Member Avatar for asad_mian

Hi,

we have some IP restricted services at our office. Usually I connect though VPN client and then login to my machine thought remote desktop and use/access those services.

Is there anyway that I can access those services just connecting to the VPN. I mean is it possible that when I am connected to VPN, my web access routes through the company network.

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Short answer: yes — but only if the VPN is set up to carry general Internet traffic (a “full‑tunnel”) or if an internal HTTP/SOCKS proxy is reachable over the VPN. If the VPN is intentionally constrained to forward only specific services (for example only RDP) then the client will remain unable to reach IP‑restricted services from the local browser. This is the scenario warned about, and the proxy option mentioned by is a common alternative.

Typical, practical steps and checks:

  • On Windows built‑in VPN clients: open Network Connections → right‑click the VPN adapter → Properties → Networking → Internet Protocol v4 → Advanced and enable “Use default gateway on remote network” to force all traffic through the VPN.
  • On macOS: VPN configuration → Advanced → enable “Send all traffic over VPN connection.”
  • On Linux/NetworkManager: uncheck “Use this connection only for resources on its network” or add a default route via the VPN interface (ip route / route to inspect). For OpenVPN the server can push redirect-gateway (server/client config).
  • Confirm DNS: even with routing set, DNS might still be local — ensure the VPN supplies corporate DNS or set the client to use it.

Quick verification and troubleshooting:

  • Check public IP before/after connecting (use a “what is my IP” service) to confirm egress is the company address.
  • Use route print (Windows) or ip route (Linux) and tracert/traceroute to verify the default route goes through the VPN.
  • If the browser still fails while RDP succeeds, the VPN or corporate firewall may be blocking client NAT/egress for VPN peers.

Caveats: corporate policy, auditing and bandwidth are important — many companies intentionally block full‑tunnel or log all traffic. If full‑tunnel is disallowed, practical alternatives are continuing the RDP workflow, requesting an admin‑side proxy or IP exception for the required service, or asking the network team to enable appropriate routing/NAT for the VPN clients.

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Member Avatar for lolafuertes

This depends on the networking rules applied. If VPN server( or router) only admits forwarding the RDP protocol to your machine, then you only can connect to your machine.

You must ask to your network admin. (Obviously you can try the restricted services once the VPN is active. ;) but this can be registered in the log of the server or router)

Hope this helps

Member Avatar for |-|x

You may be able to configure a browser proxy on your VPN connection, which should redirect browser activity via the vpn - but as Lola said, it will depend on the specific configuration of your company network.

You should also check the usage policy (if the company has one) as you may be required to use specific methods for accessing services.

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