I have split tunnel setup on both machines, and All Other Apps set to “Bypass VPN” and Name Servers set to “Follow App Rules” and then I only use the VPN for applications which I specify.
I have all my stored videos on a particular server running windows 10. The folder containing all the videos is a shared folder.
Why do I have to turn off the VPN on the server I am trying to connect to the shared folder on for it to be discoverable? It does not show up in Network nor can I access it by typing the path directly.
Once I open the folder on the client machine I can reenable the VPN on the server and still browse the folder and access the contents from the client. So PIA is only blocking discovery, not access. It will reset eventually and I will no longer have access with both machines’ VPNs enabled.
Why is PIA preventing file sharing /network discovery when it is only supposed to be applied to particular apps and the PIA DNS is only supposed to be applied to those apps?
Changing the Name Servers option to “VPN DNS Only” fixes the problem I am having in Windows 10 the same as the original poster.
What confuses me is in the PIA documentation for Split Tunnel describes the option as “The default is “Follow App Rules”, which means that “bypass” apps use existing DNS, while “VPN” apps use the VPN configured DNS (PIA DNS or any other selection made in PIA if a custom DNS is set).”
If I change the DNS setting under Network to “Use Existing DNS” then my problem is also fixed, but I am warned that using that setting for a third party DNS could comprise my privacy.
My question is, by using you posted fix am I potentially exposing my privacy while using my VPN protected applications?
For a bit of background - the reason local names (netbios) don’t work when you turn on ‘follow app rules’ is because in order to split dns traffic we needed to disable the windows dnscache service. Unfortunately the dns cache service does much more than just dns, it also does netbios - so to get dns splitting working we had to kill netbios. It’s unfortunate, but we haven’t yet found a way around this.
So what precisely about netbios prevents me from resolving local names with the “Follow App Rules” enabled, requiring me to disable the VPN, but also allows me to keep accessing the local machines after reenabling the VPN?
I’m assuming it is cache related? Since it only prevents discovery…
If I want to keep my current DNS server, is there a way to force windows to remember the name of my local machines that will persist through a restart without relying on dnscache or netbios?