What to do if you want to access the Internet with the local gateway rather than the PPTP/L2TP VPN Server

With Client-to-LAN (Client-to-Site) VPN, the VPN client can access the remote network resources. Once the VPN connection is established, all your traffic from Windows devices will be forwarded to the VPN server by default.

What to do if you want to visit the Internet with the local gateway, and visit the remote network with the VPN tunnel? Please follow the steps below.

Please follow this FAQ to configure the Client-to-LAN PPTP VPN server on TP-Link routers: https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/faq/3026/

Please follow this FAQ to configure the Client-to-LAN L2TP VPN server on TP-Link routers: https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/faq/3025/

Step 1. Set up Class A or B network for the LAN IP and VPN IP Pool.

It is recommended to set up Class A or B network for the LAN IP and VPN IP Pool on the VPN router, which will save you from manually typing some commands to add some routing entries on the Windows devices.

Class A network include IP addresses: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255; while Class B network include: 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255.

Note: If you use a Class B address, make sure the second segments of the router's LAN IP and of the VPN IP Pool are the same. For example, if the router's LAN IP is 172.30.30.1/24, then the VPN IP Pool should be 172.30.X.Y, where X is different from 30.

Take the above figure as an example, here we set up the LAN IP of the VPN router as 172.30.30.1/24, and the VPN IP Pool as 172.30.50.1 – 172.30.50.20 (for standalone mode) or 172.30.50.1/24 (for Omada SDN Controller). After the VPN client is connected, it obtains a VPN IP as 172.30.50.1.

Configuration screenshot of the Omada Gateway in standalone mode.

Configuration screenshot of the Omada SDN Controller.

Step 2. Configure the PPTP/L2TP VPN adapters.

Go to Control Panel –> Network and Internet –> Network and Sharing Center –> Change Adapter Settings, then you will find the PPTP/L2TP VPN adapters. Right-click the adapter –> Properties –> Networking, Double-click “Internet Protocol Version 4” –> Advanced, then you will find the Advanced TCP/IP settings for the VPN.

By default, “Use default gateway on remote network” is enabled, all network requests, whether to the Internet or the remote network, will be forwarded via the VPN tunnel, and handled by the VPN server.

To access the remote network with VPN and the Internet with the local gateway, please uncheck “Use default gateway on remote network” and “Disable class based route addition”.