Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
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It's definitely possible to have multiple network connections to the same computer. But in order to make sense, they really need to be different networks. Otherwise you might not get the results you're looking for.
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By different networks I mean ... well, different networks. Different collections of machines.
Here's what I mean: you current have two machines, A and B, that are connected to a wireless network. I presume that you can, for example, copy files between the two machines today. If you connect both of them to a wired network, in addition, then there are two paths to get between the machines: the wireless connection and the wired one.
How does Windows decide which to use? Well, while I'm sure there's an algorithm behind it, the best way to think of it is that the first time the two machines try to talk to each other, the connection used is selected randomly - it could be on either network. From then on (I believe until both machines are rebooted, or their cache of network information is flushed), the conversations between the two machines happen across the single network.
In your case if they happen to choose the wireless network, then you haven't solved you problem.
Now, if the hardwired network is a different network ... meaning that machines on the wireless network cannot connect to machines on the wired network, then adding both machines to the wired network may work, but only if you remove one of them from the wireless network, so they can't "find each other" via the wireless path.
But my question is this: if the two networks are really the same network - meaning that you can get to all the same resources using either the wired or the wireless networks - and you need to connect to the wired network for speed - why stay connected to the wireless? Clearly you're tethered by wire, so the machines certainly aren't mobile.
I'd simply avoid the entire issue and disable the wireless adapters in the two machines, connect them both to the wired network, and be done with it.
Article C2383 - July 7, 2005
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
I have a desktop with single NIC .I want to use this NIC to access different LANs without changing my IP settings and default gateway every time. I heard about route add commands but don't know how to use it.I want to use same LAN card for two of my office application softwares using different networks and for accessing internet though broadband router
Posted by: Anonymous at October 11, 2011 4:10 AMplz help....................
My friend and i live 3 houses away from each other. We both have internet and would like to be able to network our two home networks together.
The issue is that we dont want to go through the internet to connect as we would like to share files without using up our ISP bandwidth limits.
I have a router in my shed that we can both connect to from inside our houses (i could even run an ethernet cable out there if needed but my friend cant). We would like to maintain our own seperate internet connections for standard use. But we want to network our networks together via the shed router.
Is this possible and how would we do it? We assume a lot of static ip addresses and renaming one default gateway ip address so that i dont inadvertantly start using his internet or vice-versa.
Thank you
Posted by: Qillz at October 31, 2011 8:47 AMI have 2 network , one is internal LAN & other is Internet. We have created workgroup in internal Lan using netgear router. Also we have an internet connection which is connected via device (Modem + router) by which we have connected our PC , but now when we connect to LAN then internet not work, & if disable Lan , than internet starts working
Posted by: Manpreet at November 12, 2011 5:01 AMMy PC has 2 Ethernet Card by which both network works
wow lots going on in this article.
@thomask - yes you can. if your ip addresses are configured properly you should be able to see recources on both networks. ensure that ip addresses do not overlap int he two networks and you should be fine. e.g 192.168.1.101 cannot be reached through your 10.x.x.x connection.
@Aran the newer windows xp and onwards do not have htis problem i have had upto 4 connections with DHCP enabled working and resources being access thru all four at times. However the setup for this kind of network is hard. static is not the only route. Ensuring there are no address collisions and a proper DNS setup on the networks can bypass a lot of these issues.
@Anonymous - Static might be your only route with reservation on all networks you need to connect to. also you could aggregate this into a VLAN through a switch and access it that way but that might require expensive switch and time to properly set it up and manage it.
@Qillz - assuming you have windows 7 and the shed router can broadcast a wireless signal, you could possibly set it up this way. Internet -> your computer's first NIC. second NIC to router in the shed. and enable file sharing services for the shed connection. Assuming your friends house can see the wireless signal he can setup a router with DDwrt or other solutions and rebroadcast your signal to his house.
@ Manpreet ensure your gateway ips are unique and not in the same range. e.g if your ip is 192.168.156.1 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 then you should not have any addresses ont he other network within the range of 192.168.156.1 - 192.168.156.255 if you do then your windows will reroute your traffic looking for your gateways ip on the other network and when the gateway is not found or when the ip supposed to be the gateway cannot connect to the internet your internet connection will show to be down. Also this problem is also related with your OS as the new OS can auto detect which connection has Internet and reroute Internet request to there. E.g windows 7 when connected to any network will determine if Internet in available an route traffic accordingly. you are likely using xp.
For any of these solutions please feel free to post asking for more details here i will try to check when I can for updates or if i forget i am sure Leo can provide further help.
Posted by: Morpheus Exegis at January 4, 2012 9:26 AMI have a desktop with single NIC .I want to use this NIC to access different LANs without changing my IP settings and default gateway every time. I heard about route add commands but don't know how to use it.I want to use same LAN card for two of my office application softwares using different networks and for accessing internet though broadband router
Posted by: Hemanta Kumar Gaur at January 4, 2012 11:54 PMplz help....................