Connecting to office by VPN without losing normal Internet connectivity?

[Lord Evermore]

I may soon be needing to use a VPN connection to be able to log into some things at work from home. At my old job I used a VPN on the company laptop and sometimes on my desktop to be able to check mail, and if I remember correctly, connecting to the VPN meant not being able to use the Internet normally, as all traffic gets routed through the tunnel. That meant losing connection to any messaging services, not being able to check personal email or browse the Web without it going through the company firewall.

Is there any way, preferably simple, to be able to connect a VPN but only have traffic that is destined for my office's network (a couple of IP ranges), and all other traffic continue to route through my normal network connection without being encrypted and passed over the tunnel?

I was thinking that it might be done by disabling DHCP for the VPN connection and manually setting up a routing table, but I found that the tunnel became the only available route for all traffic, and I couldn't figure out a way to avoid it, and I couldn't at the time work on disabling DHCP.

Basically I just want to be able to log in via VPN to be able to read company email, and possibly need to stay logged in to access applications so that I can assist on busy days, but not completely lose all other Internet access from that machine.

 

[Cooky]

If the VPN is set up not to allow what you call "normal Internet access" (split tunnel), it's done on purpose for security reason by company IT department, and there's no way to change that as far as I know.

 

[thirdeye]

Depending on the client I know Microsoft has an option under the advanced options of your VPN connection to uncheck "Used default gateway on remote network" that will allow you to keep you local access. If you're using a Cisco client it also has an option to do the same.

 

[Woodie]

What Cooky said. Unlikely to be able (or be permitted) to change that on the company device.
Why would the company permit you full-access VPN w/ your personal machine? That's just as risky as split tunneling (IMPO).