Question How to enable wifi auto connect to LAN on Windows 11 ?

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Not sure what you have done. In general you can not have both the ethernet nic and wifi nic active at the same time.

Generally the way people do this is the printer connects to your router wifi wifi. The pc connects to the router via ethernet. It is all one network no matter what names windows put on the connection so you should be able to print. It should just work in worst case you can always print to the IP address of the prints.

Now you can do unusual stuff like connect to the internet via ethernet and then use the wifi to create a second network to connet directly to the printer. I guess if you didn't want the printer available to other used on the same router you would do this. You must manually set the IP if you run this way and it must be a different subnet than the main network.
 
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bill001g said:
Not sure what you have done. In general you can not have both the ethernet nic and wifi nic active at the same time.

Generally the way people do this is the printer connects to your router wifi wifi. The pc connects to the router via ethernet. It is all one network no matter what names windows put on the connection so you should be able to print. It should just work in worst case you can always print to the IP address of the prints.

Now you can do unusual stuff like connect to the internet via ethernet and then use the wifi to create a second network to connet directly to the printer. I guess if you didn't want the printer available to other used on the same router you would do this. You must manually set the IP if you run this way and it must be a different subnet than the main network.
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I see it heard in Window 10 you can do that.
 
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I suspect you are confusing the name of the interface which has nothing to do with the actual communication. You should be able to either tell the pc to search for a a printer or key in the name of the printer.

Microsoft is a bunch of idiots. They think change for the sake of change is good. They have changed the way the screens look for printing multiple times and they will change it for no reason with some patch. Everyone then has to go relearn how to set things up. It really didn't change things but it makes it hard for someone to give you step by step instruction because it depends on your patch level.

If you can't figure it out from the printer menus on the pc maybe search for a youtube video on how to setup a printer. What should really happen is every user that has issues like this should call microsoft and get them to fix it. But they do not provide free support for most types of windows licenses.
 
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bill001g said:
I suspect you are confusing the name of the interface which has nothing to do with the actual communication. You should be able to either tell the pc to search for a a printer or key in the name of the printer.

Microsoft is a bunch of idiots. They think change for the sake of change is good. They have changed the way the screens look for printing multiple times and they will change it for no reason with some patch. Everyone then has to go relearn how to set things up. It really didn't change things but it makes it hard for someone to give you step by step instruction because it depends on your patch level.

If you can't figure it out from the printer menus on the pc maybe search for a youtube video on how to setup a printer. What should really happen is every user that has issues like this should call microsoft and get them to fix it. But they do not provide free support for most types of windows licenses.
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I mainly just want to connect to my wifi as the game i use disables it if not connected
 
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@Sam_Supernoods

As above in the preceding posts - more information is needed.

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Make and model printer? Is the printer using a Static IP address?

Make and model information for modem, router, or modem/router if combined.

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt on the Windows 11 computer in question.

Post the full results here. (You should be able to copy and paste the full results without needing to retype everything.)
 
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helpstar said:
sorry, can't understand the problem without all informations
how is your unknown printer connected? directly to a wifi of your Windows pc?
can you connect to your router where your LAN is plugged in? eventually you will need a wifi router, if yours doesn't provide it
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It is connected to another WiFi not in same room as the lan so i cannot connect it to both
 
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If the printer is connected to a different router it is going to be very complex to get this to work. This kinda would be the same as if you wanted to print on a printer in your neighbors house.

You are going to have to describe a bit better what the printer is connected to and what your pc is connected to and why these are different when they are in the same house.
 
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bill001g said:
If the printer is connected to a different router it is going to be very complex to get this to work. This kinda would be the same as if you wanted to print on a printer in your neighbors house.

You are going to have to describe a bit better what the printer is connected to and what your pc is connected to and why these are different when they are in the same house.
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Ok so I have 2 different wifi 1 of them is only on wifi 5 the other on 6 I am connect to wifi 6 on my pc but my printer is wifi 5 so that why I have it on a different network
 
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Do you have 2 different internet connections. Why do you have 2 routers. Can the one of the routers be run as a AP so everything is on one network.

In general you are going to have to do port forwarding to make this work when you have 2 routers. The details all depend on how the 2 routers are connected and which one the printer is behind.

I do not know what ports you need to forward to use microsoft printing. I know you can print but you likely will have to do it via IP address. The auto locate function I think only works on the same lan. Not sure what you trying to do is not commonly done.

Best solution is to have only 1 actual router and if you need the other device for some reason run it as a AP. Running like this will allow everything to be on the same network and the auto discovery of the printer will work.
 
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Here is a reg edit that still works don't if this is what the OP wants but I use it, and it still works to auto connect:

Run Regedit.
Navigate to: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WcmSvc\
Does the GroupPolicy subkey exist? If not right-click New->Key and create it.
Now inside of HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WcmSvc\GroupPolicy right-click inside the right pane and select New->DWORD. Name it fMinimizeConnections
Leave the default value zero so that the policy is disabled. You shouldn't HAVE to reboot, but you may.
After that your wireless connections that are set to automatically connect will do so even with a LAN plugged in. Obviously if you are on a domain your domain admin can override this local policy.
 
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Note/Reminder:

Registry editing can be a solution but must be done very carefully.

And only as a last resort.

Before any registry edits be sure to do a full system backup including the registry itself.

(Backups being, of course, something that is always being done as an onging process.)

Very easy to cause more problems or otherwise "brick" a system via the registry.

Also keep in mind that although some registry edit may work some future Windows update may go amiss because of unexpected end user edits.

Caution recommended.
 
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