I am not able to disable the VPN (work computer).
Is there a manual workaround?
I didn’t have an issue the first time I installed Bambu Studio (back in Dec).
LAN only mode comes to mind as then no traffic has to go through the VPN, assuming they won’t route internal network traffic through it.
Biggest problem is that most VPN’s won’t support forwarding and without that Studio and printer are lost in all modes.
Workarounds… Hmmm…
A spare WiFI router just acting as a hub for printer and Studio works just fine for normal use but to get Studio into the cloud your IT guys have to free up some things.
If you recently updated to a new Studio version and/or firmware the issue might be with new authentication system.
I don’t do half eaten fruits, only windows but if on a MAC you can install and older version of the network plugin and Studio won’t forcefully update it like on Windows…
Even LAN Mode is demanding the Network Plugin to be installed.
I haven’t found the previous version of Studio.
I’m perplexed as to why the Network Plugin is a secondary installation.
I had this post prepared a few weeks ago and forgot about, some of it outdated and will explain that at the end…
The old way
Bambu does not want you to be at risk by using old things…
But let’s say you wanted the 1.9.7.52 version of Studio…
Then you could abuse an API call Bambu has not fully closed yet.
ht#tps://api.bam#bulab.co#m/v1/iot-service/api/slicer/res#ource?slicer/plugins/cloud=
Paste the above into your browser and then remove the FOUR # I added to spoof things a bit.
Before hitting enter though add the version number you are after.
Without adding a version number you always get the links for the latest Studio version.
Add not the Studio version number but the firmware version of the printer and you get the matching Studio version link and a link for the corresponding network plugin.
Have not found a way to download older printer firmwares in such ways but am sure it is possible somehow as well.
That’s the result for an ‘empty’ API call >
message "no version found"
code 2
error "Please check specified resource exist or not."
software
type null
version "01.10.02.76"
description "###https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/release/release-note-1-10-2###"
url "https://public-cdn.bblmw.com/upgrade/studio/software/01.10.02.76/80bd2b0315/Bambu_Studio_win-v01.10.02.76.exe"
force_update false
guide null
resources []
Anything Bambu no longer supports like the pre 1.10 Studio version results in something like this >
message "success"
code null
error null
software
type null
version "01.10.02.76"
description "###https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/release/release-note-1-10-2###"
url "https://public-cdn.bblmw.com/upgrade/studio/software/01.10.02.76/80bd2b0315/Bambu_Studio_win-v01.10.02.76.exe"
force_update false
guide null
resources []
As you can see in such a case you only get the link for the latest Studio version.
To avoid this and have a chance to get some older files it is important to stick to XX.XX.XX.00 for the version numbers.
Always double digits, so a 2 is a 02 and the last number of the version string is ALWAYS 00 
Give it a try and download the Studio version you think worked best for you.
What worked fine just a few weeks ago seems to be on the Bambu list to fix up now 
They just don’t like it that people might prefer to go back to an older version.
It seems the above still works fine to get older network plugins but Bambu now directs to the latest public Studio version, no matter what version number you try.
When I wanted to post the above some server changes already started and I wasn’t sure if Bambu would close this loop hole right away with the rest.
The old files are still on their servers and in the same place, so IF you have used the above in the past it might be nice if people join up to provide a repo of older Studio version and the corresponding network plugin.
Why?
Well, the server changes make it rather hard these days to get to these older files but even worse is that Studio now enforces to use the latest network plugin.
So any Studio version with those great security features will simply download the new plugin and overwrite the old one in the background.
There IS a workaround for this but I don’t like it that much.
Needs a lot of messing around with files, some registry changes and well, if you still need cloud access it won’t help you anyway.
What about me!!??
The well known call coming from all those who dare not to use Microsoft…
Be it Linux, Apple or what else Bambu supports, I am certain they use a similar system for these API calls.
But I don’t have anything with a half eaten fruit on it and am too old to keep going with Linux - sorry but old dogs, new tricks and all that…
If you know way more than me about those systems and can be bothered to do some network sniffing when an update happens and is downloaded it should be possible to get the same done as for Windows.