Using both wired & wireless on one PC

lucavialli

Hi, I have a computer at work which has a wired LAN connection to our works server and a wireless adapter for the internet. I need to configure the PC to only use the wireless adapter for internet access and the wired connection for everything else. I have managed to get it set up so that I am connected to both networks simultaneously, but internet explorer seems to keep trying to use the wired connection instead of the wireless. Occasionally it sorts itself out and works, but this is very intermittent!

Any ideas on how to tell Internet Explorer to only use the wireless connection.

Conor_3

Simple. Manually assign an IP address to the wired connection. Don't set a default gateway on the wired adapter.

lucavialli

Do you mean just pick a random IP address, so that it ignores it?

Belnahua

Please be careful. Is this a proper setup at work, so you connect to the Internet wirelessly, and the work's server at the same time?

You might inadvertently create a bridge between the Internet and your work's server, and compromise their data.

Conor_3

Actually, for some reason I missed the work bit. If you don't have permission to do it, you may find yourself holding your P45 if they find out.

lucavialli

Yeah that was my concern!!

[MaccA]

Hi lucavialli,

to do this you need to add whats called a static route to your PC. This tells all traffic for a certain place to use a certain connection.

In your case you would tell all traffic for your work network to use the wired connection and all other traffic to use your wireless connection.

However, this will no doubt require administrator access on your PC which you may not have if it is a work machine.

I strongly urge you to talk to your work IT staff though as this sounds like you are trying to circumvent their security and get access to something that is blocked for good reasons.

[MaccA]

lucavialli

No, I have been asked by boss in office to set a wireless internet connection up as the one provided through the work server is slow and heavily restricted. I didn't want to get our IT administrators involved as they would start asking questions!!!

I think we're just gonna have to get round it by having a dedicated machine for internet access, one which isnt connected to the work network.

Thanks for your help anyway.

Aliktren

err, I think IT have a right to be concerned - proceed at your own risk

[MaccA]

Hi lucavialli,

that made me laugh I must admit!

I am a network administrator so can assure you that internet connections are heavily restricted for the good of the organisation. People think its a pain but it'll be even more of a pain when a virus gets in and deletes all trading history or customer contact details resulting in the company being unable to operate for 24hours whilst backups are restored.

A dedicated internet PC sounds like the best idea as long as it is not connected to the corporate network, but how are you going to connect to the internet? Chances are there aren't any wireless hotspots in the area you can use meaning you'll have to use 3G which will be VERY expensive.

If you work for a large company (which I assume you do because of the slow connection and heavy restrictions) then you wont be able to plug a modem into the phone lines as they'll not be your standard home phone type connections.

You could ask your IT department to provide you with a dedicated broadband connection which is routed outside the corporate network but still appears as a socket in your department and offer to pay the cost of this as well as their administrative fee's, but if the company is a global one then policy will probably deny this.

Good luck!

[MaccA]

Belnahua

I am an administrator too, and if I caught you doing this, your machine would be confiscated faster than you could say disciplinary!