Home VPN

[Guest]

I am unable to establish a VPN connection to my home Windows XP Pro machine;
however I can connect using Remote Desktop Web Connection. But I need to be
able to map my hard drive remotely to exchange files. My network is connected
to an always on cable connection. Here are my settings; I have a Linksys
wired/wireless router with local IP address 192.168.1.1 subnet mask
255.255.255.0 with VPN pass through enabled and port 1723 and 3389 forwarded
to 192.168.1.20. My LAN TCP/IP settings are IP address 192.168.1.20 Subnet
255.255.255.0 Default Gateway 192.168.1.1 DNS Server Address 192.168.1.1. I
have the incoming connection set for VPN to Assign TCP/IP address
automatically using DHCP; I have TCP port 1723 and 3389 opened in Windows
Firewall. And of course I have Remote Desktop enabled in System Properties,
and have appropriate user name and password. It appears that VPN passes
through the router but is unable to authenticate with the computer. While
verifying username and password I get an error 721, unable to connect to
remote computer. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

You can run the "PPTP Ping" test detailed on this page in an effort to
troubleshoot this problem. Its possible your router is not passing GRE
Protocol 47 traffic. See the "PPTP Ping" and the "VPN Traffic" sections. Run
this from a remote PC, ie. laptop or desktop, through the router.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg0105.mspx

A firmware upgrade may or may not fix the issue if in fact the router is not
passing GRE Protocol 47 traffic. An alternative may be to use OpenVPN (that
is what I use) or Secure Shell (SSH). Both OpenVPN and SSH use one standard
port, configurable I might add. OpenVPN uses UDP Port 1194 by default while
SSH uses TCP Port 22 by default. Both can be configured to use an alternate
port...

--
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...

 

[Guest]

Sooner Al, I downloaded the pptp ping test software as per recommendations,
however, before trying it I brainstormed myself into connecting this machine
directly to the internet instead of through home network, and was able to
make a VPN connection. So it appears the router is the problem. I have
contacted LinkSys, and they tell me the router should pass through PPTP GRE
47 protocol and I have the latest firmware. Did all of my interal IP
addresses appear correct to you? If so, I may have to replace my router.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

They look Ok to me... Run the test to make sure the router is or is not
passing GRE traffic...

--
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...

 

[Guest]

Okay, PPTP ping is not passing through. On the server end I get a message
"Erro 10048 binding socket: WSAEADDRINUSE: Address already in use, Created
socket for GRE protocol test, Listening on PROTOCOL 47 for incoming GRE
packets..." and on the client side "ERROR 11004 getting host information:
WSANO_DATA: Valid name, no data record of requested type". Tomorrow I will
try remotely without router and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Okay, I tried a remote ping with XP server connected directly to internet,
and it failed. Strange, even though it failed, I can make a VPN connection,
however, RDP will not work over the connection. After beating my head up
against a wall for a week now, I find the Windows XP usage as a VPN server is
problamatic, to say the least. TightVNC is looking pretty good now. If anyone
can advise me of a step by step config of XP for VPN server, please let me
know.

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn.htm

As an alternative you might look at a Secure Shell (SSH) tunnel or another
VPN like OpenVPN...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/SecureShell.html

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/OpenVPN/OpenVPN.html

My brother uses SSH and I use OpenVPN...

--
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...