How can I force Whatsapp for desktop to use a proxy in Windows 10?

Question

I use Whatsapp for Desktop on my work-provided Windows 10 PC. Because it's work-provided, I alternate between being on the corporate VPN and connecting directly to the internet.

With the latest release of Whatsapp for Desktop, Whatsapp can no longer connect when I'm on the VPN. It would appear that it's trying to bypass the proxy. Is there any way to force the application to use the proxy?

Solution

Our IT department raised this with WhatsApp and this was the feedback:

IT has not blocked Whatsapp desktop. The vendor made a change which caused a problem and they refused to accept it as a fault report.

I reported to Whatsapp support that their latest version of 8th Nov. does not read the proxy.pac script. Their response was “WhatsApp is not designed to be used with proxy configurations”

I've been using https://web.whatsapp.com/ in a browser window, which works fine as the browser uses the proxy.