How to change the binding order of network adapters in Windows XP and in Windows 2000

This article describes how to modify the network adapters and the binding order in Microsoft Windows XP and in Microsoft Windows 2000. This article also describes how to change the interface metric on network adapters.

The following situations are situations in which you may want to change the order of the connections in the list of network adapters and bindings. These situations are also situations in which you might want to change the interface metric on a network adapter.

Note Changing the interface metric on the network adapter gives similar results:

• The Windows Sockets gethostbyname API is used to retrieve IP addresses that are assigned to a computer. The gethostbyname API returns a list of IP addresses that are assigned to all the network adapters that are installed in the multihomed computer. This list of IP addresses is returned if the host name that is sent in the query is "NULL" or if the host name that is sent by the query is the local host name of the computer.
• Some third-party device drivers that are installed require that the IP addresses that are returned by the gethostbyname API be listed in a certain order.
• When a Windows Sockets application calls the gethostbyname API to resolve the local host name to a list of IP addresses on a multihomed computer, the list may be returned in an order that does not match the binding order that is displayed in Control Panel. Or, the list may be returned in an order that does not match the order in which the IP addresses were assigned to the network adapter.
• You are deploying computers that have a wireless network adapter and a wired network connection. When the computer connects to the wired network, the wireless connection is also enabled. The two connections may cause problems in some programs, and group policies may not work as expected.

Use the methods in this article to resolve or to work around these problems. However, consider the following:

• There is no unattended way to change the order of the connections during the installation of the network adapter.
• You cannot programmatically script changes to the binding order of network adapters for a computer that is running.
• You cannot use Domain Naming System (DNS) to change the order of connections or to change the binding order because DNS does not respect the ordering.

Note This article lists the link speeds and the automatic metrics for computers that run Windows XP and Windows XP Service Pack 2.

How to change the binding order of network adapters

1. Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl , and then click OK.
   
   You can see the available connections in the LAN and High-Speed Internet section of the Network Connections window.
2. On the Advanced menu, click Advanced Settings, and then click the Adapters and Bindings tab.
3. In the Connections area, select the connection that you want to move higher in the list. Use the arrow buttons to move the connection.
   
   Notes
   • The Adapters and Bindings tab lists the connections in the order in which the connections are accessed by network services. The order of these connections reflects the order in which TCP/IP or the next available protocol is bound to the network adapters. The bindings for remote access connections apply to all remote access connections.
   • The Provider Order tab lists the network providers for this computer. You can use the arrow buttons to change the order in which these providers are accessed. You can arrange the order in which the computer accesses information about the network. Providers and other connections are accessed in the order in which the providers and the connections are listed.

How to change the interface metric on a network adapter

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: You can change the interface metric on a network adapter if you are using TCP/IP as a transport protocol because TCP/IP uses the interface metric to determine the order. You can change the interface metric to make one network adapter more favorable for all TCP/IP connections. The interface metric (IPConnectionMetric) for a network connection indicates the cost of using the routes in the IP routing table. The routes are derived from the interface configuration. The cost becomes the value in the Metric column for those routes in the IP routing table. If there are multiple routes that are a close match for the route to a destination in the IP routing table, the route that has the lowest metric is used. The range of valid values is 1 through 9999.

To view the IP routing table, type route print at the command prompt. For more information about the Automatic Metric feature that is used in Windows XP for IP routes, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To change the interface metric, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl , and then click OK.
   
   The available connections appear in the LAN and High-Speed Internet section of the Network Connections window.
2. Right-click the network adapter that you want to change, click Properties, and then click the General tab.
3. In the This connection uses the following items box, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Then, click Properties.
4. In the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box, click the General tab, and then click Advanced.
5. On the IP Settings tab, click to clear the Automatic metric check box. Then, type a value in the Interface metric box.
   
   Note In Windows 2000, change the value in the Interface metric box from the default value of 1 to a different value. The Automatic metric check box is not present.

How to create a fixed metric by changing the InterfaceMetric registry value

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: You can create a fixed metric in Windows XP or in Windows 2000 without using the route commands. You can create the fixed metric by changing the following registry key and then restarting the computer. When you create the fixed metric, you can configure a specific network adapter to have the lowest metric so that network adapter is used first.

Note The InterfaceMetric registry value is different for each network adapter.

The InterfaceMetric registry value is located in the following registry key:Configure the registry value as follows:

Determining the NetCfgInstanceId value

In this registry key, GUID is the NetCfgInstanceId value of the network adapter. To determine the NetCfgInstanceId value of the first network adapter, view the following registry subkey: To determine the NetCfgInstanceId value of the second network adapter, view the following registry subkey: The penultimate folder is numbered sequentially for all other network adapters. Or, to view all the network adapters that are installed, locate and then expand the following registry subkey: See the DriverDesc value to identify the network adapter.

In Windows 2000, the InterfaceMetric registry value does not determine the network adapter that is used first. The network adapter that is selected first also depends on the interface initialization order. The interface initialization order frequently is the same from one startup to the next startup. However, the interface initialization order is not guaranteed to be the same for every startup.

In Windows XP and in Windows 2000, set the metric of the preferred network adapter to be lower than the metrics of the other adapters. Setting the metric lower means that the network adapter has a higher priority. The metric takes precedence in the network adapter order. You can set the metric in the TCP/IP properties.

The following information indicates the settings that you must use to set the metric of the preferred network adapter:

Sample route metrics and link speeds

Windows XP automatically sets relative route metrics based on link speeds such as the following. For more information and for an updated table that contains the link speeds and the metrics for Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computers, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Windows 2000 does not automatically set relative route metrics. Use the following netsh command to verify the current settings of each active interface. To do this, type the following at the command prompt: This command creates output that is similar to the following:Note An InterfaceMetric value of 0 in the output indicates an automatic metric.

For more information about how to modify the IP connection metric for a network adapter, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) tasks for networking, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about the Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration WMI class, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

How to set the interface metric by using a script

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

==== snip - Start of script code Set_Wireless_NIC_IPMetric.vbs script ====
On Error Resume Next

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

regValueDataMetric = "35"

Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * From Win32_NetworkAdapter Where NetConnectionID = 'Wireless Network Connection'")

For Each objItem in colItems
strMACAddress = objItem.MACAddress
Wscript.Echo "MACAddress: " & strMACAddress
Next

Set colNetCard = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * From Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration where IPEnabled=TRUE")

For Each objNetCard in colNetCard
If objNetCard.MACAddress = strMACAddress Then
For Each strIPAddress in objNetCard.IPAddress
Wscript.Echo "Description: " & objNetCard.Description
Wscript.Echo "IP Address: " & strIPAddress
Wscript.Echo "IPConnectionMetric: " & objNetCard.IPConnectionMetric
objNetCard.SetIPConnectionMetric(regValueDataMetric)
Next
End If
Next
==== snip - End of VBS script ====

INetCfgComponent:Initialize
INetCfg::QueryNetCfgClass( INetCfgClass )
INetCfgClass:: EnumComponents()
Call SetAsPrimary("Backup Network Connection") ' Set Backup network as primary
Call SetAsPrimary("Primary Network Connection") ' Set Primary as primary, now Backup is secondary
INetCfg::Uninitialize
INetCfg::Release

Subroutine SetAsPrimary(Adapter)
For each component ' For each enumerated component
DisplayName = INetCfgComponent::GetDisplayName( INetCfgComponentBindings ) ' Get Adapter display name
If DisplayName = Adapter Then
InetCfgComponentBindings::MoveBefore(INetCfgComponent,Null) ' Move adapter binding to Primary
Exit For Loop
End If
end For
End Sub

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about Microsoft Windows Server 2003 TCP/IP implementation details, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about network configuration interfaces, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about the INetCfgComponentBindings interface, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about the INetCfgComponentBindings::MoveBefore method, visit the following Microsoft Web site: