How to Set Up Split Tunnelling on Your Business VPN to Access Local Printers and Office Resources

Network & Internet KB-935

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to Set Up Split Tunnelling on Your Business VPN to Access Local Printers and Office Resources. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Quick Tip: Need immediate assistance? 💻 Open a Ticket

Common Causes

Split tunnelling allows your VPN to route business traffic through your company network while letting local traffic—such as printing to your office or home printer, accessing network drives, and connecting to smart devices—use your regular internet connection. Without split tunnelling, all your traffic is forced through the VPN tunnel, which can block access to local devices on your network.

Detailed Instructions

Windows VPN Client

Open your VPN application from the Start menu or system tray.
Select Settings or Preferences from the main menu.
Click on Network or Connection.
Toggle Split Tunnelling to On.
Under Exclude apps or Local network access, add the applications or IP ranges you need to reach locally (for example, your printer's IP address).
Click Save or Apply.
Disconnect and reconnect to the VPN to apply the changes.

macOS VPN Client

Open your VPN application from the Applications folder or menu bar.
Select VPN > Settings or Preferences from the menu bar.
Choose the Network or Advanced tab.
Enable Split Tunnelling or Allow local network access.
Add local devices or applications to the bypass list.
Click OK or Apply.
Reconnect to the VPN.

Testing Local Printer Access

With the VPN connected, open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners on Windows, or System Settings > Printers & Scanners on macOS.
Confirm your local printer appears and is listed as Ready or Idle.
Print a test page to verify the connection is working.
To access a network drive, open File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS) and enter the local path, such as \\192.168.1.100\shared or smb://192.168.1.100/shared.

If your organisation manages your VPN centrally, split tunnelling settings may be controlled by your IT administrator. Contact your internal IT team or Open a Ticket if the option is greyed out or unavailable.

Enabling split tunnelling means some traffic bypasses the encrypted VPN tunnel. Only exclude trusted local devices and applications. Avoid adding public or untrusted networks to the exclusion list.

Troubleshooting

Printer Still Not Detected

Ensure the printer is powered on and connected to the same local network as your computer.
Add the printer's specific IP address to the split tunnelling exclusion list rather than the entire local subnet.
Restart both the printer and your computer, then reconnect to the VPN.

Cannot Access Network Drives

Verify you are using the correct local IP address or hostname for the network drive.
Check that file sharing is enabled on the device hosting the drive.
Check your local firewall settings to ensure it is not blocking the connection, and add an exception for the network drive if needed.

VPN Connection Drops After Enabling Split Tunnelling

Disconnect from the VPN, restart the VPN client, and reconnect.
Review the excluded applications list for any conflicting entries.
Ensure your VPN client is updated to the latest version.

If you continue to experience issues accessing local printers or office resources after enabling split tunnelling, Open a Ticket through the 220 Internet Services support portal.

For help with basic network connectivity, see How to connect to Wi-Fi.

Still Having Issues?

Need more help? If the issue persists after trying these steps, please open a support ticket and our team will assist you.

💻 Open a Ticket