I need to make Windows 7 STOP disabling the wifi adapter when the wired LAN is connected

Question

This is a Dell Latitude E6430. There is a setting in the bios to control this behavior and I have DISABLED it but it still happens. I am also running the latest bios.

When I plug in a network cable the wifi adapter becomes disabled. I need it to stay enabled. What else could be making this happen?

EDIT: The reason I need to do this is because with NETSH WLAN commands you can create a wifi hotspot by sharing the internet connection on the wired adapter and broadcasting a ssid on the virtual wifi nic. I do this all the time but it's not working on this laptop. I'm wondering if it's a network security thing where I am. I'm going to try from my hotel tonight and report back.

Answer 1

In my case the problem was a Windows service called "Wireless_AutoSwitch." I have no idea how or why it was installed but disabling it fixed the problem.

Answer 2

What kind of adapter does the Dell have?

For instance, here you can see that the "Intel® PROSet/Wireless" has software which can disable the WiFi when a LAN cable is connected. You need to disable that option there too.

So look in the system-tray for such software and look for that option.
(Or tell us the make/model of the WiFi adapter and we can look for it too :)

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Edit #1: (more options to try)
According to this your "Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205" can come with the "Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software". But if you can't find it in the system-tray or "Installed software" i guess it's not at fault. I doubt there is a setting in the driver for the LAN-adapter but it never hurts to check. Also check the settings of the WiFi-adapter for such option. Also remove the check here of your WiFi adapter. It might be that Windows shuts it down when a cable is detected.

And here is another option to check. You need to set the "Power Saving Mode" of your WiFi adapter (in Advanced Power options) to "Maximum Performance".

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Edit #2:
I guess you mean by you disabled it in the BIOS you did the reverse of this:

• Go to BIOS by press F12 during reboot.
• Power Mgt ==> wireless radio control
• UN-check the "Control WLAN RADIO & Control WWAN RADIO"
• Reboot the laptop.

Answer 3

For me, I had the same issue whereby when I plugged a network cable in, my wireless adapter was disabled automatically. I found that this http://www.wirelessautoswitch.com/ was running as a service "Wireless Autoswitch" on my machine. This is a paid for application that had presumably been installed by the network administrators of my work network in order to prevent intentional or accidental of bridging between networks (corporate and guest, or VPN and home for example). After stopping the service, it was possible to have the wireless network card enabled whilst a cable was connected to the wired NIC.

Answer 4

What seem to have worked for me is the metric setting. What it does is that if two internet connections are available, the data will flow through the one with lower value. This presumably also makes the connection persist, if it has the lower value, when the other one is then connected.

Wi-Fi : metric = 10 // this one will be preferred and won't disconnect
Yoga Tablet Tethering : metric = 20

Answer 5

I think this is caused by Windows' order of adapters. You can see in the screenshot below what I mean:

You can get here by opening Control Panel, Network and Internet, Network and Sharing Center, Change Adapter Settings (left side) and then press ALT once and you'll see a menu appear. Go to Advanced -> Advanced Settings. Now you will have the window open shown above in the screenshot. The idea is to put your wireless adapter as high as possible. Press OK to save. You might have to restart your PC in order to let the setting take effect.

Answer 6

I believe this a safety reason as both your wifi and Ethernet are on the same network and it would cause a conflict if both would work at the same time. Just go to your network and sharing center --> Change adapter settings, disable your wired connection and enable your WIFi.

Or just make sure the wired connection is on a different network. (It can be used for internet sharing for example)