Using XP built-in PPTP server?

[Nathan Harbin]

Hey all,

Having some problems connecting to a computer on my LAN setup as PPTP
(VPN) server. I can run other servers and services just fine but PPTP
stopped working several months ago and just getting around to trying to
fix it. My setup should be fairly common, something like this.

DSL Modem > SMC Router > Client PCs (both wired and wirelss via AP on
Router).

My modem is a Westell 2200, have dumbed it down so it's not doing NAT,
the SMC router handles all the rest (PPPoE, DHCP, Firewall, etc.)

We have several computers only running XP home and a few laptops with XP
Pro installed. I wanted to use the built-in PPTP server on one of the
laptops to connect from home (already doing VNC among other things just
fine). I have forwarded 1723 to the laptop running PPTP which has a
fixed IP but I am unable to connect. No error or anything to indicate
what's going on. Again, this used to work just fine. I've already
checked and ISP doesn't block 1723 so???

Can anyone offer up some troubleshooting tips or anything that jumps out
that is just flat out wrong here? Also, any other solutions I should
try, other free software-based VPN solutions out there?

Thanks for any help!

Nathan

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

Any firmware updates to the router? If so they may have disabled GRE
Protocol 47 traffic through the router. There is a VPN Traffic test near the
end of this article that will help you troubleshoot this issue. Also a link
to the required tools...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0105.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...76-9bb9-4126-9761-ba8011fabf38&displaylang=en

Beyond that you might look at using a SSH or SSL tunnel. Personally I use
SSH with a 2048-bit private/public RSA key pair for authentication for
secure remote access to my home LAN...

http://www.itefix.no/phpws/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=12
http://www.bitvise.com/tunnelier.html

http://3sp.com/showSslExplorer.do
http://openvpn.net/

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the mutual
benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

The other point I forgot to mention is that if this is for your office you
might look into purchasing a VPN end-point type router that would off load
the VPN server function from a PC. You could then use IPsec/L2TP, which is
more secure than PPTP, and have quite a bit of control of who has access and
how many have access. XP is limited to one incoming PPTP VPN connection by
design...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the mutual
benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

 

[Nathan Harbin]

The other point I forgot to mention is that if this is for your office you
might look into purchasing a VPN end-point type router that would off load
the VPN server function from a PC. You could then use IPsec/L2TP, which is
more secure than PPTP, and have quite a bit of control of who has access and
how many have access. XP is limited to one incoming PPTP VPN connection by
design...

Al,

Thanks for the many tips and quick response! Looks like I've got some
homework to do. I may end up opting for the end-point solution as this
would be best in our case. It's a small business but many users would
like to access files remotely, especially with winter coming. Thanks
again...

Nathan