domain name system - VPN Connection causes DNS to use wrong DNS server

I have a Windows 7 PC on our company network (which is a member of our Active Directory). Everything works fine until I open a VPN connection to a customer's site.

When I do connect, I lose network access to shares on the network, including directories such as 'Application Data' that we have a folder redirection policy for. As you can imagine, this makes working on the PC very difficult, as desktop shortcuts stop working, software stops working properly due to having 'Application Data' pulled from under it.

Our network is routed (10.58.5.0/24), with other local subnets existing within the scope of 10.58.0.0/16. The remote network is on 192.168.0.0/24.

I've tracked the issue down to being DNS related. As soon as I open the VPN tunnel, all my DNS traffic goes via the remote network, which explains the loss of local resources, but my question is, how can I force local DNS queries to go to our local DNS servers rather than our customers?

The output of ipconfig /all when not connected to the VPN is below:

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7k5xy4j

   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : mydomain.local
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : mydomain.local

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : mydomain.local
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F0-4D-A2-DB-3B-CA
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::9457:c5e0:6f10:b298%10(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.5.89(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 31 January 2012 15:55:47
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 10 February 2012 10:11:30
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.5.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.3.32

   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 250629538
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-AC-76-2D-F0-4D-A2-DB-3B-CA

   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.3.32
                                       10.58.3.33
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

This is the output of the same command with the VPN tunnel connected:

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7k5xy4j
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : mydomain.local
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : mydomain.local

PPP adapter Customer Domain:


   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : customerdomain.com
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : CustomerDomain
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.85(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.16

                                       192.168.0.17
   Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.17
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : mydomain.local
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F0-4D-A2-DB-3B-CA
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::9457:c5e0:6f10:b298%10(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.5.89(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 31 January 2012 15:55:47
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 10 February 2012 10:11:30
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.5.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.3.32
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 250629538
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-AC-76-2D-F0-4D-A2-DB-3B-CA


   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.58.3.32
                                       10.58.3.33
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Routing table

Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric

          0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0        10.58.5.1       10.58.5.89     20
        10.58.5.0    255.255.255.0         On-link        10.58.5.89    276
       10.58.5.89  255.255.255.255         On-link        10.58.5.89    276
      10.58.5.255  255.255.255.255         On-link        10.58.5.89    276
    91.194.153.42  255.255.255.255        10.58.5.1       10.58.5.89     21
        127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
        127.0.0.1  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
  127.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
      192.168.0.0    255.255.255.0     192.168.0.95     192.168.0.85     21
     192.168.0.85  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.0.85    276

        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link        10.58.5.89    276
        224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0         On-link      192.168.0.85    276
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link         127.0.0.1    306
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link        10.58.5.89    276
  255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255         On-link      192.168.0.85    276

The binding order for the interfaces is as follows:

I've not configured the VPN tunnel to use the default gateway at the remote end, and network comms to nodes on both networks are fine. (i.e. I can ping any node on our network or the remote network).

I've modified the PPTP connection properties to use the DNS servers 10.58.3.32 followed by 192.168.0.16, yet the query still goes to 192.168.0.16.

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Edit:

The local resources that disappear are hosted on domain DFS roots, which might (or might not) be relevant.

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Further Edit:

This only seems to be affecting domain DFS roots. If I reference the share via the server name (i.e. \\server\share instead of \\dfsroot\share), I can access the shares.

As per my comment against this answer, I've found I can add the DNS name of the domain to my hosts file which stops my (DFS) network drives from disappearing, but I'd still like the bold part of my question (above) answering if anyone has any ideas.

Answer

OK, found a great resource here: http://rdpfiles.com/2011/08/25/windows-vpn-client-and-local-dns-resolution/

It's not perfect, but just might work.

The binding order is stored in the registry in the following location:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Linkage\Bind. The list
includes all the device GUIDs for network adapters and active
connections in the binding priority order.

When working with the registry key, the following facts emerge:

Changing the order of the GUIDs in the registry does impact the
binding order, including for VPN connections

• Any changes to the key take effect immediately


• When a VPN connection is completed, the GUID for the connection is added to the top of the bind order if it does not already exist


• When a VPN connection is closed, the GUID entry for the connection is removed


• If there are multiple GUID entries for the connection, only one is removed when the connection is closed

This mechanism creates the possibility of the following workaround:

1. Examine the Bind registry key


2. Connect to your VPN connection


3. Check the Bind key again and copy the GUID that was added to the top of the list


4. Paste the GUID entry at the bottom of the list 20 times


5. Export the key and clean up the exported file to only include the bind key

The result is a key that will support the desired behavior. Every time
a VPN connection is established, since the GUID is present, it will
not be added. Since the GUID is at the bottom, DNS resolution will be
done locally to the client. When the connection is disconnected, one
GUID entry will be removed. After 20 VPN connections, the exported
registry file can be used to reimport the key.

Of course, you can paste the GUID more times to reduce how often you

have to reimport the key.

Also important to remember to redo this procedure if there are any
changes to network adapters.