Define which network connection to use

Luke

Luke

Luke

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I have a laptop that has two network connections - one Ethernet, one wireless.
The system uses the Ethernet by default for everything if both are connected.

Is there any way I can get the system (inc Internet Explorer) to use the Ethernet, but Firefox to use the wireless connection?

At the moment, if I want to use the wireless, then I have to disable the ethernet.

The OS is Windows XP SP2.
 
emailiscrap said:
I have a laptop that has two network connections - one Ethernet, one wireless.
The system uses the Ethernet by default for everything if both are connected.

Is there any way I can get the system (inc Internet Explorer) to use the Ethernet, but Firefox to use the wireless connection?

At the moment, if I want to use the wireless, then I have to disable the ethernet.

The OS is Windows XP SP2.
Click to expand...

I am confused why would you want to use both connections for different apps? Just disable one when your not using it in control panel > network conenctions
 
That's not really much of a help. If I didn't want to use them both, I'd not have posted a question asking how I could achieve this...
 
Munky1080 said:
If they are two different physical connection, I'd bridge them to get faster speed :)
Click to expand...

when bridging, what happens to the connection if say i bridge a wireless+wired connection (can i do that?) and i'm copying a file across the network and the wireless signal gets really bad or disconnects entirely?
 
Right click My Network Places and choose properties.
Click Advanced then Advanced Settings.
Choose your order.
 
Looking closer to what I'm after, but I can't see any setting in there that would allow me to set a default for Firefox...?
 
Last edited:
i think technically speaking what your asking is impossible, one suggestion might be to use a virtual machine and thus have essentially 2 PC's each of which could run using a different default connection. But even then i see issues. This really is an incredibly complex exercise and yet you dont explain why you would want such a thing!

Lets say your looking to download from a hacked/unprotected wireless conn and then also from a legit wired conn. Bridging and useng them together would be easier.

But then you wouldnt be doing that eh
 
You're almost right in what you are guessing!
Yes, I want to use a corporate ethernet connection for most system functions, but use an adsl line via wireless for browsing. No hacking involved at all. What I'm doing is legit, but it's a faff to keep disabling and enabling connections.

If it's not possible, then that's fair enough. I just thought there would be a way of doing it.
 
If you had a proxy on one or other of the connections, and configured the appropriate browser to use it, you could use a route to shift data to the proxy's IP via the appropriate interface (if the two interfaces were in different subnets, it should happen anyway).
 
Each network connection will have a metric number associated with it, when there are 2 possible routes to the same network then the net with the lower metric will be used. The LAN NIC will have a lower metric then the wireless hence why if the LAN cable is connected that will always be used.

As said above you could run proxy services or even allocate differing network addresses on the LAN and WAN but then you'd need a router somewhere to route between the 2 nets.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Each network connection will have a metric number associated with it, when there are 2 possible routes to the same network then the net with the lower metric will be used. The LAN NIC will have a lower metric then the wireless hence why if the LAN cable is connected that will always be used.

As said above you could run proxy services or even allocate differing network addresses on the LAN and WAN but then you'd need a router somewhere to route between the 2 nets.
Click to expand...

hadnt thought of that, create a router interface between the LAN and the wired network and put your wired conn on a different network entirely interfacing via the router.

Nice
 
emailiscrap said:
That's not really much of a help. If I didn't want to use them both, I'd not have posted a question asking how I could achieve this...
Click to expand...

Nobody knows your knowledge? You could have been asking a stupid question as far as I was concerned. If you had let us know abit more why you require this answers could have gone a lot further.
 
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