Re: With both wireless & ethernet connected, which connection does Windows use?

On Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:52:20 GMT, AnthonyL wrote:

>>When a WinXP computer has both a wireless connection (54 Mbps) and an
>>ethernet connection (100 Mbps), how does Windows choose which connection to
>>actually use?

> Go to the command prompt and type Route Print
See the "route print" below.
It's kind of hard to understand.
There are multiple "25" metrics.
Which one does it use?
Lan or Wan?

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\>route print
================================================== =========================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x2 ...00 22 14 ac 03 28 ...... Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
- Pac
ket Scheduler Miniport
0x3 ...00 6f 16 95 bc 9e ...... Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
- Packet Scheduler Miniport
================================================== =========================
================================================== =========================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface
Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.40 192.168.1.102 25
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.40 192.168.1.101 20
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 20
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 25
192.168.1.101 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20
192.168.1.102 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25
192.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 20
192.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 25
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 20
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 25
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 1
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.40
================================================== =========================
Persistent Routes:
None

In message <(E-Mail Removed)> Judy Zappacosta
<(E-Mail Removed)> was claimed to have wrote:

>
>On Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:52:20 GMT, AnthonyL wrote:
>
>>>When a WinXP computer has both a wireless connection (54 Mbps) and an
>>>ethernet connection (100 Mbps), how does Windows choose which connection to
>>>actually use?
>
>> Go to the command prompt and type Route Print
>See the "route print" below.
>It's kind of hard to understand.
>There are multiple "25" metrics.
>Which one does it use?
>Lan or Wan?
>
>================================================= ==========================
>Active Routes:
>Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface
>Metric
> 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.40 192.168.1.102 25
> 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.40 192.168.1.101 20
> 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 20
> 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 25
> 192.168.1.101 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20
> 192.168.1.102 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25
> 192.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 20
> 192.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 25
> 127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
> 224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 20
> 224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 25
> 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.101 192.168.1.101 1
> 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.102 192.168.1.102 1
>Default Gateway: 192.168.1.40
>================================================= ==========================

There aren't any duplicated routes with the same metric here, but
rather, you have two almost identical routing options for any particular
destination, one with a metric of 20 and the other with a metric of 25.

The only routes that aren't exactly duplicated are the 192.168.1.101 and
192.168.1.102 routes which are routed as loopback addresses.

Since 20 wins over 25, 192.168.1.101 will be the default interface.

If you have a laptop look for a physical switch on the computer to switch off the wireless.

Or from the software end of things, you can go to your network connections, locate the wireless network device, right click on it and hit disable.

After you disable the wireless card, you computer will default to the Ethernet cable.

On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:21:16 +0000 (UTC), Judy Zappacosta
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:08:39 -0700 (PDT), bod43 wrote:
>
>> The top two determine which interfaces are used for
>> traffic sent to your router,
>
>I first ran an "ipconfig /all" which defined the LAN at 192.168.1.101 and
>the WAN at 192.168.1.102.

The ipconfig command doesn't tell you that. It tells you the IP
address assigned to each network interface, their respective subnet
masks, gateways, and DNS servers.

What you found is that one of your network interfaces is assigned the
IP address 192.168.1.101 and the other network interface is assigned
the IP address 192.168.1.102.

LAN = local area network, the network on your side of the router.
WAN = wide area network, everything on the other side of the router.

>Then I ran a "route /print" which reported the 192.168.1.101 metric cost
>was 20 and the 192.168.1.102 metric cost was 25.

The command is simply "route print", not "route /print", but you got
it right since you saw the metrics.

>So, given your information, I can conclude the WinXP PC is using the LAN
>which has a lower metric cost than the WAN.

LAN and WAN are again misused here, but you're correct that one
interface (with the lower metric) is given priority over the other
interface (with the higher metric).

>Is a "20" a "decent" metric cost?

The actual metric values are unimportant. The important thing is their
values relative to each other.

On Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:22:59 +0000 (UTC), Judy Zappacosta
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:18:43 -0500, Char Jackson wrote:
>
>>>Is a "20" a "decent" metric cost?
>> The actual metric values are unimportant. The important thing is their
>> values relative to each other.
>
>I was accidentally using WAN to mean the wireless area network and the LAN
>to be the wired network but I do see what you mean.
>
>So this seems to work to tell which network interface card is being used
>when there are more than one network interface cards:
>
>(1) Run "ipconfig /all" to figure out which network interface card is
>associated with each IP address

Good.

>(2) Run "route print" to figure out which IP address has the lowest metric
>(the first two lines of the output).

Good.

>(3) The IP address with the lowest metric is the one being used; the other
>IP address is not being used.

I'd rewrite that to say, "The network interface with the lowest metric
is the one being used by default." Other network interface(s) would be
used if specific route statements apply to them.

>Did I get it right this time?

Very good.