I used to do this all the time in XP with no lapse in internet connection, but something about Windows 7 is different: I'd have a laptop connected wirelessly to my everyday-use wireless network. All works fine.I'd have a new router to set up, and I'd plug directly into that router for initial configuration purposes (computer plugged into a port on the router, but the router NOT plugged into the internet yet (until later, after setup/security/etc. is mostly complete)). I'd still have my everyday use Wifi connection still active.And in Windows XP, plugging into the new router never interrupted my overall internet connectivity from the Wifi connection, but when I do the same thing in Windows 7, as soon as I plug in the temporary new router, all internet (and even access to the already running wifi's local console) goes away.It's not the end of the world, just an annoyance: Especially when I'm almost done, and I also want to test WAN side access to remote configuration of the new router. What's causing the difference? Thanks in advance!

Thanks, Milos and Ang... Both very helpful. I haven't had a chance to test this out, but I''ll update this when I do!

Solved! I went into each adaptors settings, advanced settings, and unchecked "automatic metric". Then I set the Wired to 50 and the wireless to 49, so the wireless is "first" (before wired), which for my purposes, was what I wanted. Going through the screens and the up/down in the list didn't do the job for me. I certainly have spent more time getting this to work, than if I had just popped the wire in and out as needed, but still.. it's the principle of the thing! Thanks again to all who helped!

Resurrecting my old post from the grave: I never did get around to messing with this again, until today. I followed Ang's instructions, and according to the settings, my wireless network shows up first. However, I can't do anything with the in-work router plugged in AND my normal wifi at the same time. When I do a tracert, the plugged-in IP shows up as the network being chosen. I also tried pinging a website by name, and also by IP when connected ok (via wifi only), but the pings don't work when done while connected to both networks. I also did a release and renew, seeing if perhaps resetting and reconnecting would help, but I didn't have luck. And different subnets too. (Wifi is 192.168.200.x, wired is 192.168.33.x (and also not plugged into anything either at the mnoment). One additional contributing factor: (I suppose I could change this): The plugged in router is one I've used before, so the IP and such (and name of the connection) are known already, so perhaps are stored. Other things I tried: (neither worked, both are back the way they were before I tried) Setting the Wired connection to PUBLIC (it is/was/is again HOME);Turning off Windows Firewall So if any other suggestions, please let me know? Thanks