RDC drops connection in SP2 with VPN

[Matt]

Ok, I have been reading but have yet to find an answer
for the following scenario:

I have two PC's at home that I use to connect to my
corporate LAN using a VPN tunnel server. Once connected
I use Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) to access my office
PC. This has worked just fine for over a year.

However, I have recently installed SP2 on one of my home
PC's. Ever since then my VPN seems to still work,
however, my RDC disconnects after about 5 seconds, and
will not reconnect until I disable and reenable the VPN
connection. I have taken all steps to open ports and
make exceptions in the Windows firewall, but to no
avail. Disabling the firewall has not fixed the problem
either.

The other PC (SP1) still connects and functions as usual,
and both PC's are configured exactly the same, the only
exception is the service pack level.

Any help would be appreciated.

Matt

 

[Bill Sanderson]

What software is involved in setting up the VPN?

Can you uninstall and reinstall that software, or perhaps uninstall it and
install a newer version if available?

 

[Guest]

I created the VPN connection using the standard WindowsXP
connection wizard. I have tried deleting the existing
VPN setup, and created a new one, in case some
permissions or settings were not carried over to the SP2
version. This did not resolve the issue.

Matt

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Thanks, I was wondering whether there might be proprietary VPN software
involved.

Did anything else change at the time of the SP2 change? Might you also have
applied SP2 at the host machine? Might the video driver have changed at the
host machine?

One issue I think of is with Nvidia drivers on the host machine--you might
check via WindowsUpdate on the host to see whether a newer video driver is
available. If so--go for that.

Otherwise, I think I'd punt to Microsoft Product support, which is free for
SP2 issues:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;Prodoffer80&sd=GN

 

[Tom Pizarro]

I have the exact same issue. I have a WatchGuard FireBox
II at my small office. Behind it sits my LAN. I have
been happily accessing machines remotely over a VPN
connection for several years using a SafeNet VPN client
and the WG VPN server.

I installed XP SP2 on the machine on my office LAN
first. I was still able to connect to it from a remote
location through the VPN tunnel with a machine running XP
SP1 (my laptop). So, I mistakenly thought everything was
OK with SP2 and installed it on my laptop. Now Remote
Desktop claims that "The connection to the remote
computer has been broken". Everything else about the VPN
tunnel still works. I can access all other non-XP SP2
machines on the network.

The "firewall" is off on both machines. (Even if it
weren't RDP is a default exception in the Firewall's
exception list)

This is definitely a SP2 issue.

I read a blurb somewhere about some hotfixes and patches
that may resolve some remote issues over a VPN tunnel,
has anyone tried them? All of the information seems to
be related to loopback ports which I don't thing is
directly related to this problem.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I'd love to have somebody in this thread call PSS and go through whatever
they ask.

I can't guarantee that this'll be an easy fix, but if there's an issue they
know about--and from the number of reports here, you would think there might
be--they will be the ones who can give a workaround or at least tell us that
a fix is in the works.

 

[Tom Pizarro]

I'd love to call "PSS" if I knew what it was and it
didn't cost me anything - including LD charges.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

PSS= Product Support Services. These are Microsoft support staff.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;Prodoffer80&sd=GN

Read the stuff at the above link and see if it is a free call from where you
are.

 

[Guest]

I had much the same problem. RDC via VPN broke after SP2 update.
This patch from MS fixed it:

WindowsXP-KB884020-x86-enu.exe

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Thanks - I haven't got the association of that patch with VPN connections
clearly in mind, but that should be helpful for others here, I believe.

What VPN client was involved?