Windows 2000 Quick Fixes

Disable a network interface

In a system with multiple network interfaces (which usually means more than one adapter), you sometimes need to disable a network interface. For example, you might have a network adapter in your notebook’s docking station and a PC Card network adapter for when your computer isn’t docked. While you can create hardware profiles for the docked and undocked situations and enable/disable adapters accordingly, you might prefer to manually disable an interface. Or perhaps your situation warrants a manual method rather than hardware profile. Whatever the case, disabling a network interface is nearly a one-click operation.

Disable an interface

You disable an interface through the Network and Dial-Up Connections folder, using one of two methods. Both are described in the following procedure:

1. Open the Network and Dial-Up Connections folder.

2. Double-click the interface you want to disable and click Disable. Or right-click the interface’s icon and choose Disable.

3. To re-enable the interface, simply double-click its icon or right-click the icon and choose Enable.

Tip

You can configure Windows 2000 to display a status icon on the tray for a network interface, giving you a visual indicator of the interface’s status. To display the tray icon, open the properties for the interface and select the option “Show icon in taskbar when connected.”