VPN and local printing

[markpecz]

Does anyone know of a solution for printing to a local network while VPNed to another network.
When the tunnel is connected the local network is blocked. We dont want to connect the networks for security.

Frankly I dont see a solution, but maybe one of you has run across a solution.

Thanks

 

[John Lewis]

If you block the local network, you will not be able to print to local networked printers.

Two solutions:

1. Connect the printer directly to the computer by USB, parallel or serial connection.

2. The simpler method is to simply not disable the local netwrok. Contrary to popular myth, this is absolutely NOT a security risk, with an exception.

Just because you connect a client to a remote network by VPN does not mean traffic can travel between the two networks. Unless the client machine is configured to route traffic, there is no path for local net traffic to reach the remote network. Windows machines are configured NOT to route traffic by default, so unless you have enabled routing for some reason, it will not happen.

The only real reason to enable routing on a Windows machine is to use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). If you have ICS enabled, you should not be using that machine as a VPN client in any case.