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Phone Link disconnects when a VPN connection is established

Anonymous
2023-01-06T10:54:27+00:00

Either a recent update from Nord or Microsoft is causing my Phone Link connection to go offline. It has worked fine since I first began using it when I upgraded to Windows 11 until the last few days. I added Phone Link to the apps list for Split Tunneling, but that did not fix the issue.

When the VPN is active, it disconnects my phone from my PC and shows offline as the status. When I deactivate the VPN, it reconnects to my phone in a few seconds. I have also tried numerous other Nord VPN servers. Same problem.

I searched through the other questions regarding this same problem, but there was either no solution or the one listed did not work.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Connect Phone and PC

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-09-28T04:53:36+00:00

    Believe it or not, I found a work around.

    1. After NordVPN has started and split tunneling is on
    2. open phone link. Note that the connection is "offline".
    3. Now Open NordVPN Setting and toggle Split Tunneling off
    4. Switch back to Phone link and it will successfully connect. "Connected"
    5. Switch back to NordVPN Setting and toggle back Split Tunneling on
    6. Phone Link remains "connected"

    Phone Link will stay connected now, even with Split Tunneling on. You can refresh the connection, send text, launch apps, make phone calls. So far it seems to stay connected even with split tunneling on. Unfortunately, you'll have to toggle split tunneling off/on each time you stop/start the VPN.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-02-07T05:18:24+00:00

    For me, with Proton VPN turned on Windows and Android, the Phone Link 1.22112.142.0 app on Windows works just fine. (I can send a text on my phone by typing it on my laptop.) But what does not work in this case is that I cannot open the extra window to see my phone screen. One way that I am able to fix this so I can see my phone screen on my laptop is to disconnect Proton VPN on my phone.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-23T16:44:10+00:00

    I experienced the same, but I think I tracked it down.

    First I have two VPN providers: Privado and Private Internet Access (PIA). I think this must all depend on how the VPN provider implements their blocking.

    Privado never disconnected Phone Link. I was never able to get it to cause Phone Link to disconnect despite switching on and off various settings, including the Kill Switch function.

    PIA disconnected Phone Link every time. BUT, if I went into settings and turned OFF the Privacy / Kill Switch, Phone Link seems to stay connected through multiple connects and disconnects using PIA.

    Perhaps you might find a similar correlation.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-08T15:38:58+00:00

    I am subscribed to the thread so let me know how this goes. ETA: By the end of this week usually.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-01-07T15:42:44+00:00

    It is quite possible that my version has the fix, as I am on the Beta Channel(same codebase as 22621 though).

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