Anyconnect stops LAN printing on a Mac

[apapp0]

Hello, I'm just a home user of Cisco Anyconenct. The software is provided via my institution's website. The name of the most current installer is anyconnect-macos-4.4.03034 -core-vpn-webdeploy-k9.pkg. (in case it is important to know)

After really a year of dealing with my computers, seemingly randomly, becoming unable to see any printers on the LAN, I realized that the problem occurs after I log into the VPN network and as soon as I log out, the printers miraculously reappear, with their queues intact, and start printing. 

This happens on computers as varied as an old MacBook Air 11 inch, and the newest iMac 27 inch. I'm using the latest OS, 10.14.5, but I remember that the problem occurred with 10.13 as well. 

I use the VPN to access literature only. It is not a critical part of my home computing environment. I am making this posting more as a report to whom it may concern (and to who may be interested) than a request for help. This should not happen and I should not have to do this or that to my system to have normally functioning printing while Anyconnect is active so I will live with simply disconnecting if I need to print. 

I have no idea if it is a known issue on the Mac. I did some search and saw problems why LAN printing going back many years on Windows PCs. 

[Dennis Mink · Accepted solution]

When your mac connects to a vpn it essentially is no longer part of your LAN as it receives an ip address from your institution. Vpn are typically all or nothing. When you log into the you loose local services such as printing.

[apapp0]

Thanks for your reply. Of course it makes sense once it is explained.

I am a bit more computer savvy than the average, and yet it is something I had to FIGURE OUT myself, after months of headaches and computer restarts (which always fixed the issue, obviously, so I thought there was something wrong with my system). I use my computers for work, and testing what’s wrong with the printing system is not something I have the interest, or time, to do, especially if restarting the computer always fixes the problem. It’s inconvenient, yet still faster than spending hours with troubleshooting.

As most people do not possess that information, perhaps it would be a useful thing to put up a window during installation, saying, "Hey user, forget about using your LAN printing while connected”.

Furthermore, a single computer can have more than one IP addresses, and while it is not without trouble, getting another address is not an absolute obstacle.

Even if it just not worth the effort, making it happen, a warning would be nice.