is it bad to unplug my ethernet cable from my PC while it's running

[lamyathla]

will it cause any damage

or you recommend first to shut down my computer and then unplug the ethernet cable from my pc or my switch that leads to my PC 

[Deuxez]

no. It doesnt damage anything. Its like when u unplug a usb. 

[SnowyMus]

Nope.

 

I suppose in some cases, you might find yourself not having a network connection when you go to plug in an Ethernet cable again, but a simple reboot should fix that.

[Constantin]

NO!

[Theguywhobea]

A little internet might leak out onto the floor but other than that no you're fine.

[Windows7ge]

No, most devices on the back of the PC are designed to be hot swappable.

 

Now back in the day there was a time when disconnecting your PS/2 Mouse during operation could kill the motherboard but those days are long gone.

 

However as far as I have seen boards that still allow PS/2 devices are still not hot swappable.

1. You cannot connect a device after the system is powered on
2. You cannot disconnect and reconnect a device while the system is powered on.

As for Ethernet. They're designed to be connected and/or disconnected while the system is in operation.

[Totd]

Actually, I'd argue that it is bad. You will not damage the computer hardware, but depending on what you're doing you may actually drop important connections. It's going to be less bad that pulling out a USB drive, but there is still the possibility of corrupting a file that is mid-transfer, or interrupting your connection to the local Minecraft server - That's why the connections have a locking tab, you don't want the connection just popping out randomly.

 

In all seriousness though, you won't break anything. If you do a quick swap of a cable to change ports or something you *may* have a program complain about the interruption, but you can usually resume a download where it left off, and if you're using an application that is particularly sensitive to network drops (Like SSH or IRC) you'd probably know about it, so just close your sessions before yanking on the cord.