In Windows 10 how do you ensure all traffic goes through VPN?

What is the easiest way to ensure all traffic goes through the VPN in Windows 10? Are there any built in ways? I'm basically looking for an internet kill switch in the case the VPN fails.

I read that sometimes the OS gets confused and for some random reason just doesn't use the VPN when sending traffic, is this actually a valid concern?

Celeritas

Posted 2016-01-04T03:30:46.710

Reputation: 7 487

Setup the VPN to do that then connect to it – Ramhound – 2016-01-04T03:32:17.423

@Ramhound the VPN manager I use has a kill switch, but it's buggy, especially if multiple network interfaces are present. – Celeritas – 2016-01-04T03:35:07.580

When I indicate, "setup the VPN", I mean configure the VPN not to leak your personal information. A properly encrypted VPN will automatically connect you to the virtual private network, and all traffic will go through that network, nothing special has to be done once that is done. – Ramhound – 2016-01-04T04:42:29.453

I would assume because of the apparent lack of research on the topic – Ramhound – 2016-01-08T11:46:36.497

Answers

Note:

Be sure you have only one network adapter enabled, example: if you are using ethernet, be sure wireless is disabled. If using wireless be sure no ethernet cable is connected, or disable the adapter in networking and sharing center > change adapter settings.

Open command prompt and do a command:

netstat /r

note the Interface ip address on the 0.0.0.0 line in the "Active Routes" section , lets just say it is 192.168.0.1

Connect to your VPN

Do another netstat /r

Note you will see a new ip route for the vpn (second 0.0.0.0. line), note that Interface new route ip

Now kill the original non vpn route with this command

route delete 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1

then do another netstat /r

you will only see your vpn route now, and if your VPN line drops, you lose that route, so there are no more 0.0.0.0 routes and your external connection will be immediately cut off. If you want to access the internet you'll need to add the original route back with this command:

route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 IF 8

The "IF 8" means "interface 8". The number 8 may be different on your computer, look at the output of netstat -r to get the correct number of your interface in the Interface List

All that being said I would disable ipv6, I have done this with no issues after doing so.

disable ipv6 command:

netsh interface teredo set state disabled

Enable ipv6 command:

netsh interface teredo set state default

Moab

Posted 2016-01-04T03:30:46.710

Reputation: 54 203

"Be sure you have only one network adapter enabled," what about the virtual adapters, such as those used by VMware? – Celeritas – 2016-01-04T08:59:05.443

See answer above by dxiv – Moab – 2016-01-04T19:05:41.050

After doing the route delete command I got the error The route deletion failed: Element not found. – Celeritas – 2016-01-12T08:01:14.430

You did something wrong. – Moab – 2016-01-12T15:50:27.803

@Moab Use gateway IP instead of destination IP – Ankit_Shah55 – 2017-01-26T07:34:44.490

@Moab What if I do not disable IPv6? – Anindit Karmakar – 2017-04-26T03:40:33.637

@AninditKarmakar then you do not insure all traffic goes through the vpn. – Moab – 2017-06-17T16:16:09.570

These are 2 questions rolled into one.

I'm basically looking for a internet kill switch in the case VPN fails

@Moab's answer settles this question nicely.

What is the easiest way to ensure all traffic goes through the VPN in Windows 10?
Is there any built in ways?

This is a different question. Note that all traffic goes through the VPN has an implied "as long as the VPN connection is up". The built-in way to route Internet traffic over VPN will transparently fallback to the local Internet connection if the VPN gets disconnected for whatever reason.

That said, the following steps should answer the 2nd question:

right click the Start button, select Network Connections
click the VPN connection you want to use, right-click, select Properties
click the Networking tab, select IPv4 from the list, click Properties
click Advanced, make sure "Use default gateway on remote network" is checked
repeat previous step for IPv6 if applicable

dxiv

Posted 2016-01-04T03:30:46.710

Reputation: 1 784

I couldn't see ""Use default gateway on remote network", after clicking advanced, but under the label "default gateways", the list was blank. – Celeritas – 2016-01-12T08:04:52.723

There is no label "default gateways" that I can find in the steps listed above. Either you ended up in the wrong place, or maybe you are using some 3rd party VPN other than the Windows built-in one, in which case that should have been the very first thing to point in your question. – dxiv – 2016-01-12T08:16:30.557

I didn't know Windows 10 had a built in one – Celeritas – 2016-01-12T08:41:29.833

@Celeritas Windows has had a built-in VPN client for(virtually)ever. If you are not using it, but instead some other 3rd party alternative then both my answer and Moab's have been a waste of time. Please provide the full context when you ask a question next time. – dxiv – 2016-01-12T08:48:29.697

1if Windows comes with a VPN then why does virtually everyone who uses VPN use a 3rd party alternative? – Celeritas – 2016-01-12T09:33:04.513

@Celeritas This is a false premise! Sometimes enterprises choose to use something other than the built-in VPN for various business reasons, but the built-in VPN is widely used. – Greg Lyon – 2016-05-05T14:57:47.510

@Celeritas - I use a third party client because I couldn't figure out how to configure the Windows VPN with the certificates and stuff – Chris Dutrow – 2017-09-07T19:17:03.793

If you need to make sure that all the traffic goes though a single IP or pool known to you, you may adjust firewall blocking all other addresses leaving that single IP. Say, you need to use 10.10.10.10 only, so you should block all from 0.0.0.0 to 10.10.10.9 and from 10.10.10.11 to 255.255.255.255.

Anton

Posted 2016-01-04T03:30:46.710

Reputation: 1