In one of my previous post, I showed you how to set WiFi connection as metered connection to prevent automatic downloading of Windows 10 updates. When you set your internet connection, be it WiFi or Ethernet as metered connection, Windows does not download the future updates and wait till you get access to unlimited internet access or manually proceed to download Windows 10 updates. You can use the Settings tab under WiFi and Mobile data connection to set them as metered connection. However, this is not true when it comes to an ethernet connection. For some reason, Microsoft does not allow you to set ethernet connection as metered connection. Then again, there are several things you cannot officially do on your PC, but tweaks are alway there. By tweaking your registry editor a bit, you can get the option to set ethernet connection as Metered connection. Set Ethernet Connection as Metered Connection Note: Registry Editor is a powerful tool. Hence it is recommended that you make all the changes carefully. It is also recommended that you create a restore point before making changes to your computer. Note: This method also works on Windows 8/8.1 running PCs. Open Cortana/Search bar and type Regedit. Click on Regedit, if it asks to provide administrator access, do it. In the Registry Editor, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\DefaultMediaCost Now we have to edit the DefaultMediaCost key. However, you cannot just edit it, and you need to take few additional steps to do it. The DefaultMediaCost key is protected and you need to take the ownership of this key before you can edit it. I have explained in detail how to take ownership of registry key here. Once you take the full ownership, you can edit the key. So, follow the above link, once done, proceed with next steps. Now that you have taken ownership of DefaultMediaCost key, it is time to edit it. Select DefaultMediaCost key and from the right-side double click on Ethernet. It will open Ethernet value’s properties window; here you can see that the Value Data is set to 1. You have to change it to 2 and click OK. That’s it! Now you can close the Registry Editor window. Now how to know if ethernet connection is set as metered connection? Unlike the WiFi and Mobile data connection that shows metered and unmetered option, you won’t see the option to meter the Ethernet connection in the settings tab. When you set the D-Word value of DefaultMediaCost key to 2, it means that you have set the ethernet connection as metered connection. If the D-word value of DefaultMediaCost key is 1, that means the ethernet connection is unmetered. So, if you are unsure whether you have metered the ethernet connection or not, open Registry editor and look the D-Word value of DefaultMediaCost key. Doing so, you will stop Windows from downloading Windows 10 updates automatically on an Ethernet connection.
