How to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN on Windows 10

You can connect to both a WiFi network and a wired network on a Windows 10 machine. Windows 10 will usually favor the LAN connection over the WiFi connection because it is faster and more reliable. However, many users still prefer to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN to avoid network conflicts, reduce unnecessary wireless activity, and make sure the system only uses the wired connection.

Having both WiFi and LAN connected at the same time does not offer any advantage in terms of speed. You will not get faster internet by using two connections at once. Your system will simply use one connection and whatever speed that connection has to offer.

The main advantage of keeping both connections active is failover. If one connection fails, Windows can switch to the other one. This does not guarantee that there will be no interruption in traffic, but it can help your connection recover quickly.

Still, if you want a cleaner and more stable setup, you can disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN so your Windows 10 PC relies only on the wired network whenever an Ethernet cable is plugged in.

Disable Wi-Fi when Connected to LAN

Windows 10 does not have a universal built-in toggle to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN. The option described below is a wireless adapter driver or OEM feature — not a standard Windows setting — and many PCs will not have it at all. Whether it appears depends entirely on your hardware and the driver version installed.

1. Change network adapter settings

Some wireless adapter drivers expose a “Disabled Upon Wired Connect” option that automatically turns off WiFi when an Ethernet cable is plugged in. This can be useful if you want to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN without manually switching it off each time.

Because this is a vendor-supplied driver feature rather than a core Windows option, you will only see it if your specific adapter and driver support it. If the option is absent, it is not because you missed a menu — your hardware simply does not offer it.

To check whether your adapter supports it:

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Expand Network adapters.
3. Right-click your wireless adapter and select Properties.
4. Go to the Advanced tab.
5. Scroll through the list of properties and look for Disabled Upon Wired Connect or a similarly named vendor option.
6. If it is present, select it, open the Value dropdown on the right, and set it to Enabled.
7. Restart your Windows 10 machine.

2. Set priority for LAN

If you do not have the Disabled Upon Wired Connect option, you may come across advice to use the Priority & VLAN setting in Device Manager. It is important to understand what this setting actually does before relying on it, especially if your goal is to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN.

Important caveat: Priority & VLAN is a vendor-specific adapter setting, and its behavior varies significantly by hardware. On many systems, enabling it is used to allow WiFi and Ethernet to work concurrently rather than shutting WiFi off. It is not a universal LAN-priority toggle and will not reliably disable your wireless adapter when Ethernet is connected on all hardware. Treat this as a last-resort experiment rather than a recommended fix.If you still want to try it:

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Expand Network Adapters.
3. Look for the network controller. It may have a name like Realtek controller or similar. If you’re not sure, try all the devices listed until you find the below options.
4. Right-click it, and select Properties.
5. Go to the Advanced tab and look for Priority & Vlan and select it.
6. Open the value dropdown and select the Enabled option.
7. Restart the system.

If the result is not what you expected — for example, if both adapters remain active — this setting is working as designed on your hardware and is not the right tool for disabling Wi-Fi on Ethernet connect.

3. Disconnect WiFi on LAN – PowerShell

It is possible the above option doesn’t work because the Disabled Upon Wired Connect option may not be listed. In that case, you can set the WiFi to be enabled when you’re on LAN from PowerShell.

1. Open PowerShell with admin rights.
2. Download this script. Extract it. There will be two files in it.
3. Run the following command in PowerShell to allow the script to run.

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

4. Use the following command to move to the extracted folder (change the path for the folder on your system).

cd C:\Users\fatiw\Desktop\WLANManager

5. Add the script to your system with the following command.

.\WLANManager.ps1 -Install:System

6. Once the script has run, open Task Scheduler, look for a task named WLAN Manager task.
7. Restart the PC.

Removing the script

You may want to remove this script later. All you have to do is remove the WLAN Manager task from the Task Scheduler and restart your PC. If the WiFi option has disappeared from your system, open Device Manager and look under Network Adapters for disabled devices. Enable any disabled devices, and you will have WiFi back.

Another way to remove it is to open PowerShell with admin rights and run the following command.

.\WLANManager.ps1 Remove:System

4. Use Task Scheduler to disable Wi-Fi when Ethernet connects

If you do not want to rely on a downloadable script or a third-party app, you can build the same automation using only native Windows components: the Wired AutoConfig service, PowerShell, and Task Scheduler. This method watches for Ethernet connection events and automatically enables or disables your WiFi adapter in response, making it a practical way to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN without extra software.

Step 1 — Enable the Wired AutoConfig service

1. Press Win+R, type services.msc, and tap Enter.
2. Scroll down to Wired AutoConfig (service name: dot3svc).
3. Right-click it, select Properties, set Startup type to Automatic, then click Start.
4. Click OK.

Step 2 — Find your Wi-Fi adapter name

1. Open PowerShell with admin rights.
2. Run the following command and note the exact name of your wireless adapter (for example, Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi 2).

Get-NetAdapter

Step 3 — Create the “disable Wi-Fi on Ethernet connect” task

1. Open Task Scheduler and click Create Task.
2. Give it a name such as Disable WiFi on LAN Connect.
3. Under the Triggers tab, click New, set Begin the task to On an event.
4. Set Log to Microsoft-Windows-Wired-AutoConfig/Operational, set Source to Wired-AutoConfig, and set Event ID to 15501. (For some dock or USB-Ethernet setups, try 15510 instead.)
5. Under the Actions tab, click New, set Action to Start a program, set Program to powershell.exe, and add the following as the argument (substitute your adapter name if it differs):

-NonInteractive -Command "Disable-NetAdapter -Name 'Wi-Fi' -Confirm:$false"

6. Under the Conditions tab, uncheck “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” so the task also fires on battery.
7. Click OK.

Step 4 — Create the “re-enable Wi-Fi on Ethernet disconnect” task

1. Repeat the steps above, but name the task Enable WiFi on LAN Disconnect.
2. Use Event ID 15500 as the trigger. (For dock/USB-Ethernet setups, try 15513.)
3. Set the action argument to:

-NonInteractive -Command "Enable-NetAdapter -Name 'Wi-Fi' -Confirm:$false"

4. Again, uncheck the AC power condition, then click OK.

Once both tasks are saved, plug in an Ethernet cable to confirm that Wi-Fi is disabled, and unplug it to confirm that Wi-Fi is re-enabled. No restart is required.

5. Disconnect WiFi on LAN from GroupPolicy

You can set the WiFi to disable automatically when connected to a wired connection from the Group Policy. The Group Policy is only available on Windows 10 Professional and not on the Home edition. You can install Group Policy on it, but it may not work as well. This method can help users who want to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN, especially on managed or business devices where network policies are controlled by an administrator.

Important note for home users: The policy described below — Prohibit connection to non-domain networks when connected to domain authenticated network — is designed for corporate and managed environments. It blocks non-domain wireless networks when a domain-authenticated network is active, and it has no effect on standard home or workgroup setups. If you are on a home PC that is not joined to a Windows domain, this policy will not do what you expect. It is intended for IT administrators managing business devices, not as a general Ethernet-over-Wi-Fi switch for consumers.

1. Tap the Win+R keyboard shortcut to open the Run box.
2. Enter the following and tap Enter.

gpedit. msc

3. Go to the following policy group.

Computer Configuration>Policies>Administrative Templates>Network>Windows Connection Manager

4. Look for a policy called Prohibit connection to non-domain networks when connected to domain authenticated network. Enable it.

Related settings for managed environments are also available under the Windows Connection Manager registry path (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WcmSvc\GroupPolicy), but these should only be configured by administrators on domain-joined or managed devices and are not suitable as a blanket consumer recommendation.

6. Check BIOS/UEFI and OEM LAN/WLAN switching features

Before spending time adjusting Windows settings, it is worth checking whether your PC’s firmware or manufacturer software already controls this behavior at a hardware level. OEM LAN/WLAN switching features are one of the most common reasons Wi-Fi turns off when Ethernet is plugged in — and conversely, one of the most direct ways to enable or disable the behavior deliberately.

What to look for in BIOS/UEFI:

• Restart your PC and enter the BIOS/UEFI setup (commonly by pressing F2, F10, Del, or Esc during boot — check your manufacturer’s documentation for the exact key).
• Look under sections such as Advanced, Wireless, or Network for options labeled LAN/WLAN Switching, Wireless Radio Control, or similar.
• If your goal is to automatically disable Wi-Fi when Ethernet is connected, enable this setting.
• If Wi-Fi is being unexpectedly shut off when you plug in Ethernet and you want to stop that, disable this setting.

What to look for in OEM software:

• HP systems may expose a LAN/WLAN Switching toggle inside HP Support Assistant or HP Connection Manager.
• Dell systems may offer a Wireless Radio Control setting in the BIOS or in Dell Command | Configure.
• Other manufacturers (Lenovo, Asus, etc.) may include equivalent features in their own system management utilities. Check the manufacturer’s support site if you are unsure what software is available for your model.

This hardware-level control can override any Windows setting you apply, so if your adapter options or Task Scheduler tasks do not seem to take effect, checking BIOS/UEFI and OEM utilities is an essential troubleshooting step. In some cases, network connectivity issues may also be caused by incorrect network configuration, so if you continue to experience problems after adjusting your LAN/WLAN settings, you may want to edit DNS settings to ensure your system is resolving addresses correctly.

7. Set Connection Priority

If none of the above options work for you, or you are looking for something simpler, you can set the connection priority on your Windows 10 machine and have it prefer wired network over WiFi when both are available. This will not fully disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN, but it can make Windows prioritize the wired connection so your system uses Ethernet whenever possible. If you want to add a bit of personality to your network setup, you might also consider choosing one of many playful network names to make your WiFi stand out when it is active.

1. Download an app called Wired WiFi Switcher.
2. Run the app, and during installation, select the LAN adapter to be prioritized over the wireless adapter.
3. Complete installation, and restart your system.

Conclusion

Managing a WiFi network on its own is easy, but when you have to manage more than one network, and the network types are different, i.e., wired and wireless, Windows 10 does not have many user-friendly options. This is why many users look for ways to disable Wi-Fi when connected to LAN so that their system automatically uses the wired connection whenever it is available.

There is also the fact that different systems have different configurations. What works on one system may not work on another, which is why we have a few different solutions you can try. If all else fails, you can always give LAN priority over WiFi without breaking your system. Alternatively, Windows 10 has an easy-to-access toggle in the Action Center that lets you turn WiFi on or off manually.

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Fatima Wahab

Fatima has been writing for AddictiveTips for six years. She began as a junior writer and has been working as the Editor in Chief since 2014. Fatima gets an adrenaline rush from figuring out how technology works, and how to manipulate it. A well-designed app, something that solves a common everyday problem and looks

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