OpenVPN interface not configuring correctly

[Anita]

We have some Windows 2000 SP4 OpenVPN clients "on the road" that are unable
to connect with the VPN server. The logs on the server indicate that
everything is happening correctly.

The issue seems to be the failure of the virtual interface to be correctly
configured with DHCP:

D:\> ipconfig /all
....
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Win32 Adapter OAS
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-BC-1B-3E-7E
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . :

The server shows the client properly connected with DHCP-assigned address
10.8.0.5/16 with a gateway of 10.8.0.1 and correct DNS servers, yet the
client interface remains unconfigured, and the OpenVPN client states
"Unconnected", even though there is a "connection active" icon in the task
tray.

We've checked the "Services" to verify that the DHCP and DNS client are
started automatically, and have disabled APIPA in the registry, and .

Everything seems like it should be working ... yet it's not. The OpenVPN
online support people can find nothing wrong, yet something on the Windows
2000 client side is preventing correct DHCP configuration, both with and
without any firewall.

Can anyone help, please?

 

[Anita]

In I typed:

....

Everything seems like it should be working ... yet it's not. The
OpenVPN online support people can find nothing wrong, yet something
on the Windows 2000 client side is preventing correct DHCP
configuration, both with and without any firewall.

Can anyone help, please?

Sorry, I forgot to add a critical piece of information from "Event Viewer":

"Your computer was not assigned an address from the network (by the DHCP
Server) for the Network Card with network address 00FFBC1B3E7E. The
following error occured:
The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to
try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP)
server."