How to disable/enable network connection in c#

Question

Basically I'm running some performance tests and don't want the external network to be the drag factor. I'm looking into ways of disabling network LAN. What is an effective way of doing it programmatically? I'm interested in c#. If anyone has a code snippet that can drive the point home that would be cool.

[Something similar](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/83756/how-to-programmatically-enabledisable-network-interfaces-windows-xp) has been discussed. — hayalci, Oct 06 '08 at 00:08
Please follow below link. it will may help you. [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3053372/programmatically-enable-disable-connection](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3053372/programmatically-enable-disable-connection) — Buddhika Samith, Nov 10 '16 at 06:28
Good question seems to have long-term relevance. Upvoting the question for value. Lots of good answers, probably better not to identify a single one as The answer. Sometimes easier is better and if you just want to toggle the network, netsh in a .bat file on the desktop might do the trick. But I came here looking for code examples too for detecting and toggling the connection, so the code here is great - even 6 years later. — TonyG, Jan 09 '18 at 18:46

Melvyn · Answer 1 · 2011-05-29T21:29:40.253

36

Found this thread while searching for the same thing, so, here is the answer :)

The best method I tested in C# uses WMI.

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/EverythingInWmi02.aspx

Win32_NetworkAdapter on msdn

C# Snippet : (System.Management must be referenced in the solution, and in using declarations)

SelectQuery wmiQuery = new SelectQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter WHERE NetConnectionId != NULL");
ManagementObjectSearcher searchProcedure = new ManagementObjectSearcher(wmiQuery);
foreach (ManagementObject item in searchProcedure.Get())
{
    if (((string)item["NetConnectionId"]) == "Local Network Connection")
    {
       item.InvokeMethod("Disable", null);
    }
}

edited May 29 '11 at 21:29

answered May 29 '11 at 21:22

Melvyn

622
10
11

8

Note that I had to run this as Administrator (the InvokeMethod() did not return an error when I ran it as a peon). – Colin Jan 10 '13 at 00:36
This looks nice but it doesn't work for Universal Windows applications. – Adam Aug 10 '20 at 21:45
Just used the code in a .NET project on Windows Build 20H2. Run as administrator and it takes down the adpater. I also used the member NetConnectionId to check for the occurrance of "WLAN" and "Ethernet" to not to take down the Bluetooth-Adapter. A good explanation of Win32_NetworkAdapter can be found here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/cimwin32prov/win32-networkadapter – Nonlinearsound Feb 03 '22 at 20:03

score 19 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 21 '15 at 15:08

19

Using netsh Command, you can enable and disable “Local Area Connection”

  interfaceName is “Local Area Connection”.

  static void Enable(string interfaceName)
    {
     System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi =
            new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("netsh", "interface set interface \"" + interfaceName + "\" enable");
        System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
        p.StartInfo = psi;
        p.Start();
    }

    static void Disable(string interfaceName)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi =
            new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("netsh", "interface set interface \"" + interfaceName + "\" disable");
        System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
        p.StartInfo = psi;
        p.Start();
    }

edited Dec 21 '15 at 15:08

Leo Chapiro

13,678
8
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answered Sep 12 '13 at 10:01

Kamrul Hasan

231
2
4

1

After some hours suffering with WMI (apparently not every adapter offers the `Disable` command, or something like that), `netsh` worked smoothly on the first try. – heltonbiker Jan 15 '15 at 18:05
1

Keep in mind that this also must be run as administrator – Patartics Milán Nov 03 '15 at 18:34
It Worked nice for me! I though it would be hard but you make it ez for me. Tnx. – Mostafa Fahimi Feb 26 '16 at 20:05
Worked fine. Prefer this method method to /release as I don't want to be changing IP address. X – TinyRacoon Mar 09 '21 at 09:14

score 5 · Answer 3 · 2019-06-15T16:11:56.243

5

If you are looking for a very simple way to do it, here you go:

    System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("ipconfig", "/release"); //For disabling internet
    System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("ipconfig", "/renew"); //For enabling internet

Make sure you run as administrator. I hope you found this helpful!

edited Jun 15 '19 at 16:11

answered Jun 15 '19 at 14:13

Works for me even not as administrator – svstnv Mar 06 '20 at 09:47

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 07 '18 at 19:08

For Windows 10 Change this: for diable ("netsh", "interface set interface name=" + interfaceName + " admin=DISABLE") and for enable ("netsh", "interface set interface name=" + interfaceName + " admin=ENABLE") And use the program as Administrator

    static void Disable(string interfaceName)
    {

        //set interface name="Ethernet" admin=DISABLE
        System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("netsh", "interface set interface name=" + interfaceName + " admin=DISABLE");
        System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();

        p.StartInfo = psi;
        p.Start();
    }

    static void Enable(string interfaceName)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("netsh", "interface set interface name=" + interfaceName + " admin=ENABLE");
        System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
        p.StartInfo = psi;
        p.Start();
    }

And use the Program as Administrator !!!!!!

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 12 '13 at 10:54

In VB.Net , You can also use it for toggle Local Area Connection

Note: myself use it in Windows XP, it's work here properly. but in windows 7 it's not work properly.

  Private Sub ToggleNetworkConnection()

    Try


        Const ssfCONTROLS = 3


        Dim sConnectionName = "Local Area Connection"

        Dim sEnableVerb = "En&able"
        Dim sDisableVerb = "Disa&ble"

        Dim shellApp = CreateObject("shell.application")
        Dim WshShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
        Dim oControlPanel = shellApp.Namespace(ssfCONTROLS)

        Dim oNetConnections = Nothing
        For Each folderitem In oControlPanel.items
            If folderitem.name = "Network Connections" Then
                oNetConnections = folderitem.getfolder : Exit For
            End If
        Next


        If oNetConnections Is Nothing Then
            MsgBox("Couldn't find 'Network and Dial-up Connections' folder")
            WshShell.quit()
        End If


        Dim oLanConnection = Nothing
        For Each folderitem In oNetConnections.items
            If LCase(folderitem.name) = LCase(sConnectionName) Then
                oLanConnection = folderitem : Exit For
            End If
        Next


        If oLanConnection Is Nothing Then
            MsgBox("Couldn't find '" & sConnectionName & "' item")
            WshShell.quit()
        End If


        Dim bEnabled = True
        Dim oEnableVerb = Nothing
        Dim oDisableVerb = Nothing
        Dim s = "Verbs: " & vbCrLf
        For Each verb In oLanConnection.verbs
            s = s & vbCrLf & verb.name
            If verb.name = sEnableVerb Then
                oEnableVerb = verb
                bEnabled = False
            End If
            If verb.name = sDisableVerb Then
                oDisableVerb = verb
            End If
        Next



        If bEnabled Then
            oDisableVerb.DoIt()
        Else
            oEnableVerb.DoIt()
        End If


    Catch ex As Exception
        MsgBox(ex.Message)
    End Try

End Sub

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 26 '19 at 07:38

best solution is disabling all network adapters regardless of the interface name is disabling and enabling all network adapters using this snippet (Admin rights needed for running , otherwise ITS WONT WORK) :

  static void runCmdCommad(string cmd)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
        System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
        //startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
        startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
        startInfo.Arguments = $"/C {cmd}";
        process.StartInfo = startInfo;
        process.Start();
    }
   static void DisableInternet(bool enable)
    {
        string disableNet = "wmic path win32_networkadapter where PhysicalAdapter=True call disable";
        string enableNet = "wmic path win32_networkadapter where PhysicalAdapter=True call enable";
        runCmdCommad(enable ? enableNet :disableNet);
    }

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 08 '17 at 09:42

I modfied the best voted solution from Kamrul Hasan to one methode and added to wait for the exit of the process, cause my Unit Test code run faster than the process disable the connection.

private void Enable_LocalAreaConection(bool isEnable = true)
    {
        var interfaceName = "Local Area Connection";
        string control;
        if (isEnable)
            control = "enable";
        else
            control = "disable";
        System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi =
               new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("netsh", "interface set interface \"" + interfaceName + "\" " + control);
        System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
        p.StartInfo = psi;
        p.Start();
        p.WaitForExit();
    }

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 25 '21 at 16:44

Looking at the other answers here, whilst some work, some do not. Windows 10 uses a different netsh command to the one that was used earlier in this chain. The problem with other solutions, is that they will open a window that will be visible to the user (though only for a fraction of a second). The code below will silently enable/disable a network connection.

The code below can definitely be cleaned up, but this is a nice start.

*** Please note that it must be run as an administrator to work ***

//Disable network interface
static public void Disable(string interfaceName)
{
    System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
    startInfo.FileName = "netsh";
    startInfo.Arguments = $"interface set interface \"{interfaceName}\" disable";
    startInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    startInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
    startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    startInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
    System.Diagnostics.Process processTemp = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
    processTemp.StartInfo = startInfo;
    processTemp.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
    try
    {
        processTemp.Start();
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        throw;
    }
}

//Enable network interface
static public void Enable(string interfaceName)
{
    System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
    startInfo.FileName = "netsh";
    startInfo.Arguments = $"interface set interface \"{interfaceName}\" enable";
    startInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    startInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
    startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    startInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
    System.Diagnostics.Process processTemp = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
    processTemp.StartInfo = startInfo;
    processTemp.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
    try
    {
        processTemp.Start();
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        throw;
    }
}

How to disable/enable network connection in c#

8 Answers8

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