I'd like to find a way to remain offline whilst having my network adaptor be active..and preferably avoiding the need to configure things in firewall.
i'm on windows 11.
would there be any way to do this or is it a contradiction in terms?
thanks for any help you can offer.

 

Well yeah, just don't plug in/connect to anything.

 

i use the wifi hotspot that i set up on a old smartphone (mobile data Off). my w11 pc and laptop have network enabled and connect to it, internet-free. transfer files between them as well.

 

If you need a cable plugged in but no internet access at all, use a static IP on the network adapter and blacklist the IP inside the router dashboard.

Edit: I believe it might also work by giving yourself a static IP outside of your network (like 127.0.0.1), setting up an invalid DNS (might not work depending on your ISP/router), or invalid gateway data.

 

Another is to send it to a non-existent Proxy server, when you want internet connectivity back, just uncheck this option again:

In Control Panel - internet Options/ Connections Tab / LAN Settings - Put a tick In Use Proxy ...... enter something that doesn't work, 0.0. 0.0 you'll block internet but retain LAN

 

Disable "DHCP-Client" under services, maybe you have to uncheck IPv6 in Networksettings. In Windows 11, if you do this the first time, it took a while until the networksymbol on the right side of the taskbar shows offline Status.

 

If the machine already has a static ip assigned to it and is already Lan connected; don't they not need DHCP to assign them a dynamic ip address because the lease never expires? Just curious.

 

I have no clue about DHCP and static or dynamic IP adresses. I can only say i have a Dual Boot System since many years (connected via Lan) and the only thing i did on one of the Windows Installions to be offline is disabling the DHCP-Client to kill the internet connection and leave the networkadapter running. Under Win 11 i have newly also to uncheck the IPv6 option to fully disable the internet connection.

 

thanks for your responses guys..i'll add that i'm a relative newby with routing and DHCP aswell. i don't use wifi...I'm running a dual boot system..so would like to be able to switch in a simple way between being connected to the web and not being connected.

 

DHCP is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. There is a server and a client. When the machine in question needs to acquire an IP address, the DHCP server provides it to the client. Your method should work fine for most users. If the machine has a static IP address forced to it, it will not work because it never needs to acquire a new dynamically assigned ip address from the DHCP server. The original post could contain more details. Most likely it will work, but if it doesn't then this is why.

 

You can use a static ip within the networks scope but you cannot assign both dhcp and a static ip at the same time unless you had 2 network cards.

 

Flex, so i would still enable ethernet under network and internet settings but would disable DHCP-client and ipv6?

 

clone, would you tell me what details you'd like to know if you were making a more concrete determintation of what help to offer? (this is where i get a bit anxious because my knowledge is shaky regarding whether my ISP gives me staic or dynamic IP )

 

Oh, I just meant your end goal or reason behind wanting to do this. You have quite a few ways you can accomplish pretty much the same thing. But maybe the purpose or details about your setup might point out the best option to use without having to try them all. There is almost nothing about this you can screw up permanently or break other stuff.

.

I see your point. But say you have it already using the static ip. Disabling DHCP somehow after that wouldn't matter because it wasn't using it in the first place. Or the dual boot could be a linux OS; and bring up multiple interfaces such as wlan0, eth0, etc.

 

Last edited: Sep 25, 2023

nonsense gateway configured on the adapter is easiest solution,
NetLimiter rules for no or LAN only connections is most convenient