Yes, you can prioritize a wired Ethernet connection over Wi-Fi in Windows 11. Here’s how you can do it:
- Open Control Panel: Type "Control Panel" in the Windows search bar and hit Enter.
- Network and Sharing Center: Navigate to "Network and Sharing Center."
- Change Adapter Settings: Click on "Change adapter settings" on the left sidebar.
- Ethernet Properties: Right-click on your Ethernet connection and select "Properties."
- Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4): Select this option and click on "Properties."
- Advanced Settings: Click on "Advanced" and uncheck "Automatic metric."
- Set Interface Metric: Enter a lower number (e.g., 10) for the Ethernet connection. This gives it higher priority.
- Wi-Fi Properties: Repeat the steps for your Wi-Fi connection, but enter a higher number (e.g., 20) for the Interface metric.
By setting a lower metric number for the Ethernet connection, Windows will prioritize it over Wi-Fi whenever both are available2.
If you prefer using PowerShell, you can also change the network adapter priorities with the following commands:
- Open PowerShell as an administrator.
- Run the command Get-NetIPInterface to list all network adapters and their interface index numbers.
- Use the command Set-NetIPInterface -InterfaceIndex "XX" -InterfaceMetric "YY" to set the priority, where XX is the interface index and YY is the desired metric.
This should ensure that your device always uses the wired Ethernet connection when it’s available. If you need more detailed instructions, you can find them here.