How to change network adapter priorities on Windows

Change network adapter priorities in Network Connections

You may change network adapter priorities using the network connections control panel applet. It does not provide as good of an overview as the PowerShell option, but some users may prefer the graphical user interface over the command line option.

You may still want to run the PowerShell command that lists all network adapters and their priority, as you won't get an overview in the Network Connections applet.

Step 1: Open the Network Connections control panel applet

Select Start. Type ncpa.cpl and run the command; this opens the Network Connections control panel applet. Tip: check out our full list of commands to open Control Panel applets on Windows.

Step 2: Open the Properties of the network adapter.

Right-click on the network adapter that you want to change the priority for, and select properties from the context menu that opens.

Step 3: Open the Properties of the IPv4 or IPv6 protocol

Locate Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and select the properties button. If you want to change the priority for both, repeat the process multiple times.

Step 4: Open the Advanced properties of the protocol.

Select the Advanced button on the next screen that opens.

Step 5: Change the priority of the adapter

The Interface metric value defines the priority of the adapter. Change it to the desired priority and select OK to complete the process.