Why does the Internet WI-FI connection of my laptop disconnect when I connect the ethernet cable to the LAN?

Question

Why does the Internet WI-FI connection of my laptop disconnect when I connect the ethernet cable to the LAN?

These are two separate networks, the LAN is without Internet, I just use it to connect the tablet to the laptop and smart phone in my home network.

The WI-FI is owned by the landlady and connects to the Internet.

I know it should be possible to be connected both to the Internet through WI-FI and to my other computers and gadgets through the LAN because sometimes it works, but sometimes when I connect the ethernet cable the WI-FI disconnects and I wonder why?

Pongy

OS: Windows 7

Solution

This is almost certainly due to a security policy. Windows is perfectly capable of operating wired and wireless connection simultaneously but most corporate systems impose a policy whereby, if the wire is connected, the wireless will disconnect.

In this case it is not a corporate laptop but the policy is also often imposed when you use a third party utility to control the WiFi connections. Many laptops come with these pre-installed.

Check your security settings, both in Windows itself and the WiFi driver if it is a third party add on. If there is a third party add on and it appears to be the problem, try deleting it. Just use Windows itself to control the WiFi.

Comments

[CharlieRB]

possible duplicate of Getting Internet connection by Wi-Fi when the default connection is by LAN

[uxout]

@CharlieRB - This is not a duplicate - that's asking how to prioritize one connection over the other, while this is saying that Joey can't connect both at the same time.

[Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007]

What kind of notebook is it? Many of them come with a manufacturer's utility to do this on purpose. Does it do it in Safe Mode with Networking? What have you tried already?

[Joey Hammer]

It's a Sony Vaio VPCEA3S1E (i3, Win7). Have tried fiddling with the DHCP, DNS, IPv4 settings, ipconfig /relese, ipconfig /renew, unplugging, rewiring. It worked yesterday, today not. The internet through wi-fi connection works but when I plug in the ethernet cable to the LAN it ceases to work. Funny thing is, it's just Chrome and IE etc that cannot connect anymore, Skype is still connected and some other softwares as well.

[Joey Hammer]

Also tried disconnecting the firewall already.

[Daniel R Hicks]

Odd, I've had the problem on Macs that Wi-Fi has priority over the cable, and so I get really slow access unless I turn Wi-Fi off.

[Vinayak]

Not sure if this might help, but try setting the metric of the Wi-Fi connection to a value lower than that of the Ethernet connection. Windows chooses the connection with the lowest metric value. You might have have "Automatic metric" enabled. You could disable that and set the metric manually. This post might help.