How to disable WiFi when connected to LAN on Windows 10

You can connect to both a WiFi network and a wired network on a Windows 10 machine. Windows 10 will favor the LAN connection over the WiFi one in most cases because it’s faster and more reliable. Having them both connected at the same time doesn’t offer any advantage in terms of speed; you won’t get faster internet with two connections. Your system will simply use one connection and whatever speed it has to offer.

The one advantage of having both connections active at the same time is that if one fails, you will switch over to the other one. It doesn’t guarantee that there won’t be any interruption in traffic, only that it will recover from it quickly.

Disable WiFi when LAN is connected

Windows 10 has a built-in method for disabling the WiFi when you’re on a LAN. It’s not easily accessible, so most people do not know the feature even exists.

1. Change network adapter settings

In order to disable WiFi when connected to LAN, you need to change the network adapter settings.

1. Make sure you’re connected to a WiFi network.
2. Open File Explorer and enter the following in the location bar, and tap Enter.

Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center

3. Click your WiFi connection.
4. In the window that opens, click ‘Properties’ under the Activity section.
5. Click Configure.
6. Go to the Advanced tab.
7. Scroll through the list of properties and find ‘Disabled Upon Wired Connect‘.
8. Select it, and open the Value dropdown on the right. Set it to Enabled.
9. Restart your Windows 10 machine.

2. Set priority for LAN

If you do not have the Disabled Upon Wired Connect option, you can try the following instead.

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Expand Network Adapters.
3. Look for the network controller. It may have a name like Realtek controller or similar. If you’re not sure, try all the devices listed until you find the below options.
4. Right-click it, and select Properties.
5. Go to the Advanced tab and look for Priority & Vlan and select it.
6. Open the value dropdown and select the Enabled option.
7. Restart the system.

3. Disconnect WiFi on LAN – PowerShell

It is possible the above option doesn’t work because the Disabled Upon Wired Connect option may not be listed. In that case, you can set the WiFi to be enabled when you’re on LAN from PowerShell.

1. Open PowerShell with admin rights.
2. Download this script. Extract it. There will be two files in it.
3. Run the following command in PowerShell to allow the script to run.

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

4. Use the following command to move to the extracted folder (change the path for the folder on your system).

cd C:\Users\fatiw\Desktop\WLANManager

5. Add the script to your system with the following command.

.\WLANManager.ps1 -Install:System

6. Once the script has run, open Task Scheduler, look for a task named WLAN Manager task.
7. Restart the PC.

Removing the script

You may want to remove this script later. All you have to do is remove the WLAN Manager task from the Task Scheduler and restart your PC. If the WiFi option has disappeared from your system, open Device Manager and look under Network Adapters for disabled devices. Enable any disabled devices, and you will have WiFi back.

Another way to remove it is to open PowerShell with admin rights and run the following command.

.\WLANManager.ps1 Remove:System

4. Disconnect WiFi on LAN from GroupPolicy

You can set the WiFi to disable automatically when connected to a wired connection from the GroupPolicy. The GroupPolicy is only available on Windows 10 Professional and not on the Home edition. You can install GroupPolicy on it, but it may not work as well.

1. Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the Run box.
2. Enter the following and tap Enter.

gpedit. msc

3. Go to the following policy group.

Computer Configuration>Policies>Administrative Templates>Network>Windows Connection Manager

4. Look for a policy called Prohibit connection to non-domain networks when connected to domain authenticated network. Enable it.

5. Set Connection Priority

If none of the above options work for you, or you’re looking for something simpler, you can set the connection priority on your Windows 10 machine and have it prefer a LAN connection over WiFi when both are available.

1. Download an app called Wired WiFi Switcher.
2. Run the app, and during installation, select the LAN adapter to be prioritized over the wireless adapter.
3. Complete installation, and restart your system.

Conclusion

Managing a WiFi network on its own is easy, but when you have to manage more than one network, and the network types are different, i.e., wired and wireless, Windows 10 doesn’t have many user-friendly options. There is also the fact that different systems have different configurations. What works on one system may not work on another, which is why we have a few different solutions you can try. If all else fails, you can always give a LAN priority over WiFi without breaking your system. Alternatively, Windows 10 has an easy-to-access toggle in the Action Center that lets you turn WiFi On/Off.

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Fatima Wahab

Fatima has been writing for AddictiveTips for six years. She began as a junior writer and has been working as the Editor in Chief since 2014. Fatima gets an adrenaline rush from figuring out how technology works, and how to manipulate it. A well-designed app, something that solves a common everyday problem and looks

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