Modify the protocol bindings and network provider order

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 7

You can use this procedure to change the order in which network protocols are attempted when trying to establish communications with a remote computer. This can provide improved performance when you have multiple protocols installed and your network primarily uses one. If you set a protocol at the top of the list, it will be tried first. If another protocol is tried first for every packet, many will fail, and the other protocols will not be tried until that failure occurs.

Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure.

To modify the protocol bindings and network provider order

  1. Open the Network Connections folder and view available connections.

  2. Press ALT to display the menu bar, and then on the Advanced menu, click Advanced Settings. The Advanced Settings dialog box opens.

  3. In the Advanced Settings dialog box, on the Adapters and Bindings tab, in the Connections list, click the connection that you want to modify. If you wish to change the order in which your connections are tried, click the up or down arrow buttons to rearrange the order.

  4. In the Bindings for ConnectionName list, click the protocol that you want to move up or down in the list, and then click the up or down arrow buttons to rearrange the order of the protocols.

  5. In the Advanced Settings dialog box, click the Provider Order tab.

  6. On the Provider Order tab, in the Network Providers list, select the provider that you want to move up or down in the list, and then click the up or down arrow buttons to rearrange the order.

Additional considerations

  • Network performance can be seriously degraded if you rearrange the bindings or provider order in an inappropriate way for your network. Set the connections and the protocols that you use to reach your resources listed first, with less frequently used connections and protocols listed second. For example, if you are on a LAN using primarily IPv4, then it is recommended that the LAN adapter be the first connection listed, and that IPv4 be the first protocol listed for that connection.

See Also

Concepts

Configure Network Protocols and Components
Manage Network Connections