Set a Metered Connection in Windows 11 & 10 (Save Data)

In Windows 11 or 10, go to Settings > Network & Internet, open the Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or mobile hotspot connection you're on, and switch on Metered network (or Metered connection, depending on which one you're in). That single toggle tells Windows to hold back optional updates, pause OneDrive syncing, and stop the Microsoft Store from auto-downloading over that connection. Here's the part almost nobody mentions when they hand you those steps: turning it on doesn't actually stop most of your data use — it only changes what Windows itself skips. Every other app on your PC is free to ignore the flag completely, and a lot of them do.

Jake ran into this the hard way. He'd taken a customer's laptop into his shop to update it before handing it back, tethered it to his own phone because the shop's Wi-Fi was down that morning, and watched forty percent of his mobile data disappear in twenty minutes. "I turned on that metered thing you told me about last year," he said. "It didn't do anything." It had done something — just not everything he assumed.

That gap between what people expect metered connection to do and what it actually does is where most of the frustration lives. So before the steps, here's what the toggle is actually promising you, what Windows 11 changed about where you find it, and what still gets through even when it's switched on.

What "Metered" Actually Changes

"Metered" is Windows' word for "treat this connection like it costs money or has a cap, even if it's technically Wi-Fi." It's a leftover concept from mobile data plans, extended to cover any connection you don't want Windows chewing through in the background — a capped home plan, a hotel network with a daily limit, a phone hotspot, or a fixed-wireless line out in the country.

Flip it on and three things change immediately: Windows Update stops pulling down feature updates, driver packages, and Delivery Optimization's peer-to-peer sharing, while still letting through what it classifies as critical or security-related; the Microsoft Store stops auto-updating and auto-downloading apps; and OneDrive pauses non-essential file syncing until you're back on an unmetered connection or you tell it otherwise.

Ethan puts it more bluntly to Jake than most write-ups do: "It's a request, not a rule. Windows honors it for its own stuff. Everyone else's app has to choose to care." That's the one thing worth remembering before you rely on it to protect a limited plan.

Windows 11: Setting a Network as Metered

Windows 11's Settings app puts the toggle one click closer to where you already are than Windows 10 does, but the underlying idea hasn't moved.

Wi-Fi

1. Open Settings (Win + I) and select Network & Internet.
2. Click Wi-Fi in the left-hand list.
3. Click the name of the network you're currently connected to — this opens that network's own properties page directly, no extra "manage known networks" detour needed for the active connection.
4. Under Metered network, switch the toggle to on.

If you want to set this up for a network before you're even connected to it, click Manage known networks from the Wi-Fi page instead, choose the saved network, and the same toggle is there under its properties.

Ethernet

Wired connections get the same option, which surprises most people. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Ethernet, click the connection, and switch on Metered network there too. This matters more than it sounds — a phone tethered over a USB cable shows up to Windows as a plain Ethernet adapter, not as mobile data, so without this step Windows has no idea it's actually burning your phone's plan.

Windows 10: Setting a Network as Metered

This is the exact workflow we first documented back in 2016, and it still holds up almost step for step.

Wi-Fi

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Select Network & Internet.
3. Click Wi-Fi in the left pane.
4. Select Manage known networks.
5. Click the network you want, then choose Properties.
6. Switch on the option under Metered connection.

These steps are the same on both editions of Windows 10 and haven't meaningfully changed since the Anniversary Update introduced them — a rare case where the ten-year-old instructions and today's still line up almost exactly.

Mobile Hotspots and Tethered Data

When you connect to a phone's personal hotspot, Windows usually recognizes it and marks the connection as metered on its own, on the reasonable assumption that a phone plan is more likely to be capped than home broadband. It shows up in the same Wi-Fi properties list as any other network — you can check it, and switch it off if your plan is genuinely unlimited and you'd rather Windows stop being cautious.

This is exactly where Jake's situation went wrong that morning. His phone's hotspot was correctly flagged as metered by Windows. What still drained his data was every app on the customer's laptop that had no reason to check that flag in the first place — a Windows Update in progress from before he connected, a game client patching in the background, a video call app's automatic quality settings. The toggle did its job; it just isn't the whole job.

VPN Connections Need Their Own Toggle

If you connect a VPN on top of a metered Wi-Fi or hotspot connection, don't assume the metered status carries over. Windows treats a VPN as its own separate network for this purpose, with its own switch, found under Settings > Network & Internet > VPN, then the specific VPN connection's properties. If you rely on metered connection to protect a capped plan and you also run a VPN, that's a second toggle you need to check, not something that inherits automatically.

Which One Should You Actually Set?

None of these are exclusive — a laptop can have several networks each carrying its own metered status. The question is really which ones deserve it.

What Still Gets Through Anyway

This is the part worth reading twice if you're trying to genuinely protect a capped plan, not just tick a box.

Windows Update still installs critical and security updates. Windows classifies certain updates as important enough to override the metered flag. You will not get large feature updates or optional driver packages, but you won't go unpatched either.

Delivery Optimization backs off, mostly. The peer-to-peer sharing that lets one PC on your network fetch updates from another local PC instead of the internet is limited on metered connections, which is generally a data saving, not a cost.

Third-party apps are on their own. Browsers, game launchers, chat apps, cloud backup tools other than OneDrive, and most streaming apps have no built-in awareness of the metered flag unless their developer specifically coded for it. Some do — several video and social apps offer their own separate "data saver" setting — but you have to check each app individually, not assume Windows is covering it for you.

Ethan's take on this is unambiguous: "People treat that toggle like a firewall. It's closer to a note taped to the fridge — the household members who read notes will comply, and the ones who don't, won't." That's not a criticism of the feature. It does exactly what it was built to do; it was just never built to police every app on the machine.

Windows Update, OneDrive, and Delivery Optimization in Practice

OneDrive's behavior deserves its own explanation because it's the single most common source of "did I break something" support calls. When your active connection is marked metered, OneDrive pauses uploading and downloading files it doesn't consider essential, and you'll typically see its taskbar icon show a paused or waiting state rather than actively syncing. This looks identical to a genuine sync failure to most people, which is exactly what happened to a reader Jake described who thought his backup had silently stopped working for a week — it hadn't; he'd just been on a metered hotel network the whole time.

If you'd rather OneDrive keep syncing regardless of connection type — say, you're backing up something time-sensitive and you've accepted the data cost — open OneDrive's own settings and look for its network usage or metered-connection options rather than fighting the Windows-level toggle. Leave the Windows setting alone and adjust OneDrive's own preference instead; that keeps the rest of the metered protections in place for everything else.

Checking How Much Data You've Actually Used

Before you assume the metered toggle failed you, it's worth actually looking at where the data went. Settings > Network & Internet > Data usage breaks down consumption by network over roughly the last month, and lets you drill into which specific app used how much. For most people trying to figure out "what ate my hotspot data," this built-in page answers the question without installing anything else.

Do You Need a Third-Party Data Monitor?

Tools that monitor and cap per-app bandwidth in real time exist, and they do more than the built-in Data usage page — live throttling of individual apps, hard cutoffs at a chosen limit, historical logging across months instead of weeks. For most home users, that's more than the problem calls for.

Before You Hand a Metered Laptop Back to a Customer

Jake's shop runs into this more than most: a customer's laptop needs updating, backing up, or scanning while it's in his care, and he doesn't always have unlimited internet on hand to do it. A few habits fixed most of his repeat problems. He checks the Data usage page before starting anything, so he knows the baseline before a big job runs. He sets the specific connection metered — hotspot or tethered Ethernet — rather than trusting Windows caught it automatically. And for anything genuinely large, like a full Windows reinstall's worth of updates, he waits for the shop's fixed internet rather than eating into a customer's or his own mobile data unnecessarily.

There's a privacy angle worth naming too: a customer's laptop syncing to their own OneDrive or cloud backup over a shop network is one more thing worth being deliberate about, not something to leave running unattended on unfamiliar Wi-Fi.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does marking a connection as metered stop Windows Update completely?

No. Windows still installs updates it classifies as critical or security-related even on a metered connection. What gets deferred is feature updates, driver downloads, and other non-urgent content, plus peer-to-peer update sharing through Delivery Optimization.

Why is my data still draining after I turned metered connection on?

Metered connection is a flag apps have to check for themselves. Windows components like OneDrive, the Store, and Windows Update respect it by default, but plenty of third-party apps, browsers with autoplay video, and background sync tools never look at the flag at all, so they keep using data as normal.

Can I set every network to metered by default?

There is no single switch that marks every future network as metered automatically. You set it per network the first time you connect, and Windows remembers that choice for that specific Wi-Fi name, Ethernet adapter, or mobile hotspot going forward.

Can I mark an Ethernet connection as metered?

Yes. Ethernet has its own metered toggle in Settings, separate from Wi-Fi, useful for a wired connection that is actually a phone tethered over USB or a capped satellite or fixed-wireless line.

Will metered connection break OneDrive backup?

OneDrive pauses non-essential syncing on a metered connection by default, which can make a backup look stalled rather than broken. You can override this in OneDrive's own settings if you want it to keep syncing regardless.

Is a mobile hotspot always metered automatically?

Windows usually detects a phone's personal hotspot and marks that connection as metered automatically, since it assumes you are on a capped mobile data plan. You can still switch it off manually if your plan is genuinely unlimited.

Does metered connection stop app downloads from the Microsoft Store?

Automatic app updates and downloads over cellular or metered Wi-Fi through the Store are limited by default, though you can allow them for individual large downloads or override the setting inside the Store app itself.

Is metered the same as a data limit?

No. Metered just tells Windows and metered-aware apps to be conservative. It does not cap or block your usage, throttle your speed, or stop you from streaming video if you choose to. It is a hint, not a limiter.

Why is the metered connection toggle grayed out?

This usually happens on a network your device does not fully control the profile for, such as a corporate or school-managed Wi-Fi network where the network administrator has locked the setting, or occasionally right after a driver update before the adapter has finished reinitializing.

Does a VPN inherit the metered status of my Wi-Fi?

Not automatically. A VPN connection has its own separate metered toggle in Settings, so if you are on a metered Wi-Fi network and also connect a VPN, you generally need to mark the VPN connection as metered too if you want the same behavior to apply.

Will metered connection slow down my internet speed?

No, it does not throttle your connection speed at all. It only changes which background tasks are allowed to run and how aggressively Windows and metered-aware apps use data, not how fast any individual download or page load is.

Can antivirus definition updates be blocked by metered connection?

Windows Security treats virus and threat definition updates as critical, so they continue downloading on a metered connection. Third-party antivirus tools vary, so check that product's own settings if you are relying on this specifically.

How do I check how much data I've actually used?

Settings has a built-in Data usage page under Network & Internet that breaks down usage by network and by app over the last 30 days, which is usually enough detail without installing a separate monitoring tool.

Does metered connection stop auto-play videos in browsers and apps?

Only in apps and sites that specifically check for metered status and choose to respect it, such as some video and social media apps offering a data-saver mode. Most browsers will keep autoplaying video on a metered connection unless you disable autoplay yourself.

Revision note. Originally published August 12, 2016, right after the Windows 10 Anniversary Update introduced this toggle. Rewritten today for Windows 11 and Windows 10. Microsoft has since moved the shortcut into a network's own properties page in Windows 11 and added the same option for Ethernet and VPN connections that didn't exist to write about back then — the core idea we described in 2016 hasn't changed at all. If a hotspot data bill or a stalled backup brought you here, hopefully this saves you the guessing we all did the first time around.