How to set/view the NIC bind order in Windows

NIC Binding is the order at which windows loads the NIC’s at boot up and takes the first one as a primary NIC.

How to Determine and Set the Primary NIC on Windows Vista (Need to be an administrator)

1. Open Network Connections
2. Press ALT key (dont hold, another list of menus will show up) Click advanced then click Advanced Settings
3. Click the adapters and bindings tab, then under connections, click the connection you want to modify
4. Then under the Binding for connection, you can move the protocol up or down for the connection you have selected at the top

How to Determine and Set the Primary NIC on a Windows 2003 Server

Use this procedure to determine and set the primary NIC on a windows 2003 Server:

1. Right-click the My Network Places icon and choose Properties. Or Control Panel icon then choose Network Connections.
2. From the menu of the Network and Dial-up Connections window, choose Advanced > Advanced Settings.
3. On the Adapter and Binding tabs, in the Connections area, ensure that the primary NIC is listed first.
4. From a DOS prompt, issue the ipconfig /all command to verify that your selected primary NIC appears first in the list.

How to Determine and Set the Primary NIC on a Windows 2000 Server

Use this procedure to determine and set the primary NIC on a Windows 2000 Server:

1. Right-click the Network Neighborhood icon and choose Properties.
2. From the menu of the Network and Dial-up Connections window, choose Advanced > Advanced Settings.
3. On the Adapter and Binding tabs, in the Connections area, ensure that the primary NIC is listed first.

   You can click the Move Up or Move Down buttons to arrange the adapters and select your primary NIC.

4. From a DOS prompt, issue the ipconfig /all command to verify that your selected primary NIC appears first in the list.

How to Determine and Set the Primary NIC on a Windows NT Server

Use this procedure to determine and set the primary NIC on a Windows NT Server:

1. Right-click the Network Neighborhood icon and choose Properties.
2. Click the Bindings tab.
3. In the Show Bindings for drop-down list, choose All Adapters.
4. Ensure that the primary NIC is listed first.

   You can click the Move Up or Move Down buttons to arrange the adapters and select your primary NIC.

5. From a DOS prompt, issue the ipconfig /all command to verify that your selected primary NIC appears first in the list.

NOTE: That if you are going to add more then one gateway to a windows OS you will need to have the Bind order set correctly because windows will take the first gateway from the first NIC that windows has as 1 in the bind order. This is even more important if on of the gateways does not route traffic to a public network.