Windows 10: How to set PDAnet as metered connection?

I am trying to meter a connection on my laptop. It's a little different, not sure if you can help. I have the creator's update and did go in and set my ethernet to metered and it shows as such. I have also set most of the wifi's I use the same (there's a couple that I don't want metered so I can do WU if needed). BUT, I used to tether my phone to the laptop and use the phone data thru Foxfi. With a recent update to the android system (nougat), you can no longer tether your phone wirelessly. You have to plug the phone in by usb and open PDAnet on the laptop and connect. For some reason I can find no way to meter this. It's not considered "ethernet" nor wifi. When I go into setttings, network it seems to show under the ethernet area as PDAnet but it's downloading ALL updates and wiping out my phone data at a mad rate. I have to pay extra this month because of it. I did try to go into the registry following the steps but always get an error message, something like you don't have permission (I did do all the steps). Why would it do this even if I can see that the ethernet is metered? Any ideas or help? Right now it's the ONLY way I can get on my personal laptop at work. I'm not allowed to use work ethernet, etc.

:)

 

How to set an Ethernet Connection as Metered to control Updates, Drivers, Store and others

As there is a pause instruction at the end for you to check the result, that's impossible.

Have you copy/pasted it in one go, start to end, into a suitable text editor and saved it as a .cmd file? Does it look sensible? Note that extra line wraps are displayed here but are not in the script when properly copied.

 

How to set an Ethernet Connection as Metered to control Updates, Drivers, Store and others

If admins were being given permission by default this palaver shouldn't be necessary. I'm not going to reinstall to check, but my recollection is that only System had permission in a new installation. And changing ownership is necessary before the permissions
can be changed. IME both changes are necessary, a full install/upgrade (as to 1607) will reset them, and they will both need to be repeated after the next version upgrade, or new build for Insiders. Higher level keys have different permissions, it is not necessary
(probably not advised) to change them.

Trusted Installer exists in Win7.

 

Andrea,

Did you open RegEdit as Admin? That is essential for changing the necessary items.

When you did step 4 to change the owner of the DefaultMediaCost key itself, did you remember to set the checkbox for Replace owner on subcontainers & objects? Leaving that out definitely gives you permissions errors when you try to alter the values of the items within it such as trying to change the Ethernet & Default entries to 2.

I have written out the steps in my next post.

Denis

 

Unfortunately I left my laptop at work and I'm not there this week. *Sad As soon as I'm back I'll go thru the steps again and really take my time, hopefully all I did was leave out the "Replace". Will post once I've tried again, thanks so much.

 

Andrea,

Here are the steps copied from that link I gave you

1 Run RegEdit as Admin
2 Go to key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\DefaultMediaCost
3 Right-click on the key, select Export then save the key to any convenient folder such as your Desktop. You can then use this file later to get back to where you started if you make mistakes.
4 Right-click on the key, select Permissions, click on Advanced
5 The owner is shown as TrustedInstaller, click on Change
6 In the text entry box, type in the word Administrators, click on Check names, OK
7 Set the checkbox for Replace owner in subcontainers...
8 Click on Apply
9 Select the Administrators entry in the list box below [which will state their Permissions as being just Read], click on Edit
10 Set the checkbox for Full control, click OK
11 Click OK again to return to the DefaultMediaCost key in the main view
12 In the right-hand pane, double-click on each Value to set its Data
13 Set Default to 2
14 Set Ethernet to 2
15 Set WiFi to 2
16 Close RegEdit

Denis

 

Thanks Denis, I'll check back next week! Having it simplified like that will really help!

 

Andrea,

To clear the decks before you start,

1.1 Make sure that Windows is not confusing the issue by being partway through an update download it has already started. See Windows Update - Reset - TenForums.

1.2 If Windows has already started an update download then using the TenForums batch file / procedure to reset it will stop that in its tracks so that you can then start off cleanly. Otherwise, you might wrongly conclude that changes to your metered settings are not working correctly.

2 Another preparatory / cleanup task I have found useful in the past is to manually set every existing connection to metered before changing the defaults.
- This will ensure that they obey the default setting of metered that you are about to set up in the Registry.
- This will also ensure that they obey any future changes to the default setting you might decide to make. [I would not expect you to want to do so but the precaution does mean that such confusing inconsistencies are avoided in future].

Denis

 

Thank you Denis, I will have all this printed out when I try again next week. Much appreciated!

Andrea

 

Andrea,

You don’t like just printing to pdf instead then?

I might not to be online very much for the coming week because I'll be out & about all week [and I am about to reach my monthly data allowance limit so I am trying to be sensible until Tuesday anyway]. To avoid delaying you, here are some things I think you might come back with questions about.

1 To anybody with normal metered connection questions I would remind them that what they have done is to set the defaults that new connections would use. They should check existing connections but they should find that they & all new connections set up afterwards obey the new defaults you have set up.

2 Since you are using a piece of software to establish your computer-to-phone connection, I do not know how to advise you on allowing it to revert to defaults.

2.1 I would expect you could just set its virtual Ethernet adapter to metered but you said in your question that that was not working.

2.2 If it still does not obey its metered setting after changing the defaults and clearing the WU current update if applicable [as explained in my last post] then you could try stopping then restarting the software so it recreates it virtual Ethernet adapter [or even more drastically, uninstalling then reinstalling the software].

2.3 If it still does not obey the metered setting then I think you will have to contact PDANet support [there is an email link and a website link in https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...id=com.pdanet]

3 In Brink's procedure for changing the Registry entries he/she/it/they suggest changing the ownership back to the system after the changes are made. I have never bothered to do so & I have not asked what that final step accomplishes. In any case, it is not a show-stopper so you could ask in that steps link you mentioned in your question but it will not hold you up at all.

4 You said you had some connections that you leave as not metered so that WU operates as normal on them. That's fine and will not interfere with the problem that is the subject of this thread. If you did leave all your connections as metered it would not be a problem either - you can always run WU manually on any connection even if it is metered [the metered setting just prevents automatic Windows updating].
- Go to Settings, Update, Check for updates, or
- Initiate it directly using a shortcut [%windir%\explorer.exe ms-settings:windowsupdate-action] but you need to set its properties to run as Admin or it will merely take you to the right place but not initiate the Check for updates itself. {I got this suggestion from Brink but cannot find a link to the thread it was explained in}

5 If you have software that has its own updating procedures, as many have, then setting the metered property will not have any effect on them unless they have deliberately written this into their software.

5.1 If, just for example, you subscribe to Office365, you will find that its updates continue because they do not use WU but their own independent updater. You would have to disable their updates completely then run them manually when it suited you {this is done by clicking on the Office button in the top-left corner, Office Account, Update options - Disable updates / Update now}.

5.2 Office 2016, when bought outright rather than by subscribing to Office365, does use WU so no particular precautions are needed for that.

5.3 Windows defender needs to be told to check for updates separately as it is otherwise prevented by the metered setting. This is easy to set up in Task scheduler and I can help you do this.

5.4 If you use any third-party anti-malware applications, you should check with them directly. Bitdefender should be removed because it cannot stop itself using lots of data - at least 3GB for each computer every month even if you limit updates manually to once a day.

I know quite a bit about Windows but stopped learning about Android as soon as it did the basics that I required of it. All I can say is that using USB tethering in Android 6 creates a virtual Ethernet adapter that can be changed to metered in Settings, Network, Ethernet without any messing about. Thanks to your asking about this subject, I have now seen some explanations of the difference that Android 7.0 makes [so I will avoid updating my phone if it is ever offered].

Best of luck,
Denis

 

I wish I would have never updated to Android 7.0 but didn't check for issues online before I did. This issue is really the only problem I have with it but in my eyes it's a big one. I'm hoping Android 8.0 brings about changes for that because there are many people that use FoxFi (not that it's their fault). I really thought I had it fixed by changing the ethernet to metered (easily) but then saw a couple days later that it had downloaded a bunch of WU. I may try contacting PDANet, maybe they know what it is, I assume it's one teeny setting somewhere OR there is no way to fix it.

The laptop I use is barebones, pretty much no programs on it, I use it mainly to go online and nothing else. It's my coffee break/lunch "getaway". So the only thing I would want to be sure is downloading is Defender.

I really appreciate you breaking everything down, I hope to find time to get this done early next week but may be too busy. Don't worry if you don't hear from me right away. And, I prefer to print out the instructions because I tend to have to switch back and forth too much if it's saved on the computer and sometimes lose a step, etc. I want to be sure it's right in front of me at all times. *Smile Thanks again!

 

Andrea,

I appreciate what a blow Android 7 must have been. My own phone is my entire internet access and its hotspot is the "ISP" that my router connects to for my computers [it is a "Wisp", "Wireless ISP", router rather than a cable router or modem router]. I bought a new HTC U Play phone a few weeks ago and it has Android 6 so I just hope it lasts a long time while things get sorted out.

As for updating Windows defender despite the metered connection. [I should write Windows defender security centre every time as I have ver 1703] -
1 At its simplest, you can double-click on its icon in the right-hand end of the Taskbar [I can explain how to put it there if it is not there already] and then select {it has just disappeared for the first time ever, hold on a minute} Virus & threat protection, Protection updates, Check for updates. Don't be confused by the unknown timezone used to report when it was last updated [perhaps it is Silicon Valley's timezone].
2 You can refine this a bit by getting it to update automatically a couple of times a day using Task scheduler. The command is "C:\Program files\Windows defender\MpCmdRun.exe" and its argument is -SignatureUpdate and it just looks ugly because it flashes up a command window on the screen while it is working.
3 If you want to refine it a bit more, as I do, you can get it to run minimised whilst displaying a Windows defender icon in the taskbar so you know what's going on and you can also add a shortcut to your Taskbar / Start menu / Desktop / anywhere convenient so you can also run it any time you like.
I can help you set this up. Even the most refined option [#3] only takes 15 minutes to set up. The only reason I am not posting it straightaway is because I have had to alter the procedure for Ver 1703 & my notes are still a set of scrawls with cross-references to other places instead of a single neat set-by-step procedure.

Denis

 

Okay, was able to take a few minutes today and do the regedit. Went smoothly as far as I can tell. How will I know if it's working as metered now? I'm assuming I should check the WU everyday (including history) to see if something is sitting there waiting for my permission OR if something downloaded on it's own meaning it's still not right. So it's possible I may not know if all is metered for a couple weeks?

 

Andrea,

The Registry changes do not make anything work as metered. They only set the default to metered for new connections. Please see my earlier posts beginning
- To clear the decks before you start,
- You don’t like just printing to pdf instead then?
for the actions I suggest you do.

Check whether the current connection is metered or not at Settings, Network, Status, Change connection properties.

The property is shown for other connections at Settings, Network, {WiFi / Ethernet}, Manage known networks, {select each network in turn}, Properties.

If you want a second opinion to make absolutely sure than go to Settings, Devices.
In the Bluetooth & other devices page and the Printers & scanners page, make sure that the checkbox for Download over metered connections is clear [unset] and you should see your devices with most of the entries marked with the quite spurious & highly ignorable annotation, "Setup incomplete because of a metered connection". That also demonstrates that the current connection is metered.

When you do run WU, after it has searched online it then displays its list of updates but stops & waits for you to click the Download button before downloading**. This also demonstrates that the connection is metered. Here is an example -




Oh, by the way, there are updates every day because Windows defender definition updates are part of WU.

** Once in a while you will notice small updates proceeding at this stage before it then settles down with its list of all the others waiting for you to click the Download button. This is normal. These exceptional updates are classified as of special security concern and they are downloaded then installed despite the metered setting. I have hardly ever seen them and those I have seen completed downloading & installing before I could even get my camera out to record the event.

Denis