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While WFH, my work laptop (macOS big sur 11.6) uses a VPN (cisco anyconnect) that effectively disables its 192.168.1.xxx IP address, which would otherwise let it see and be seen by the other hosts and the printer on my 192.168.1.xxx LAN.

Is there a way to move data between the laptop and the LAN without relying on an intermediate outside service such as dropbox, pastebin, web email, scp to/from a cloud host, or even copypasting to/from a chat service?

(The VPN's Preferences checkbox "Allow LAN access when using VPN (if configured)" is checked, but the laptop doesn't see the LAN. So the build I got must have that unconfigured. Its Statistics page also says "Tunnel All Traffic" through the VPN, i.e., even packets sent to 192.168. So split tunnelling is unavailable.)

There's no wifi at home, because reasons, but bluetooth is available.

If there isn't a software solution:
Back in the day, you'd use an RS232 null modem cable. Could a similar cable work between the laptop's USB-C and something on the LAN? This is just to move the occasional megabyte file or hundred-byte command, so latency and bandwidth hardly matter.

Camille Goudeseune
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1 Answers1

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A related question directed me to an answer that worked.

brew update && brew install openconnect (Just once.)

sudo openconnect -u myusername --authgroup=mygroupname hostname.mydomain.com
Type my password and my 2FA password.
To stop the VPN, type Ctrl+C.

Camille Goudeseune
  • 2,721