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Disabling WiFi access when USB wired Ethernet is connected

← Corporate Deployment
It may be a requirement to disable the WiFi of a laptop when connected to the USB dock, and using the corporate Ethernet connection on the USB docking station. This prevents end users creating a wireless access point to bridge to the corporate LAN, providing a potential security risk.

This can be done manually or using 3rd party applications, for example wirelessautoswitch has added support for the DisplayLink Ethernet connection in docks. This can be downloaded from wirelessautoswitch.

The steps to do this manually are listed below:

How to disable wireless when a DisplayLink Ethernet device is connected to a PC on Windows 10 or 8.1

  1. Run “View local services”
  2. Double click on the Wired AutoConfig service and change startup type to “Automatic” and start the service if it is not already running

  3. Run “Schedule tasks”
  4. On the “Actions” section on the right hand side select “Create Task”
  5. On the following dialog on the General tab add a suitable name such as ‘Connect_DisplayLink’ and select “Run with highest privileges”
  6. Select configure for: “Windows 8.1”

  7. On the Triggers tab select “New” then choose begin the task “On an event”
  8. Select log: “Microsoft-Windows-Wired-AutoConfig/Operational”
  9. Select source: “Wired-AutoConfig”
  10. Select event id: “15510”
  11. Choose “30 minutes” for the “Stop task if it runs longer than:” option

  12. Select “OK” then on the Actions tab select “New”
  13. Select action: “Start a program”
  14. Under program/script browse to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe then select “Open”
  15. Under add arguments paste in this command /C netsh interface set interface name=”WiFi” admin=disabled
  16. Select “OK”

  17. On the Conditions tab uncheck the box that states “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” and select “OK”

How to enable wireless when the DisplayLink Ethernet device is disconnected from the notebook on Windows 10 or 8.1

  1. Launch “Schedule tasks”
  2. On the “Actions” section on the right hand side select “Create Task”
  3. On the General tab add a suitable name such as ‘Disconnect_DisplayLink’ and select “Run with highest privileges”
  4. Select configure for: “Windows 8.1”
  5. On the Triggers tab select “New” then choose begin the task “On an event”
  6. Select log: “Microsoft-Windows-Wired-AutoConfig/Operational”
  7. Select source: “Wired-AutoConfig”
  8. Select event id: “15513”
  9. Choose “30 minutes” for the “Stop task if it runs longer than:” option
  10. Select “OK” then on the Actions tab select “New”
  11. Select action: “Start a program”
  12. Under program/script browse to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe then select “Open”
  13. Under add arguments paste in this command /C netsh interface set interface name=”WiFi” admin=enabled
  14. Select “OK”
  15. On the Conditions tab uncheck the box that states “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” and select “OK”

How to disable wireless when the DisplayLink Ethernet device is connected to the notebook on Windows 7


  1. Launch “Services”
  2. Double click on the Wired AutoConfig service and change startup type to “Automatic” and start the service if it is not already running

  3. Run “Task Scheduler”
  4. On the “Actions” section on the right hand side select “Create Task”
  5. On the following dialog on the General tab add a suitable name such as ‘Connect_DisplayLink’ and select “Run with highest privileges”
  6. Select configure for: “Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2”

  7. On the Triggers tab select “New” then choose begin the task “On an event”
  8. Select log: “Microsoft-Windows-Wired-AutoConfig/Operational”
  9. Select source: “Wired-AutoConfig”
  10. Select event id: “15510”
  11. Choose “30 minutes” for the “Stop task if it runs longer than:” option

  12. Select “OK” then on the Actions tab select “New”
  13. Select action: “Start a program”
  14. Under program/script browse to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe then select “Open”
  15. Under add arguments paste in this command /C netsh interface set interface name=”Wireless Network Connection” admin=disabled
  16. Select “OK”

  17. On the Conditions tab uncheck the box that states “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” and select “OK”

How to enable wireless when the DisplayLink Ethernet device is disconnected from the notebook on Windows 7


  1. Launch “Task scheduler”
  2. On the “Actions” section on the right hand side select “Create Task”
  3. On the General tab add a suitable name such as ‘Disconnect_DisplayLink’ and select “Run with highest privileges”
  4. Select configure for: “Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2”
  5. On the Triggers tab select “New” then choose begin the task “On an event”
  6. Select log: “Microsoft-Windows-Wired-AutoConfig/Operational”
  7. Select source: “Wired-AutoConfig”
  8. Select event id: “15513”
  9. Choose “30 minutes” for the “Stop task if it runs longer than:” option
  10. Select “OK” then on the Actions tab select “New”
  11. Select action: “Start a program”
  12. Under program/script browse to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe then select “Open”
  13. Under add arguments paste in this command /C netsh interface set interface name=”Wireless Network Connection” admin=enabled
  14. Select “OK”
  15. On the Conditions tab uncheck the box that states “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” and select “OK”

 

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