Disable or Enable Soft Disconnect a computer from a Network in Windows 10

In order to make Windows 10 computers warn an application to stop using a specific network interface, a new Group Policy setting has been added. He was nominated Activate Windows to smoothly disconnect a computer from a network. The setting determines how Windows should disconnect a computer from a network when it finds that it is no longer connected to the network. So if you want to enable or disable this setting from Windows 10, this message will help you.

Activate Windows to smoothly disconnect a computer from a network

When the setting is enabled, Windows will gently disconnect a computer from a network, but not immediately or abruptly. Unlike this, if the setting is disabled, Windows will immediately disconnect a computer or PC from a network. You have two ways to configure Gently disconnect a computer from a network under Windows 10:

1. Adjust registry settings
2. Changing the Group Policy setting

Please note that if the parameter is not configured, the default behavior is soft disconnection.

1]Adjust registry settings

Press Win + R in combination to display the “Run” dialog box.

In the empty field of the box, enter “Regedit” and press the “Enter” key.

When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following path address –

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWcmSvcGroupPolicy

If you find such an entry, create it.

Now create a new 32-bit DWORD value SoftDisconnectConnections and configure its value as follows:

• 0 = Disable soft disconnect
• 1 = Activate soft disconnection

You can simply choose to delete the SoftDisconnectConnections value to restore the system defaults.

When finished, close the Registry Editor and restart your computer to allow the changes to take effect.

2]Changing the Group Policy setting

Press Win + R in combination to display the ‘Run‘ dialog box.

In the empty field of the box, enter “gpedit.msc“And press”Enter‘Key

Now, when the local Group Policy Editor application opens, or launch it for all users except Administrator, or for a specific user.

Then go to the following folder:

Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Network> Windows Connection Manager.

Switch to the right pane and double-click on the ‘Activate Windows to smoothly disconnect a computer from a network“.

This policy setting determines whether Windows will gently disconnect a computer from a network.

If this policy setting is enabled or not configured, Windows will gently disconnect a computer from a network when it determines that the computer should no longer be connected to a network.

If this policy setting is disabled, Windows will immediately disconnect a computer from a network when it determines that the computer should no longer be connected to a network.

When soft disconnect is enabled:

• When Windows decides that the computer should no longer be connected to a network, it waits for traffic to stabilize on that network. The existing TCP session will continue without interruption.
• Windows then periodically checks the level of network traffic. If the traffic level is above a certain threshold, no further action is taken. The computer remains connected to the network and continues to use it. For example, if the network connection is currently used to download files from the Internet, the files will continue to be downloaded using this network connection.
• When network traffic falls below this threshold, the computer is disconnected from the network. Applications that keep an active network connection even when they are not actively using it (for example, messaging applications) may lose their connection. If this happens, these applications should reestablish their connection to another network.

This policy setting depends on the other Group Policy settings. For example, if “Minimize the number of simultaneous connections to the Internet or to a Windows domain” is disabled, Windows will not disconnect from any network.

Set the strategy to “disabled»To deactivate the functionality.

You can also leave it Unconfigured or set it to ‘enabled“.

That’s all!

• Keywords: Group policy, network