Windows 2000 supports Media Sensing . Media sensing is
used under TCP/IP to detect whether your nic is or is not in a link state . A link state is when the physical media inserts
itself onto the network. Token Ring and Ethernet network adapters and hubs
typically have a link light to indicate the current
connection status. Windows 2000 detects link state and whenever it detects a
down state, it removes the bound protocols from that adapter until it re-enters
up state. When using loopback, you may want to disable state detection using the
following Windows 2000 registry hack:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Name: DisableDHCPMediaSense
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0
disabled
Value: 1
enabled
Be careful! Whats disabled? Whats enabled? To disable
media sense, set=1.
Note: Media sense is available under TCP/IP only. Not available under ipx or
netbuei protocols.
Caution: If you have multiple adapters with multiple routes, this setting
would leave a disfunctional link active. Also, if you are a portable user, this
feature provides the ability to connect to any network and have everything work,
without restarting, release and renewing, and so on.
