VPN's forcing ethernet to disconnect on Windows 10

Question

_{Tuesday, March 1, 2016 8:38 PM | 1 vote}

Note: this is cross posted from http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking/vpns-forcing-ethernet-to-disconnect-on-windows-10/0a9d3b92-c224-4901-bea5-d675ab78b074?tm=1456863070209, based on feedback from @AnthonyJose on a similar question.

As part of my normal work, I have to address multiple VPN's from multiple vendors.  When I launch a VPN connection, Windows 10 shuts off my Ethernet connection.  Depending on the vendor, the nature of the shutdown varies from marking my ethernet as a public network and making the internet unavailable,  to shutting off the adapter entirely.

I most frequently use Cisco AnyConnect, Junos Pulse, Open VPN, and Fortinet.

I can use wifi for a lot of things so this is mostly an annoyance so far.  It becomes inconvenient (and seems somewhat silly) when I have to use a second VPN to connect via wifi to the server that's sitting 20 feet away from me, on a direct wired connection.

Does anyone know why this happens to the ethernet connection?

Is there a solution?

All replies (8)

_{Tuesday, March 8, 2016 2:08 PM ✅Answered}

Okay ... update.

Ethernet stopped working completely.  I was beginning to think I had a hardware failure.

I uninstalled the NIC, then reinstalled it.  I had to manually do a winsock reset and install the client for microsoft networks.

Ethernet is working fine now.  I am enabling each of the VPN's as I use them.  Hopefully that will pinpoint the issue.

_{Wednesday, March 2, 2016 3:17 PM | 1 vote}

Hi,

Please check the solution in this similar thread:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/1f398079-1a0f-4a68-bf08-91b65dfaeb9a/connecting-to-vpn-fails-and-disconnects-network-adaptor?forum=win10itpronetworking

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

_{Wednesday, March 2, 2016 5:03 PM}

What build are you running?

Have you tried running SFC & DISM?

Please run a system file check (SFC) & DISM  if you are on win 8 or higher

**
**

All instructions are in our Wiki article below...
Should you have any questions please **ask us.

**

System file check (SFC) Scan and Repair System Files

Wanikiya and Dyami--Team Zigzag Windows IT-PRO (MS-MVP)

_{Thursday, March 3, 2016 1:35 AM}

Thank you for looking this up.

This person's issue was with the Hyper-V virtual switch.  My laptop is not virtualized.

However, the VPN's do create tunnelling adapters.  This may yet prove a fruitful avenue to pursue.  I will do some checking.

_{Thursday, March 3, 2016 1:57 AM}

Thank you for taking the time to look at this.

Neither SFC nor DISM found any issues.

_{Thursday, March 3, 2016 9:43 PM}

On another thread I found out that some of the VPN clients are setting bad firewall rules and causing this symptom.  I would post the link but I can't find it again.

I created some firewall rules to always allow the the VPN clients that appear to be the most frequent offenders to reach out.  I will monitor for a few days.

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : somevpn.com
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::241e:e5c4:7757:eee8%7
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 123.45.67.89
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : mylan.net
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fc00::144
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fc00::2cc8:c001:626a:740c
   Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : fc00::6909:5c68:aed:9817
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::2cc8:c001:626a:740c%3
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.100
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::b675:eff:fe07:31e5%3
                                       192.168.2.1

Ethernet adapter Ethernet 2:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 4:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:5ef5:79fb:208f:12c0:7e92:b3e
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::208f:12c0:7e92:b3e%16
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.mylan.net:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : mylan.net

Tunnel adapter isatap.somevpn.com:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : somevpn.com

_{Friday, March 4, 2016 9:47 PM}

Okay, firewall rules didn't work.

Even without VPN's running, I was having  disconnects.

I disabled all of the services and random adapters used by the suspects, and have run for a couple of hours without issues. So far this confirms that I am probably not not having a hardware issue.  It also suggests rather strongly that Windows 10 is a victim rather than a cause.

Stay tuned ...

_{Thursday, March 10, 2016 4:14 PM}

Hi, 

Thanks for your update and sharing solution here. 

Please mark your post as answered so that other community members can find the solution for this issue conveniently. 

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].