Use Cisco VPN Client without Trashing WINDOWS/XP Wireless Network?

[Guest]

I have a home network set up to share a high-speed internet connection, a
printer, and some files between a desktop computer and a notebook computer.

Day before yesterday everything was working fine.

Yesterday I installed the CISCO VPN CLIENT software v4.6, connected to a
remote computer, tried unsuccessfully to access the remote compute with
UltraVNC, disconnected, and noticed that printer sharing was not working and
everything the notebook did with IE was running very slowly.

Today, after spending several hours troubleshooting, including un-installing
CISCO VPN CLIENT, the local network is working fine again.

I'd still like to use the VPN software, but before installing it again I'd
like to be a bit betterprepared to get-back-where-I-came-from in the likely
event that I wind up with a disabled home network. And a bit better prepared
to collect information about the network at various points in the process.
I've looked through numerous threads here and elsewhere, but I don't find a
simple, cookbook solution for how to make the VPN work in my environment, so..

Here is my plan:

1- Take System Restore checkpoint
2- Run network tools (see QUESTIONS below)
3- Install and activate VPN software (probably re-boot)
4- Run network tools again
5- Connect with VPN software
6- Run network tools again
7- PROBABLY: Restore System
8- Analyze results and Try again

MY QUESTIONS:

1- Is my plan reasonable? Should System Restore get me back to where I was?

2- I've download the Microsoft XP SP2 Support Tools. For "Run network tools"
(above) what tools would be most useful to run to get a picture of the status
and configuration of my network? I assume browstat. Others? I would run
ipconfig and try pinging also. Anything else I can do to collect this
information?

3- CISCO published an article about using the VPN Client software in an XP
wireless network environment. I've browsed the article, but find myself
stopping every other sentence and pondering some network acronym or term --
I'm network challenged. I gather that the position they are taking is "Hey,
if you're having trouble using VPN client in WIN/XP, it must be a WIN/XP
problem". I don't spot a lot of "Here are steps you can take in configuring
VPN to avoid problems". If someone is familiar enough with VPN and/or this
particualr document, or has the time to peruse it, I'd appreciate any advice
that can be gleaned from it.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2308/products_tech_note09186a0080194b4a.shtml#intro

MY CONFIGURATION:

MOTOROLA SB4100 CABLE MODEM ->
DLINK VOIP T/A ->
LINKSYS WRT54G ~~ ethernet cable ~~ DELL DESKTOP WIN/XP SP2
WIRELESS ROUTER ~~ wireless ~~ HP NOTEBOOK WIN/XP SP2

The shared printer is usb-connected to the DESKTOP.

TIA for any help,

Phil

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Here is my plan:

1- Take System Restore checkpoint
2- Run network tools (see QUESTIONS below)
3- Install and activate VPN software (probably re-boot)
4- Run network tools again
5- Connect with VPN software
6- Run network tools again
7- PROBABLY: Restore System
8- Analyze results and Try again

MY QUESTIONS:

1- Is my plan reasonable?
Yes.

Should System Restore get me back to where I was?

Not entirely. I would change point 7 to the following:

7a - Uninstall VPN software.
7b - Clean out leftovers, i.e. folders, files, registry entries.
7c - Restore system.

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Am I correct in saying that the Dlink VOIP is connected directly to the cable
modem? If it is, perhaps if you connect the cable modem to the linksys
router(make sure to use the WAN port), then connect the dlink to the router
like you would a PC, it would work.

 

[Guest]

That's a good question. I have the devices set up that way because the D-LINK
provider (AT&T) said that it had to get the signal before the router. I don't
know why. Thanks.

Phil

 

[Lance]

I once had wireless home network troubles with my earlier version of
Cisco VPN 3000 Client (v4.05). Perhaps this applies to your case too.

Took me months to figure out that Cisco v4.05 does not do a good job of
uninstalling itself and even leaves behind active components of a
ZoneLab firewall. The firewall components shutdown file sharing on my
home network.

Maybe things got better with your version, but before you continue I
think it's worth a look around to see if some Cisco/Zonelab files are
still hanging around.

Links below.

Lance
*****

Cisco - How to Manually Uninstall the Cisco VPN Client 3.5 and Later for
Windows 2000
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/471/vpn3K_uninstall.html#related

Uninstall ZoneAlarm
http://nh2.nohold.net/noHoldCust25/Prod_1/Articles55646/ManualUninstall.html
hhttp://nh2.nohold.net/noHoldCust25/Prod_1/Articles55646/CompleteUninstallNonNT.html

There is a discussion of the problem here:

Cisco VPN and XP sP2 Firewall
http://forum.cisco.com/eforum/servl...tion=outline@^1@@.1dd62b2d/0#selected_message

pwrichcreek said the following on 1/12/2006 12:02:

 

[Guest]

<Maybe things got better with your version>

I'm using 4.6, so I hope it's better. Thanks for the info.

Phil

 

[Guest]

Not entirely. I would change point 7 to the following:

7a - Uninstall VPN software.
7b - Clean out leftovers, i.e. folders, files, registry entries.
7c - Restore system.

Agree. See "Lance's" reply below with respect to 7b.

Do you know an (automated) way to compare two versions of the registry, in
order to locate changes that VPN might have left behind? I know how to get a
backup of the registry, just prior to installing VPN, but locating changes
after the install might be challenging. Is there a WINDOWS version of the
UNIX diff command?

Thanks.

Phil

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Do you know an (automated) way to compare two versions of the registry, in
order to locate changes that VPN might have left behind? I know how to get a
backup of the registry, just prior to installing VPN, but locating changes
after the install might be challenging. Is there a WINDOWS version of the
UNIX diff command?

Phil,

I have an old program, made by PC Magazine, that takes before
and after snapshots and reports the differences. It's named
"InControl" or "InCtrl" or "InCtrl5".

There are certainly others.

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Now that you mention it, I think I've seen a whole suite of clones for Unix
tools out there somewhere. Thanks.

Phil

 

[Guest]

I now have the VPN CLIENT installed and connecting to the remote computer,
with only minimal disruption to the wireless network. I'm not certain what I
did differently this time.