key on your
keyboard to bring up
the menu bar
5. Click the "Advanced" menu and then "Advanced Settings"
6. In the "Advanced Settings" window you will see the "Adapters and
Bindings" tab and under
"Connections" you will see the order they are in, you can use the
arrows to the side to
move the connection priority up and down.

Now reboot, and after the pc has restarted your wired lan card will have
a higher priority over the wireless card. Both will still connect, but
the wired lan card will get all the network traffic when it's network
cable is plugged in.

--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium

Timestamp: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 1:56:01 PM

 

[Roy Smith]

I have a wireless enabled Windows 7 laptop which connects to my home
network normally when the network cable is unplugged or via the cable
when it is plugged in from boot. If I plug the network cable once
connected to the wireless, to gain extra speed when copying files etc,
the laptop continues to use the wireless over the wired route.

On my XP machines it would switch seamlessly to the fastest.

Is this a new and undocumented feature of windows 7 or do I need to
change a setting to make it swap automatically?

Thanks for your help

To add to this, I've come across a small program that will automatically
switch between your Wireless and Wired network cards. It comes with a
30 day trial, and it only costs $7.95 (USD) for the registered version.
You can get it here:

http://www.wirelessautoswitch.com/

--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium

Timestamp: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 2:16:02 PM

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

My apologies. I should have realized that sophistication was more
important than function.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Are you sure it was XP that was doing that and not a utility supplied by
the OEM? I have always used OEM utilities for that on my machines so I
can't remember if XP actually had that built-in.

I'll confirm what Orc said, I've done what he said, which is to simply
unplug the cable, or replug it in, and it would quickly switch over to
preferring the wired ethernet connection over the unwired one.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Orc]

No problem, but rebooting didn't achieve the objective of switching
"seamlessly" between wired and wireless networks while in the process of
down loading a file and was one stage worse that the option I had already
explored of temporarily disabling the wireless receiver.

 

[Orc]

Thanks,

I've already changed the priority but it doesn't solve the problem of the
network not changing or stopping when I want to change medium from air to
copper.

 

[Orc]

Cheers,
it's not causing me $8 of stress yet (about $3 of annoyance at the moment)
so I'll keep your link to hand but hold off for a while.

Orc

 

[John McGaw]

I have a wireless enabled Windows 7 laptop which connects to my home
network normally when the network cable is unplugged or via the cable
when it is plugged in from boot. If I plug the network cable once
connected to the wireless, to gain extra speed when copying files etc,
the laptop continues to use the wireless over the wired route.

On my XP machines it would switch seamlessly to the fastest.

Is this a new and undocumented feature of windows 7 or do I need to
change a setting to make it swap automatically?

Thanks for your help

Orc

I have the same sort of problem with Vista on my notebook so it isn't a
totally new problem. Have never found a fix except to fiddle around with it
until it starts doing what I want -- no pattern that I can see.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

No problem, but rebooting didn't achieve the objective of switching
"seamlessly" between wired and wireless networks while in the process of down
loading a file and was one stage worse that the option I had already explored
of temporarily disabling the wireless receiver.

Fair enough.