Windows 10: How to programmatically connect/disconnect a Windows 10 VPN connection?

I have self-written app in C++ that needs to connect specified VPN connection on my PC the standard Windows VPN connection. When I had Windows 7 the app did this by getting IShellFolder pointer for the Network connections folder, then requested IContextMenu pointer for the specified connection and then called the InvokeCommand method using the 2 as command ID which corresponded to the "Connect" item. It worked OK.But now I moved to Windows 10 and this method does not work anymore - even if you open the Network Connections folder manually, right click the VPN connection and select "Connect

:)

 

Windows 10 Ethernet connection randomly disconnects

Drivers and certain antivirus software or vpn related stuff.

 

No Internet Connection When VPN Is Connected

This particular issue has been going on for almost a month now. My companies IT department is still trying to figure out the root cause. Below is a list of isolation / troubleshooting i've done.

Issue: Once connected to the work VPN (successfully) the internet connection on the Windows 10 machine disconnects and does not allow any network traffic.

OS: Windows 10 Home - Version: 1909 (OS Build 18363.476)

Computer: Razor Blade 2019

- Latest drivers installed

- Latest Windows updates installed

- System Wide issue

Troubleshooting / Isolation

• Cellular Data: Verified the Windows machine can connect to a hotspot and successfully browse the internet. (No VPN involved)

• Cellular Data + Work VPN: Verified the Windows machine can connect to the hotspot & successfully connect to work VPN and successfully browse the internet.

• Home WiFi: Verified Windows machine can connect to the home wifi network and successfully browse the internet (No VPN involved)

• Home WiFi + Work VPN: Verified Windows machine can connect to home WiFi. It can successfully connect to work VPN. However once the work VPN is connected, the home WiFi network indicates (No Internet Access)

• Ping Test + Work VPN: Verified I can successfully ping (work) websites and even the work VPN URL successfully without any packet loss. However once I go to ping (non-work) related addresses like google.com, apple.com etc. there is packet loss.
  

At this point I decided to test my work VPN on my iPhone & Apple Mac.

• iPhone: Home WiFi + Work VPN: Verified the iPhone successfully connects to home WiFi network and the work VPN and can successfully browse the internet.

• Mac: Home WiFi + Work VPN: Verified the Mac successfully connects to home WiFi network and the work VPN and can successfully browse the internet.

Isolated: Only the Windows machine seems to be affected. I even verified this issue occurs on multiple Windows user accounts on the Windows 10 machine.

- Windows 10 is fully updated to the latest November Windows 10 update and issue persists

- Deleted and Added the VPN configuration several times and issue persisted.

Third Party VPN Client Test: Tested with Nord VPN and the Windows machine successfully connected to the home WiFi network & the Nord VPN connection successfully connected to a random server and successfully browsed the internet.

- Disabled IPV6 on VPN & WiFi network configuration (Per IT Support guidance) and issue persisted

*Currently updating to Windows 10 Insider Preview 19033.1 (vb_release) to see if this might fix anything pertaining to Windows 10 VPN.

Thanks for any additional guidance / suggestions / help that the community offers.

 

Windows 10 Ethernet connection randomly disconnects

I suggest checking out the event log in Windows. It's likely going to tell you why (to some degree,) why the network connection was lost. I haven't had this issue with wired connections but, with wireless it has almost always come down to drivers or a strange software bug which boiled down to how the driver operates.