Wireless adapter picks up newly found network...

Some of our users use laptops as their base desktop. When they are working
they are connected to the internal network via their base station. From time
to time their laptops pick up a wireless network , disconnects from the
internal network and tries to connect to the wireless. Most use the microsoft
network adapter software(as apposed to say an IntelPro software that might
come along with our newer ones)
Is there a way to stop the laptop from from doing this while connected to
the lan?

I did set one pc with different hardware profiles (docked and undocked) but
was wondering if there was another way.

Found in the management area for wireless connections of windows (XP). There
can set your preferred access point(s) and ignore all others. As for the
behavior of connection to other access points; this is normal and very
native. For the most part the wireless receiver in the pc tends to look at
the strongest signal first.

Is there a way to tell not to connect thru the wireless adapter if the pc is
connected to the hardwired lan?

With one user we just told him to disable the wireless adapter while he's in
the office. However with some users we have them locked down where they can
do that.

"Mr. Smith" wrote:

> Found in the management area for wireless connections of windows (XP). There
> can set your preferred access point(s) and ignore all others. As for the
> behavior of connection to other access points; this is normal and very
> native. For the most part the wireless receiver in the pc tends to look at
> the strongest signal first.
>
>
>
>
>

Well I can't see why you just don't have them shut off the WiFi in office.
You see its like this, your wireless for the most part is a virtual network
cable and your WiFi card is its network card (NIC), now you already have a
NIC that the user is jacked in on. If you are using wireless in off and the
user also plugs into the network their laptop they will now have two
connections to the same network, thus 2 IP addresses for one machine.



This may cause some confusion as the user system has to now decide on witch
network interface to communicate on. To be honest I would just turn the
WiFi off. Better yet if you run WiFi in your office network I would keep
all wireless connection on a different subnet than you wired network.

This is for security reasons and just good traffic shaping.

wtjohnson wrote:

> Is there a way to tell not to connect thru the wireless adapter if the
> pc is connected to the hardwired lan?
>
> With one user we just told him to disable the wireless adapter while
> he's in the office. However with some users we have them locked down
> where they can do that.
>
Yes, you can do this by changing the metric values. Here is information
from MVP Steve Winograd on that:

When multiple Internet connections are available, WXP uses the one that
has the lowest "metric" value. If both of your connections are
enabled, assign a lower metric to the one that you want to use for
Internet access, and assign a higher metric to the other one.

To assign a metric to a network connection:

1. Open the Network Connections folder.
2. Right click the desired connection.
3. Click Properties | Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
4. Click Properties | Advanced.
5. Un-check "Automatic metric".
6. Enter a number between 1 and 9999 for the "Interface metric".

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

Malke,

Thanks for that info... I didnt know this.

Mr. Smith wrote:

> Malke,
>
> Thanks for that info... I didnt know this.

You're welcome. I always look to Steve Winograd for networking guidance.
Here are some of his links:

http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/faq.htm
http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/myths.htm

He has also written quite a few articles on
www.practicallynetworked.com.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

Thanks. I will look this over and asimilate.

We do not have everyone on XP. Some are still on W2K. Also we don't have
WiFi in house at this time. These networks are in the area and depending on
where in the building you are you pick up their signals.

"Malke" wrote:

> Mr. Smith wrote:
>
> > Malke,
> >
> > Thanks for that info... I didnt know this.
>
> You're welcome. I always look to Steve Winograd for networking guidance.
> Here are some of his links:
>
> http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/faq.htm
> http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/myths.htm
>
> He has also written quite a few articles on
> www.practicallynetworked.com.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
>