win-app
win-app copied to clipboard
ProtonVPN
cannot add windows UWP apps to split tunnel list
several windows uwp apps do not function behind a vpn, and the way they are managed by windows makes them difficult or impossible—i cannot figure out how—to add them to the split tunnel list to exclude them from the vpn.
it would technically be possible to use the "include only" mode of split tunneling to bypass the specific uwp apps, but that means you either add every other piece of software installed on your machine or leave large chunks of traffic outside the vpn. one of those is not a reasonable ask and the other defeats the purpose of having a vpn. the only other option is to completely turn off the vpn while the offending apps are active, which is worse than either option above.
because uwp apps are in system protected folder that a typical windows user does not have read access to, they are unable to specify the app location for the vpn.
a user with administrator privileges can assign themselves as the owner of the directory, but i did that once and all the apps stopped working, even after i reverted ownership of the directory to "trusted installer". i had to reinstall windows to return the apps' functionality.
i just tried to use a privileged command prompt to locate the executable inside the protected directory and add it by manually typing the location of the executable into the finder that comes up when adding a program to the list. but i was told that i did not have permissions to open the file. even running protonvpn as admin did not let me add the program.
a similar issue happens when people try to add games from the windows/microsoft store to their steam library, because those games are uwp apps. i have found people explaining how to add those games using a workaround involving something to do with the shell. which i am guessing is making steam hook windows for access to the software. shell:AppsFolder\[PACKAGE]![APPID] replacing [PACKAGE] with basically the folder name, and [APPID] with a value pulled from a protected app manifest file.
i tried editing the user.config file for protonvpn found in the %appdata% by adding the shell pointer above as the target in the "path". but protonvpn would not even start while that "value" existed. as soon as i removed it, it started working again.
please add a way for uwp apps to use split tunneling in the "exclude" mode so they do not lose functionality while the vpn is active.
resources: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/add-windows-store-games-to-steam
backing this, required even if you managed to get the exe file path, some uwp apps are updated very often, that would require to add an exception for each new version
