I was hoping to get some feedback from the community about routing in Windows, specifically when both wireless & wired connections are active. (If you care to go into how Windows determines best route, whether or not it ever refreshes, what happens if an interface is introduced or removed etc. I'm up for that as well as it may help me get a better understanding as to why I'm seeing what I'm seeing) I've looked at a number of resouces (bottom) but most of them are old and were written with Windows XP in mind. Some are newer but don't necessarily contain the information I'm hoping to obtain so I can speak intelligently on the subject and likewise troubleshoot intelligently! Here's a laptop I have that's connected to our corporate wireless network & also physically connected to the corporate network. When I check the 'Connections' order list under 'Adapter and Bindings' under 'Advanced Settings' for the adapters, it seems to show the 'Wireless Network Connection' as the prevailing/preferred connection/interface. How to get there: Go to Control PanelClick 'View network status and tasks' or 'Network & Sharing Center' (depending on how your Control Panel is displayed)Click 'Change adapter settings' on the left columnClick on the 'Advanced' menu item (hit alt to show the menu if hidden)Choose 'Advanced Settings...' When I drop to a command prompt & run `netsh int ip show config` & `route print`, it seems to show something contrary to the GUI The netsh command seems to tells us: interface metric for physical is 10gateway metric for physical is 0interface metric for wireless is 25gateway metric for wireless is 0 So right off the cuff, even though the gateway metrics are equal, because ther interface metric for physical is lower, wired connections prevail. (Right?) At the core, route echoes the same thing: lower metrics for wired, but its tricky to me: the interface metric in the top left is 11 for the physicalthe interface metric in the top left is 13 for the wirelessthe gateway metric for physical is 10the gateway metric for wireless is 25 Assuming the number in the top left is the 'interface metric', this leaves me with a few questions: What's the difference between the interface metric in `route print` and `netsh ip show config`?What's the difference between the gateway metric in `route print` and `netsh ip show config`? Assuming the number in the top left is *not* the 'interface metric': What number is it?What role/purpose does that number serve? Lastly: If wired truly is the preferred path, why does the GUI seem to suggest that wireless is the primary? (Is it a bug?)If wireless truly is the preferred path, why?If wireless truly is the preferred path, what's the recommended method to permanently make wired connections the primary on a global scale?    Resources Routing Tables Windows Prefers Wired Connections Change the order of network protocol bindings Making Sense of Windows Routing Tables Forcing Windows 7 to use Wired when Available

Hi, The Advanced Settings for NIC cards is to modify which interface card can receive the traffic first or not than the others. It is not related to the "route print". The "route print" shows the route table globally. It point to us which IP can be reached shortest, by default, the physical one has the shortest to be reached than the others. But we can modify the metric value manually to change them. Assuming the number in the top left is the 'interface metric', this leaves me with a few questions: Q: What's the difference between the interface metric in `route print` and `netsh ip show config`? A: They are the same. Q: What's the difference between the gateway metric in `route print` and `netsh ip show config`? A: the default gateway has a too low metric by default. Assuming the number in the top left is *not* the 'interface metric': Q: What number is it?What role/purpose does that number serve? A: It is the index number. And it is used as the flag for recognize the route when there are two same subnets. Normally they are used for adding routes to the route table , when adding routes make sure you choose the right index number for the NIC youre trying to add the route for. Also, this index is used for serving local-link and IPv6. Thanks, Best Regards, Annie Gu

Hi, The Advanced Settings for NIC cards is to modify which interface card can receive the traffic first or not than the others. It is not related to the "route print". The "route print" shows the route table globally. It point to us which IP can be reached shortest, by default, the physical one has the shortest to be reached than the others. But we can modify the metric value manually to change them. Assuming the number in the top left is the 'interface metric', this leaves me with a few questions: Q: What's the difference between the interface metric in `route print` and `netsh ip show config`? A: They are the same. Q: What's the difference between the gateway metric in `route print` and `netsh ip show config`? A: the default gateway has a too low metric by default. Assuming the number in the top left is *not* the 'interface metric': Q: What number is it?What role/purpose does that number serve? A: It is the index number. And it is used as the flag for recognize the route when there are two same subnets. Normally they are used for adding routes to the route table , when adding routes make sure you choose the right index number for the NIC youre trying to add the route for. Also, this index is used for serving local-link and IPv6. Thanks, Best Regards, Annie Gu

Thanks for the responses - these are great answers. Circling back to your first statement: "The Advanced Settings for NIC cards is to modify which interface card can receive the traffic first or not than the others. It is not related to the "route print". " Does it ultimately matter what order the interfaces are listed in?