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I have two network adapters in a windows 11 (v2621.2428) computer: "Ethernet" and "Ethernet 2" (the first one is a Killer Ethernet controller, and the second a USB plug-in). "Ethernet 2" is a backup connection, has limited data, so by default (when it's working) I only want to use "Ethernet". Anyway, I had followed instructions similar to these and Windows was correctly prioritizing "Ethernet" for several years. However, about 6 months ago, I noticed (thanks to a big overage bill) that even when "Ethernet" was working fine, Windows was preferring "Ethernet 2". I re-did the steps (somehow "Ethernet 2" had become set to "automatic metric"). However, even though "Ethernet 2"'s interface metric is now set to 9999 and "Ethernet"'s interface metric is set to 1 as per screenshot below:
I also did a route -f, and rebooted the computer, windows still prefers "Ethernet 2", as per the screenshot below ("Ethernet 2"'s usage is going up and not "Ethernet"; and "Ethernet 2" has a globe beside its "connected" label, which I assume means windows is using that adapter for internet access). I also turned on metering for "Ethernet 2".
Other than the erroneous priority, both adapters work fine, so it doesn't look like a driver issue.
Is there a reliable way to ensure that "Ethernet" is prioritized over "Ethernet 2"?
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Hi Jimmy,
Type route print in CMD then press Enter. Which network adapter's gateway has the lowest Metric?
( Although you used route -f, the routing table will be generated automatically after the restart since DHCP is enabled. )
Best Regards,
Wesley
Hi Wesley,
Thanks for the response. Here are my experiments with your suggestion to use route print.
I plugged the "Ethernet 2" USB adapter in, and this time "Ethernet" remained the connection used for Internet. The following screenshot shows the "route print" output in this scenario:
I then unplugged "Ethernet 2"'s USB adapter, and plugged it in a different USB port. This time, "Ethernet 2" was prioritized over "Ethernet". Nothing else had changed, other than unplugging and re-plugging the USB adapter. The following screenshot shows the "route print" output in this scenario; note that Ethernet 2 has a higher metric (25) than Ethernet (2), but it is still being used for internet traffic:
Then, I noticed that "Ethernet 2"'s Interface Metric had been reset to "automatic" (I didn't manually change it myself, perhaps a windows update caused it to reset?) I changed it to 35, for both IPv4 and IPv6. I unplugged the USB adapter, and plugged it back in (in the same USB port as the first attempt), and once again, "Ethernet 2" was prioritized over "Ethernet" for internet access. The following screenshot shows the "route print" output in this scenario (the metric for "Ethernet 2" does seem to reflect the changes I did to the metric, 2 x 35 = 70 - I assume it's normal for the metric to be double what I entered in the configuration dialog?):
It just seems that the interface metric is completely ignored by Windows 11. Is there anything else I can do to help diagnose this?
Someone else commented that ignoring priority is now by design as Windows does "NIC Teaming": https://www.elevenforum.com/t/setting-network-adapter-priority-no-longer-works-in-windows-11.19467/post-432326
