How to Set Your WiFi Adapter to Automatically Disable When an Ethernet Cable is Connected. (Windows)
By default, Windows will automatically select a wired ethernet connection over a wireless connection when a cable is connected to your PC. (This is done for quality and speed purposes) Although the WiFi adapter isn’t being used, it continues to run in the background, needlessly draining battery power. This guide will show you how to configure your Windows 10 computer to automatically disable your WiFi Adapter whenever a Wired connection is being used.
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Because wireless connections are the easiest way to connect devices to the Internet they have become far more popular than Wired connections. What a lot of people don’t realize though is that wired connections are way faster and far more reliable than wireless connections. Even if you are only a few meters away from a WiFi router you can’t compete with the speed of a cabled connection.
Connecting your Laptop to a wired connection rather than a WiFi connection is also a great way to reduce how much power your battery uses. Obviously, this isn’t always going to be an option but is something to consider in the future. It’s also important to know that even if your computer is connected to a network or the Internet via Ethernet your WiFi adapter is still functioning in the background draining a substantial amount of power. The good news is that a lot of modern Network Adapters now allow you to configure how the two network connections interact with each other.
How to Make Windows Automatically Turn Off Your Wireless Adapter When an Ethernet Cable is Plugged in.
The first thing you need to do is make sure your wireless network adapter is enabled and connected to your WiFi network. Once it is, right-click on the WiFi icon in the system tray, then click Open Network and Sharing Center.
Next, you will need to click on the Wireless Network Connection or the name of your WiFi SSID
You will now see a small new window, here click Properties.
After clicking properties, another new window will open, on this screen click Configure.
In this window, you will see several tabs, switch to the Advanced tab and look for an option called Disabled Upon Wired Connect in the Property box. The Value for this setting should be set to Disable by Default so you will need to set it to Enabled for the function to work. Once you have flipped the option to Enabled, click Ok and exit the menu. Now, whenever you connect an ethernet cable to your computer, the Wireless adapter will be disabled, re-enabling once the cable is removed.
Note: If you don’t see the option: Disable Upon Wired Connect your device doesn’t support the function, so you will need to continue manually disabling and re-enabling the WiFi adapter on your computer when you connect an ethernet cable.