VPN Safe Split Tunnelier for Windows

Introduction

VPN Safe Split Tunnelier is a Windows tool that chooses, app by app, which programs use the VPN and which use your normal internet connection. Connect with the VPN Safe Windows app first, then start Split Tunnelier and switch the apps you want on a different route.

It is a VPN Safe build based on Freakuency. It sits next to the VPN and rewrites packets per application. It does not replace the VPN Safe app, and it does not change your username or server.

Two modes:

• VPN Default (Exclude) — everything goes through the VPN. Apps you switch on skip the VPN and use your normal connection. Use this when a game, a bank, or a local printer should not go through the tunnel.
• Direct Default (Include) — everything uses your normal connection. Apps you switch on go through the VPN.

A switch applies to the next connection that app opens. A connection that is already open stays on its current route until you close and reopen it.

What you need

• Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit.
• Python, from python.org/downloads. Install it before you run Split Tunnelier. On the installer, tick Add python.exe to PATH.
• A VPN Safe connection that is already up. Split Tunnelier looks for the VPN adapter after you connect.
• Permission to approve the Windows administrator prompt. The tool uses a packet driver, so Windows asks every time you start it.

Download and unpack

1. Download vpnsafe.net/downloads/VPN_Safe_Split_Tunnelier.zip.
2. Right-click the zip and choose Extract All. Extract the whole archive into its own folder, for example C:\VPN Safe Split Tunnelier.
3. Leave VPN_Safe_Split_Tunnelier.exe in the same folder as the _internal folder. The program will not start if you move only the exe.

Allow the folder in antivirus

Split Tunnelier loads a network driver so it can send one app around the tunnel and keep the rest inside it. Antivirus and other security software often block that driver, or lock files in the folder, because the traffic no longer follows a single path.

Add an exclusion for the folder you extracted, before you run the exe:

• Microsoft Defender: Windows Security, then Virus & threat protection, then Manage settings, then Exclusions, then Add an exclusion, then Folder. Pick the extracted folder.
• If you use another antivirus or malware product, add the same folder as an excluded or allowed folder in that product.

Exclude the folder you unpacked. Do not turn real-time protection off for the whole PC.

Run it

1. Open the VPN Safe Windows app and connect. Wait until the app shows Protected.
2. Double-click VPN_Safe_Split_Tunnelier.exe.
3. If Windows shows Windows protected your PC, click More info, then Run anyway.
4. Approve the administrator prompt. The window will not control traffic without it.
5. Choose VPN Default (Exclude) or Direct Default (Include).
6. Find the app in the list, or search by name. Switch it on.
7. Click Start. The status turns green when routing is on.

You can switch apps while it is running. Close the app through File > Exit, or Exit on the tray icon, so the driver unloads. Do not end the process from Task Manager if you can avoid it.

If the folder will not delete

After a crash, Windows can keep the driver loaded and lock a file in the folder. Exit Split Tunnelier from the File menu or the tray icon, then try again. If the folder is still locked, restart the PC and delete it after Windows has started.

Limits

• Windows only. The driver does not run on macOS, Linux, or Android.
• IPv4. IPv6 traffic is not split by this build.
• The VPN Safe app kill switch covers traffic from the VPN app. Split Tunnelier is a separate program, and an app you exclude is outside the tunnel on purpose.
• Your choices are saved in the extracted folder. If you delete that folder, you set the switches again.