Defining which Network connection to use for Internet access

Ginger · 12-06-2006 4:02pm #1

Hi

I have 3 NICs on my machine, 2 *1000BaseT and 1 802.11G.

My wireless one uses the wireless router to access the web and the other NICs are generally unused except when I use them to copy information from machines that connected via a crossover cable.

Problem is this. I would like to use my internet connection while this information is being copied but for some reason IE and all other apps go through the NIC rather than the Wireless.

How can i set it up that it uses the wireless card rather the gig nics...

layke · 12-06-2006 4:53pm

In your network settings just use the IP of your wireless as the gateway.

The problem is windows detects a faster connection through the NIC and thats the reason it's defaulting to that adapter.

Use static IP's.

g'luck.

SickBoy · 13-06-2006 10:53am

Right click my network places and click properties, click advanced then click advanced settings and from there you have an option to change the connection order. Move the wireless to the top, that way it should always use that route first.

Ginger · 13-06-2006 12:54pm

Sickboy you might be onto something.

layke .. Cant use static IPs, the Router uses DHCP.

Will try this evening and let you know

THanks

Capt'n Midnight · 13-06-2006 1:21pm

route print - will list the routes you use. if two routes can go somewhere the one with the lowest metric will win. Dialup usually gets a lower metric than gigabit card :rolleyes:

to route all internet traffic via router 192.168.1.1 (not the NIC address)
route add -p 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1

SouperComputer · 13-06-2006 4:20pm

layke .. Cant use static IPs, the Router uses DHCP.

Doesnt matter. You can still use a static IP. Though, Ideally, move the DHCP range up by 5 (eg from x.x.x.0-254 to x.x.x.5-254) on the router then specify the IP's manually on the client machines. If you dont do this, It may try to assign the IP allready allocated to your static machines to a another computer on the network.

Some routers allow you to force an IP address for a particular machine either by MAC address or NetBIOS name, might be worth a try too.

Anyway, static IP with the gateway missing from one of the connections is the most reliable way to go.

Capt'n Midnight · 13-06-2006 6:51pm

Ipconfig will tell you if the NIC and WiFI are on the same or different subnets

if on different subnets a simple route would suffice
if on the same then youd best change them since you can use the interface parameter in route to set it, it's not the best.

there is a whole world of IP setup in NETSH if you 2K / XP etc.

Defining which Network connection to use for Internet access

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