Edit - solution: Thanks to user u/xcalibre on his comment it was all about the proxy.
Hello, where I work I’ve to use VPN to access their network.
When I’m using chrome pretty much all websites get block (e.g. WhatsAppWeb, google meet, etc.). However, I noticed that none of these get block on Firefox, so I started using Firefox… The thing is, there are a lot of things bothering me on Firefox (won’t get in details, because it’s not the point since it’s not VPN related).
Anyone knows why this is happening, and most important, if I can configure chrome to do what Firefox is doing? (could it be port used by the webapp, or something like that? Or is it probably configured on the company VPN side?)
Since the COVID pandemic, I’ve been working in home office, and was just notified that even after things come back to normal it will stay that way, so I would really like, if possible, to “fix” my chrome, since I’ve to use Google meet for work porpoise and use WhatsApp to chat with other people on the company, but then I get blocked from company apps, which sometimes result in constant connecting/disconnecting from the VPN…
Also, if I used WhatsAppWeb while on VPN does the company see the messages or is the cryptography of WhatsAppWeb still valid?
My guess is that you might want to play with the metric settings. For example, in a command prompt, enter “route print -4” and look at the last column. Windows will use the route with the lower metrics first.
When you connect to your work’s VPN, the VPN connection gets a higher priority (lower metric) to have traffic go through it. Your DNS and HTTPS requests are going through the VPN connection.
Firefox, I believe, doesn’t use the system’s DNS servers but rather the ones listed in its own settings, as well as uses DNS over HTTPS.
What I do on my personal computer is to go into “View Network Connections” so that I can see the adapters. I go to the one for my VPN connection, and click on “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP4)”, Properties, Advanced button. Then I uncheck “Automatic metric” and give it a high number (300 or so should be fine).
Since the VPN adapter now has a higher metric, Windows will prefer to send data over your home internet first and will only send it to your VPN traffic as a last resort. That way most of my traffic stays off the VPN unless I am accessing resources that need the VPN connection (like a server in the workplace).
It’s a personal machine. It’s been said they would provide a personal machine since around 06/2019, so at this point I just don’t expect it anymore.
Installing anything from work, including a VPN, on a personal machine is not a good ideal for a bunch of reasons.
Unfortunately, it’s either that or I don’t work. I’m gonna check a VM (never used one before), but I would still have the Chrome blocking site problems…
I checked the VPN TCP/IP4 and the metric was set to 1. I changed it to 300, but when I try to access a web site that Chrome blocks I started getting a msg “proxy XXX.YYY.ZZZ require password” (probably a way for some people to bypass this blocks).
I’m gonna check xcalibre suggestion
Since the VPN adapter now has a higher metric, Windows will prefer to send data over your home internet first and will only send it to your VPN traffic as a last resort.
Is there anyway to check this, I left the metric at 300, I would prefer that only as last resort the VPN is used, just want to be sure this is happening
I checked Firefox is setup with “use configurations of the own system” (might not be exactly that, since my Firefox is not in English).
I swapped to “automatically detect proxy of this network” and it started giving me the same problem as Chrome, blocking sites.
When I got to proxy settings on chrome it takes me to the system proxy system, I removed the option “automatically detect settings” and now my chrome is working fine!
Hi u/lRyudo, I can’t seem to find how to change that setting in my systems proxy system to remove “automatically detect settings”–can you say more of how exactly you changed that setting?
I can’t seem to see that in an obvious way on my Mac, you can see a screenshot here:
go to https://ipleak.org/ in both browsers with the VPN active and compare what DNS servers
Chrome blocks it. I did notice that on firefox on VPN says “no VPN detected”, on the DNS LEAK TEST it shows up the compnay name that runs the VPN.
I’m gonna do some reasearch as to how to set Chrome DNS equal to Firefox DNS (if possible) and see if it works, worst case I just set it back the way it was…
In fact, I’ll do some reaserch to install the VM first and try that using it.
I don’t think there is a way for your company to view the content of your msg, since it is end-to-end encrypted by Whatsapp (your company would have to try really hard to do it).
However, they will know that some machine connected to their network using VPN is using Whatsapp Web, even if you use it on a VM (but they won’t be able to read the content of your msgs). They might be able to figure out which employee (you) is on this VM, but this i’m not sure.
What version of Windows10 u/lRyudo? HyperV (Microsoft’s Hypervisor) could be a smoother experience if you just need one Windows VM. VirtualBox is great for learning and trying mixed machines, but a little clunky. VMWare and Parallels are the two other big players in Hypervisors if you need support and a more polished product with paid options.
Sorry for being a bad bot
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