Connect To Shared Folder When Connected To VPN

Question

I have a shared folder on my home network which mounts fine and I can access with no problem. However, once I connect to my VPN (which I must use for work) - I loose access to any shared resources on my LAN, printers, shared folders etc.

Is there a way I can connect to my work VPN and still have access to my shared folders & printers?

Solution

I've seen the exact same issue when connecting to a private network i used to support. Check the configuration of the VPN connection. The default configuration is "Use default gateway on remote network". Since the remote network does not know how to get to your local resources or resolve the names, you PC fails to connect.

This is an old article but describes the same behavior: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/317025

If you are using the Windows 7 VPN client - Open the properties of the VPN connection, select the Networking tab and Properties if the "internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" connection - Click the Advanced button and on the "IP Settings" tab uncheck the "Use Default gateway on remote network" box.

Comments

[Frank Thomas]

Confirm that your VPN allows "Split Tunneling", and enable the feature. It allows your PC to use Routing table entries to only send traffic destined for the network on the other side of the VPN through the VPN adapter, and to send any unrelated traffic out the standard adapter. This depends on your local networking using a different IP address range than the network you are VPNing into and may confuse DNS a bit, so consider setting a Connection-Specific DNS server. Note that this will not work if you want unspecified traffic to take the VPN, as people who use VPNs for privacy do.