Windows-General wireless vs lan folder copy question

J

jman0

n00b
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
22
Hi this is a conceptual question here.

On say a normal Windows Dell laptop, if you start a large file or folder copy while on a wireless network, and then mid-way through the copy connect the LAN cable... would you expect the copy speeds to increase?
Presuming here that the LAN wired connection is faster than the wireless one.

Can windows just change over to the LAN connection like that?

I don't think so, but don't have one to test.
 
I believe in such a situation the transfer would actually stop because when you plug in the LAN cable that gets an IP address which is a mismatch for the one assigned to the wireless adapter. Such connections don't work like they do over cellular data/Wi-Fi connections, as odd as that sounds. I honestly can't say what would happen but I don't believe Windows (or any desktop OS) would be that adaptable to keep the transfer going and just pick up where it momentarily disconnected when the changeover from one connection/IP address to another one takes place.

Might have to test that sometime and see what actually happens...
 
I don't think there is any mechanism in SMB that will fail if the IP changes. At most it might pause the download and you have to manually resume, but that should be easy to test.

If you have your machine connected to wifi and wired LAN, windows should default to the LAN for all traffic. If you started the transfer on wifi, then plug in the LAN, I don't think windows will switch that traffic to the wired adapter. You will most likely have to connection wifi to force that change for existing connections.
 
I've only tested this with a download from the internet, but it pauses and then resumes. I'm wired at my desk, but if I undock and go to a conference room, my downloads will resume. RDP and console sessions in vSphere will disconnect though.
 
Depends on the software, if using file explorer I believe it will fail but if using robocopy with /z it will resume with faster speeds. Internet downloads will usually resume as well. Did this with an office 365 installation that was going slowly for a new computer over wireless so we ran a 25' cable just for the installation an it resumed after hanging about 20 seconds.
 
Tiberian said:
I believe in such a situation the transfer would actually stop because when you plug in the LAN cable that gets an IP address which is a mismatch for the one assigned to the wireless adapter. Such connections don't work like they do over cellular data/Wi-Fi connections, as odd as that sounds. I honestly can't say what would happen but I don't believe Windows (or any desktop OS) would be that adaptable to keep the transfer going and just pick up where it momentarily disconnected when the changeover from one connection/IP address to another one takes place.

Might have to test that sometime and see what actually happens...
Click to expand...
I'd say, "it depends". Probably not going to happen with File Explorer, like you said. But, I've had SSH sessions in Putty survive the switch from wireless to wired. I'd say it depends on the software and it's ability to recognize and negotiate the change.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top