HP WiFi disconnects after connecting to VPN

Leaving this here for our own reference, but we’ve had issues with many HP laptops and the WiFi disconnecting after connecting to VPN.

The issue causing this is to do with HP Software which puts the WiFi adapter into power save mode when a physical network connection is present, unfortunately connecting to a VPN also causes the WiFi connection to enter power saving.

To test if this is your issue:

  • Start Task Manager
  • find HP Lan/WAN Switching (LANWANswitching.exe)
  • kill the process
  • test vpn connection

To resolve the issue permanently, it is necessary to prevent the service from starting:

  • Press Windows+R, type “services.msc” and hit Enter
  • Search for a service called “HP LAN/WLAN/WWAN Switching”
  • Right click on the service, and select Properties
  • if services is running, hit stop
  • change startup type to Manual
  • click apply

Disabling LAN/WAN Switching in the BIOS should also be a work around.

Had this issue with many HP laptops, hope it helps.