Google apps will not load without a VPN

[pmhiii]

We have a RBR750 mesh router with one satellite connected to a Comcast cable modem on windows 10.  We are unable to load any Google application without the use of a VPN.  This is especially impactful as our daughter's school issues laptops without a VPN.  The school uses exclusively google classroom which we cannot load at home.  Any thoughts on how to get google sites to load without a VPN?

Thanks for your thoughts

[CrimpOn]

I, also, have an RBR750 router and satellite on the current firmware release v7.2.6.31 and a Windows 11 laptop (no VPN)

Please identify which Google Apps will not install and I will try them.

[pmhiii]

I can get the Google website and GMail to load.  All the other apps from the Google home page fail to load without a VPN

[CrimpOn]

Are these all web sites, accessed with a browser, such as:

https://gmail.com 

https://google.com 

https://maps.google.com 

https://drive.google.com 

All of these web sites open for me in Edge, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera on Windows, when connected to both an RBR50 system and to an RBR750 system.

I use the Android GMail 'app' on a smartphone. two different Android tablets, and one Chromebook.

Can you post a screen shot of the error message that suggests a VPN is required?

[pmhiii]

Attached is a screenshot.  There's no suggestion of a VPN.  That's the only sollution I have found to work.  I've reset the router to factory without success.

[FURRYe38]

What is the brand and model# of the ISP modem the router is connected too? 

Try different custom DNS instead of ISP detected DNS on the RBR, i.e. cloudfare or quad9? 

Is IPv6 enabled on the RBR? 

RBR using DHCP for it's internet connections to the ISP modem?

What FW version is loaded on the Orbi system?

[CrimpOn]

Thanks for posting the screen shot.  @FURRYe38 has a good suggestion in using the option on the Internet menu to define DNS servers rather than use the servers suggested by the ISP. (although what would cause ANY DNS server to fail on a Google web site is a mystery).

I have my Orbi set to use CloudFlare (1.1.1.1) and GoogleDNS (8.8.8.8)  (I wasn't having any specific problems, but wanted to see how those DNS servers worked.)

An easy confirmation that this is a DNS issue would be to open a Command prompt on Windows and attempt to resolve the Google sites that fail to IP addresses.  i.e. type:

nslookup maps.google.com

On my Windows computer, it looks like this:

nslookup maps.google.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.1.1

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: maps.google.com
Addresses: 2607:f8b0:4007:801::200e
142.250.68.14

[pmhiii]

What is the brand and model# of the ISP modem the router is connected too? 

-- XFinity Gateway in Bridge mode

Try different custom DNS instead of ISP detected DNS on the RBR, i.e. cloudfare or quad9? 

-- I tried cloudfare and Google (1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8) no change

Is IPv6 enabled on the RBR? 

--It was not.  I enabled it with no change.  I disabled it again.

RBR using DHCP for it's internet connections to the ISP modem?

-- Yes

What FW version is loaded on the Orbi system?

-- 7.2.6.31

[pmhiii]

Changed the DNS to cloudfare and google.  No change.  Interestingly it will not load any google owned website to include sites like youtube without a VPN.

[FURRYe38]

Something to try, put the ISP gateway into router mode. Use the gateways DMZ for the IP address given to the RBR in router mode to help avoid double NAT issues. Then try again...

I would also try the ISP gateway in router mode and the RBR in AP mode and see if this still happens.

Also, there are some known issues with v.31 FW and we can't recommend using it. Most stable FW version is v.21. 
Maybe at some point, you might downgrade the RBS first, then RBR lastly, factory reset and setup from scratch, disable Auto Update on the RBR and then check for this issue.