Microsoft programs see no connection

highlysuspicious

Hi there,

I've been using PIA for about a year now, and there's a wee problem I'd like to be able to fix. It seems that many things Microsoft are unable to connect to the internet when PIA is connected. They report "no connection is available" and require PIA to be disconnected before they'll work.

Specifically, I have the problem with:

Windows Update. If I'm connected to PIA, I don't receive notification of updates.

OneNote. I can't use my OneDrive notebook if PIA is connected.

Office. Again, OneDrive is unavailable, as are online templates and whatnot.

I'm not sure if this also applies to other MS software like Outlook and IE.

One idea for a solution is to create a local proxy server that bypasses the VPN, but I'm not sure how exactly I'd go about doing this. Any suggestions?

highlysuspicious

Thanks for the response. In reply to your questions:

-it's always been an issue, near as I can tell. I started using OneNote daily a few months ago and that's when I started noticing that it couldn't connect to my notebook when the VPN was connected. The other pieces of the puzzle fell into place shortly thereafter.

-Windows 7 Home Premium x64, MS Security Essentials, Peerblock, default settings on Windows Firewall

-no other software seems affected.

-there was once a non-legit copy of Office on here. I'm wondering if the KMS/activation workarounds might have somehow affected the interaction of MS products and the VPN.

highlysuspicious

Oh, and to confound the issue even more, once the initial connection has been made with the VPN disconnected, I can reconnect the VPN and continue to use MS products online.

VPN

Oh, and to confound the issue even more, once the initial connection has been made with the VPN disconnected, I can reconnect the VPN and continue to use MS products online.

That's because Windows allows established connections to continue over your ISP connection even if changes in routing (due to the VPN connection coming up) would redirect them. If you want any of those programs to use the VPN connection, you have a leak.

If the machine is in a static network environment, you could try to configure the network interface statically, without DHCP. This might impact Windows functions such as Active Directory authentication and access to AD resources. Depending on your environment, if those aren't needed, try setting a static IP with no default gateway, add static routes to a few VPN servers (via your usual local gateway) and www.privateinternetaccess.com if you want to use PIA Manager. It might not work as expected anymore, so I suggest switching to OpenVPN.
This also means that you won't have internet access before the VPN connection is established.

p3778223

is there a solution to this? do I have to login to my Microsoft account first before connection to PIA? That doesnt seam right? 

p3778223

I think I have solved it. I changed the udp /tcp setting to tcp and now One Note connects every time.

penumbra

penumbra

Thanks for the response. In reply to your questions:

-it's always been an issue, near as I can tell. I started using OneNote daily a few months ago and that's when I started noticing that it couldn't connect to my notebook when the VPN was connected. The other pieces of the puzzle fell into place shortly thereafter.

-Windows 7 Home Premium x64, MS Security Essentials, Peerblock, default settings on Windows Firewall

-no other software seems affected.

-there was once a non-legit copy of Office on here. I'm wondering if the KMS/activation workarounds might have somehow affected the interaction of MS products and the VPN.

"non-legit copy of Office" - "KMS/activation workarounds" - ohhhh.... can't go any further with ya on this but those things have been known to cause some weird issues and many of them contain 'back doors' into your system that someone can exploit to gain access to your system. Most systems with a 'pirated' 'KMS/activation' thing are compromised or vulnerable.

Did you try removing Office completely?

Oh, and to confound the issue even more, once the initial connection has been made with the VPN disconnected, I can reconnect the VPN and continue to use MS products online.

Then you don't have a PIA issue and need to look elsewhere.

Hello you all.

I'm resurrecting this thread because I am having this issue as well and I think I have something constructive to add.

I'm having this exact same issue, and I can assure you all software on this computer is completely legit.  I'm using registered copy of Windows 7 as well as a subscribed copy of Office 2013.  

Like the OP, I have been using this VPN software for some time but the difference with my situation is that I never noticed this happening before.  This is because I never really needed to sync anything using my Office / windows live account.  Everything I have done only involves the local system.

However, recently I bought a tablet with stylus etc with One Note being a major purpose for this device.  I did some graphs on the tablet and tried pulling them up on my desktop to send in with the rest of my math homework and I got this message: NO INTERNET CONNECTION (it's all caps in office lol).  Anyways I disable VPN and I am then allowed to sync.

Here's another bit of info:  what highlysuspicious said regarding being able to proceed as normal after disabling PIA to sync isn't true for me and I think not for him either.  Whats happening is you do have your notebook that was imported locally during sync with PIA disabled...but as long as PIA is enabled afterwards you aren't getting the real time notebook syncing that is kind of important for this software when your using on many devices at once.

So this is a problem, and so far I see this one suggestion of changing udp / tcp setting to tcp.  But my concern is that, if this workaround is working, is the VPN still doing its job??  The idea of having to frequently disable PIA to use my Office software...well you can see that just won't do.

powem

It's an issue. I wish PIA would address it.  I have the same problem, I can't save documents to OneDrive until I disconnect from PIA. If, as suggested, M$ (or other products) simply use the non-VPN connection established while the VPN down, this is a major security hole. It effectively renders the VPN nothing but window dressing, You can never know if you are actually sending your data over a secure connection, or not, even with the VPN activated.

Very disappointing.

tbrambo

Bumping an old thread to say that this is still an issue with Windows 10.  Office, onenote, onedrive etc. all claim "no internet connection" when connected through PIA.

brett913

I have this issue too,

Skorched

I've had this issue for almost a year. Windows 10 mail and store suddenly stop working and see's no connection until I disconnect PIA and reconnect. I have stopped using windows mail due to this issue and use Thunderbird and it always works so I know its not my email server but something with windows 10 and PIA.

mstarkey

Another bump, #metoo !!

[Deleted User]

Thank you for the inquiry.

For SMTP: This link may be of some use to you: https://seed4.me/blog/thunderbird-gmail-for-vpn-connection/. It if for Thunderbird and Gmail, but the steps should be relatively close for Outlook. However, have you completed the whilelisting process? In order to assist you with whitelisting your SMTP server, please provide us with screenshots showing all of the following settings within your email provider's settings:

1. The email address(es) being blocked
2. The SMTP/outgoing email server name for the above address(es) (e.g. smtp.mail.com, mail.example.net)
3. The Port number used to connect to the mail server (e.g. 587, 465, 25...)
4. The SSL setting (enabled/disabled - may appear as TLS/SSL)
However - there are multiple reasons behind why you may not be able to use your email client when connected to VPN. Email is extremely tricky when using a VPN. It could be because your email client application is using port 25, which is blocked by our VPN to prevent spam. This can happen especially with old email applications. To resolve the issue: 

• Allow access to local network. This can be done on your app. 

If the above step do not work, you may need to:

• Switch to a newer email client such as Outlook or Thunderbird, or manually configure your email client to use port 587 instead of port 25. Outlook users will need to select the type of encrypted connection for the outgoing server before entering 587 for the Outgoing server (SMTP) port number. See details here.
• Disconnect from our VPN to access your email. This may be necessary if you are using your ISP’s email server and it blocks email traffic coming from outside of its own network. If this is the case I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience

For General Connection: Unfortunately, this disconnection or lack of connection is for blacklisting of IPs, which is a very common problem with VPNs. Some large websites, including retailers, streaming services,banks, and marketplaces like craigslist, place a blanket ban on VPN use. Their security sees our anonymous IP address as a potential threat so they block us out. While we rotate our IPs regularly, we are unable to render support or assistance in accessing restricted content via our service. 

Your VPN may need to be turned off to access these websites. Another option would be to try using one of our browser extensions as they do use some different IP's that may allow a connection. However - have you tried the following:

- change servers
- change ports and protocols (tcp/udp)
- clear cache and cookies in the browser
- changed browsers to see if one is faster
- performed a clean uninstall/reinstall
(uninstalling, rebooting, then reinstalling a fresh copy)
- logged out of the application and reboot the device
(then logged back in to try and connect successfully)

If you need more assistance, let us know! - PIA CS TEAM

Adequate_Samaritan

I've been having trouble opening any Office 365 app for maybe a year and I've started investigating the link with PIA and came across this thread.

My problem is, sometimes when I fire up the machine in the morning and try to open any Office app, I get this:



Then when I restart my machine and try opening Office again, it works. I've never had it fail twice in a row, but I also am not sure exactly what is causing it. I would think if it was the UDP/TCP issue someone shared above, it would fail every time.

I've been thinking, perhaps, maybe it has something to do with the specific IP address Office might be log in with at a given time. After all, sometimes, depending on the IP address PIA assigns me, I might be blocked from sending email from the Gmail accounts I've linked to my Outlook, and have to temporarily disconnect to complete the send; other times I can send just fine. I wonder whether just starting Office in the morning might be related to the same thing.

I just thought of this possible link today; I haven't experimented with it. Has anyone else had this exact problem and figured out a fix for it?

[Deleted User]

Thank you for the inquiry. Microsoft blocks heavily with VPN Traffic. If you are able to send emails, you may have been assigned an IP address that has not yet been blocked by Microsoft when connecting to the VPN. This doe snot mean for a resolution, but id guess this is why your able to send email at times. The IP's are assigned at random when connecting to a server. However, feel free to test out your theories and let us know the results! If you need further assistance, please let us know! - PIA CS TEAM