2 nics / accessing the Internet

[Steve W]

I have a laptop with a built in nic that is used at work (static address).
When I bring it home, I use a wireless card (dynamic address, different
subnet). Both connections access their local networks ok, but the only way I
can get to the Internet at home is to disable the built in connection.
Is there a way to tell XP pro to use the "active" connection to access the
Internet without disabling the other one?

[Jetro]

Network Connections menu Advanced/Advanced Settings... Wireless adapter
should be at the top of the list otherwise change the adapters binding
order. The system should memorize this order when you eject/insert wireless
adapter.

[Steve W]

I'll give it a try.

Thanks

"Jetro" wrote:

> Network Connections menu Advanced/Advanced Settings... Wireless adapter
> should be at the top of the list otherwise change the adapters binding
> order. The system should memorize this order when you eject/insert wireless
> adapter.
>
>
>

[David S]

I have a very similar problem. My PC has a built in wireless connection that
I use to access the internet. I also have a hardwired LAN that connects to my
local network. If both network connections are enabled, Internet Explorer
will only try to connect over the LAN connection. I cannot get it to use the
wireless connection unless I disable the LAN connection. After I'm on the
Internet, if I re-enable the LAN, IE traffic goes back to the LAN and will
not try to use the wireless connection.

The 2 connections are not bridged and need to remain seperate subnets. I
tried using Jetro's suggestion but it didn't help. Any other suggestion?
Thanks much.


"Steve W" wrote:

> I'll give it a try.
>
> Thanks
>
> "Jetro" wrote:
>
> > Network Connections menu Advanced/Advanced Settings... Wireless adapter
> > should be at the top of the list otherwise change the adapters binding
> > order. The system should memorize this order when you eject/insert wireless
> > adapter.
> >
> >
> >

[Jetro]

Windows assigns the cost of interface (metric) on-the-fly analysing its
declared speed. Thus 100Mbps interface (wired adapter) metric is lower than
11/22/54Mbps interface (wireless adapter) metric and IP packets are routed
on more effective (best) interface.
The problem would never happen if the wired adapter was configured using
DHCP and the wire was disconnected in default Windows environment.

Aside of switching to DHCP, the command similar to

route change 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 metric 2 if {interfaceNo}

which assigns the lower cost to the outbound route thru gateway 192... for
particular interface, could be a solution.
Fiddling around, I found another neat solution after I locked the wired
adapter on 10Mbps speed :-)