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Thread: Switch between WiFi & Lan in Windows 7

  1. #1
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    Switch between WiFi & Lan in Windows 7

    Hello guru's,
    I currently have a Dell Latitude Laptop running Windows 7. I need to know if there is any application/software that will help me switch between WiFi & LAN connection seamlessly. I need to connect to a Server that can be accessed only through LAN. So when connected to LAN, there is no internet as it is available only through the WiFi connection. So everytime I need to connect to the server I need to plug the LAN cord to the laptop, or else Internet is disabled.
    Kindly help...

  2. #2
    Senior Member michaeln's Avatar
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    Hello parikrama,

    I presume both your wifi and lan cards in the laptop are permanently enabled and that IP addresses are dhcp assigned. You would need to ensure that both DHCP servers (Lan side and Wifi Side) are on different subnets, for example the Wifi side could be 192.168.0.X 255.255.255.0 and the lan side 192.168.1.x 255.255.255.0.

    If this is the case then your connections should be seamless.

    When connected to the Lan, have you still got wifi access or is the wifi access in a different location?

    I have a desktop here with two NIC Cards, each connected to a different network (one public and one private address) without any problems.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by michaeln View Post
    Hello parikrama,

    I presume both your wifi and lan cards in the laptop are permanently enabled and that IP addresses are dhcp assigned. You would need to ensure that both DHCP servers (Lan side and Wifi Side) are on different subnets, for example the Wifi side could be 192.168.0.X 255.255.255.0 and the lan side 192.168.1.x 255.255.255.0.

    If this is the case then your connections should be seamless.

    When connected to the Lan, have you still got wifi access or is the wifi access in a different location?

    I have a desktop here with two NIC Cards, each connected to a different network (one public and one private address) without any problems.
    Thanks for the response michaeln. They are on different SUbnets.
    Both the wiFi & LAN cards are permanently enabled and the IP Addresses are DHCP assigned. The subnets are different...
    LAN - X.Y.148.A 255.255.255,0
    WiFi - X.Y.68.B 255.255.254.0

    So when I have both enabled, I am unable to access the internet. By Default the wiFi is enabled to access the internet. The LAN is only for the intranet. So to access the internet, I have to disable the LAN connection. The intranet can be accessed with both the Wifi & LAN enabled. However when both are enabled, only gtalk works. I lose connection to Thunderbird, Outlook and the Internet. I am assuming they might have blocked the ports 80 on the LAN.
    So everytime I need to go back to the Network settings and disable either LAN or wiFI to workaround this problem.
    Thanks

  4. #4
    Senior Member michaeln's Avatar
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    It looks to me as if your system is prioratising the lan card over the wifi card.

    What you could try is altering the network device metrics. If you go into the advanced TCP/IP settings for each device on your laptop (lan card and wifi card) you should see that the "metrics" are assigned as "Automatic". Un-tic the Automatic metrics tic box and assign a metric number. The lower the number, the higher the priority. I would suggest that you assign a metric of 10 to the wifi card and 20 to the lan card. This will force the system to "consider" the wifi before the lan card and in so doing will route internet traffic through the wifi card.

    It's worth a try.


    Michael

  5. #5
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    Will try that and check..
    Thanks

  6. #6
    Ultimate Member cat6's Avatar
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    Metrics - http://www.ezlan.net/metrics.html

    Or fast manual switching with this free application.

    http://www.netsetman.com/index.php?s=nsm

    .
    cat6
    MS - MVP, Networking.

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