How to switch internet connection between regular and VPN

Question

I am connected to the Internet through a wireless router. If I visit http://whatismyipaddress.com, I see my correct IP address.

I have now added a VPN connection, and when I connect to that my connections drop (irc, imap, etc) and I have to reconnect. If I now visit http://whatismyipaddress.com, it shows the external IP that I would have if I was at work. In addition one of the irc connections fail to reconnect with an error saying Connection failed. Error: No route to host.

First of all, what is going on? Secondly, can I prevent this from happening or is this what is supposed to happen? I would really like to "use my own Internet connection" and still be connected to the VPN.

Answer 1

That is how VPNs work. VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network" and you are basically connecting to your work LAN from home.

Your programs all restart because you have a new internet connection and the old one disconnected. Your "normal" connection becomes a work connection.

You really can't do both at once, unless you have 2 internet connections. Don't use the VPN unless you need to do things for work, otherwise it will all be routed through your work connection.

Answer 2

You can try turn off the VPN taking over your entire connection by going to the properties of the VPN, Networking tab, "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" properties, Advanced, and untick "Use default gateway on remote network".

If this option doesn't exist in the VPN properties, this means that the administrator of the VPN server has setup the VPN in such a way that all network accesses outside the VPN are blocked. There is no way of working around this limitation, except discussing it with the administrator.

If it does exist, you may still have to manually set the old connection as your default route for the internet: Use the route print print command. The route to 0.0.0.0 is the default internet connection. Use the command route delete 0.0.0.0 IF 11 to delete it add a new 0.0.0.0 route to the Internet connection you have. You can use route print before the VPN is connected to get the right address.