Configuring Wireless & LAN NIC Gateways on Laptop

With XP where laptops have both a Wireless NIC and a LAN (Wired) NIC I configure the IP settings identically except for the laptop's IP address - eg.

Wireless Adapter
=============
IP Address: 192.168.0.21
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1
Preferred DNS Server: ...
Secondary DNS Server: ...

LAN Adapter
=========
IP Address: 192.168.0.22
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1
Preferred DNS Server: ...
Secondary DNS Server: ...

It is then a simple matter to switch off the Wireless Adapter & plug in an ethernet cable or unplug the cable and turn on the Wireless Adapter to switch the connection type. This has worked fine for years.

This does not seem to work for Vista. I can only have a Default Gateway on the active NIC and must make it so before I activate it otherwise I get the following error messages when trying to configure the NIC's IP settings.

"Warning - Multiple default gateways are intended to provide redundancy to a single network (such as an intranet or the internet). They will not function properly when the gateways are on two separate, disjoint networks (such as one on your intranet and one on the Internet) Do you want to save this configuration?"

If I ignore the warnings, then there is no Internet Connection. Is there any way I can achieve the simplicity that was available under Windows XP?

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Woody,

If you want simplicity use DHCP and only one connection at a time.....If you specify identical Default gateways and DNS address`s on active connections Vista will try use both and in your case they are both identical so it gets confused.

Just use one connection at a time or change the IP range for one adapter and use DHCP or Vista will just keep confusing itself with what default connection it should use.

Steven

Steven

Thanks for your reply but - Please note from my initial post that there are 2 network adapters but only one active at a time. if the wireless adapter is switched on then no ethernet cable is plugged in. If an ethernet cable is plugged in then the wireless adapter is physically switched off. Using DHCP is NOT an option because of the configuration of the network and the presence of other PC's. Static IP's are required.

Any further suggestions?

Regards Vic

Hey Woody,

Do you set any DNS address`s in either connection?

Steven,

Preferred DNS Server is 192.168.0.1 on both in XP and this is what I am trying to do in Vista. Secondary DNS Server is not set.

Vic

Hey Woody,

Try setting your LAN with the 192.168.*.*/255.255.255.0 range, then use 10.0.*.*/255.0.0.0 for your wireless network, I think its just getting confused using the same IPs and subnet/default gateway on two adapters so if you change one network adapter IP range it might work...

Let me know
Cheers
Steven

Steven,

Sounds good in theory - but I don't think it is the answer.

There are several PC's, a broadband router and the wireless access point all on the one LAN. PC's are all connected via ethernet cable and have access to each other and to the internet. Laptops can connect either via ethernet cable or alternatively via the access point depending upon the use or location from time to time. They also have access to other computers on the network and to the internet.

If We use a different IP range for the Access Point connection, I would expect problems with nework shares and other issues.

Why does something that works so easily under XP have to be so difficult under Vista? I guess - if we find a solution - it too may seem simple.

Thanks for your interest so far

Regards
Vic

Did you try to obtain an address ip automatically?
On the laptop i use for the moment, i change sometimes from ethernet to wireless and back to ethernet with no problem with that configuration.

Sid,

Things work fine if I use DHCP and get an IP automatically. However, for a number of reasons, that is not an option. I need to assign a static IP and that is when the problem arises. Funnily enough the gateway established when using DHCP is the same as the one I try to allocate when assignig the IP, Gateway etc manually.

The wireless access point is a Netcomm NP5400 and I now believe there may be 2 factors contributing to my Vista problem when connecting through it (none of which showed up as a causing any problems under XP):

(a) it insists on having a default gateway which has always been 192.168.0.1
(b) the Vista laptop appears on a different network segment (not what I want)

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Regards

Vic

Hi Vic,

I think thats a problem with your routers DHCP pool options sending a NAK message or incorrect configuration...Dubble check it for me