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right now when I connect to my VPN, my internet is served from my home router, but any requests for xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx i.e. my works ip range are served via the vpn connection I believe.

How can I force all traffic to the vpn?

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In a command shell, what does route print tell you while you are connected to the VPN? –  bstpierre Aug 18 '10 at 2:14

4 Answers 4

up vote 7 down vote accepted

On Windows XP (not what you're asking, but no 7 here), there's an option "Use default gateway on remote network" (see the settings of your VPN network, tab "Networking", "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", "Properties" again, and finally "Advanced").

Enabling that (which is the default) will make all traffic go through the VPN.

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I wanted to ensure that only VPN traffic was going through the vpn, so this also answered that question. I can also verify that the setting is in the same location on Windows 7. –  digitaljoel Nov 6 '10 at 20:09

Each time you connect you'd need to change your default route to the route to the VPN. You'd use the route command to do this:

route delete
route add mask

Replacing with the gateway IP for the VPN. Just keep in mind that (obviously) your work can see all your traffic if you do that.

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That's not how VPNs work. Once you connect to the VPN, all Internet traffic goes through the VPN. The only exception is local traffic like 10.x.x.x.

It sounds like you are seeing symptoms that make you suspect otherwise. Perhaps someone can help you more if you explain those symptoms.

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That blanket statement is not correct. What goes through the VPN (or not) is entirely a matter of your routing configuration. In windows XP there is an option to choose whether all of your traffic goes through the vpn or just traffic on the same network segment. I am not sure if this option exists on windows 7 or what its equivalent is. –  frankster Sep 22 '10 at 12:04
@frankster is right, this is not 100% true. Indeed on Windows (which indeed is what the question is about), the default setting is to route all through the VPN (good), while on a Mac it's the other way around (not as safe). –  Arjan Oct 18 '10 at 20:19

The purpose of a VPN is so that you are on a remote network securely from a remote location. What type of VPN are you using? (IPSec, L2TP, SSLVPN, etc.)

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