Vista SP1 breaks VPN

[BradH]

Hi,
Has anyone else noticed when installing Vista SP1 that there VPN connections
will no longer work? This has happened to me and here's a link to Microsoft
Forums where others have reported the same issue with their work VPN's no
longer working
(http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3034126&SiteID=17).
I'm curious to find out how many others are affected by this problem and
when we can expect a fix from Microsoft?
NOTE: for people who do experience this you can get it working again by
uninstalling SP1.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "BradH" <[email protected]>

| Hi,
| Has anyone else noticed when installing Vista SP1 that there VPN connections
| will no longer work? This has happened to me and here's a link to Microsoft
| Forums where others have reported the same issue with their work VPN's no
| longer working
| (http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3034126&SiteID=17).
| I'm curious to find out how many others are affected by this problem and
| when we can expect a fix from Microsoft?
| NOTE: for people who do experience this you can get it working again by
| uninstalling SP1.

Uninstall the un-named VPN Client, reboot, then reinstall the VPM client.

 

[BradH]

Hi,
This isn't a third party VPN client. This is a standard PPTP VPN connection
using the built in VPN network connection in Windows Vista...

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "BradH" <[email protected]>

| Hi,
| This isn't a third party VPN client. This is a standard PPTP VPN connection
| using the built in VPN network connection in Windows Vista...
|

Thank you. This was an important fact you left out in your post.

 

[The poster formerly known as 'The Poster Formerly]

Hi,
Has anyone else noticed when installing Vista SP1 that there VPN
connections will no longer work? This has happened to me and here's a
link to Microsoft Forums where others have reported the same issue with
their work VPN's no longer working
(http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3034126&SiteID=17).

I'm curious to find out how many others are affected by this problem and
when we can expect a fix from Microsoft?
NOTE: for people who do experience this you can get it working again by
uninstalling SP1.

Does this only happen to the Microsoft VPN software?

--
"Fair use is not merely a nice concept--it is a federal law based on
free speech rights under the First Amendment and is a cornerstone of the
creativity and innovation that is a hallmark of this country. Consumer
rights in the digital age are not frivolous."
- Maura Corbett

 

[BradH]

"The poster formerly known as 'The Poster Formerly Known as Nina DiBoy'"

Does this only happen to the Microsoft VPN software?

--
"Fair use is not merely a nice concept--it is a federal law based on free
speech rights under the First Amendment and is a cornerstone of the
creativity and innovation that is a hallmark of this country. Consumer
rights in the digital age are not frivolous."
- Maura Corbett

I don't run any 3rd party VPN software so I don't know. I''ve logged a
support call at the website ".Joe" posted so will post back here when I've
found out more about this issue.

 

[BradH]

To anyone that has read this post and has the same problem, I have received
support from Microsoft on this and have solved it. Looking at my event logs
the VPN connection would actually establish itself, but then would
immediately disconnect with error code 829. (It wouldn't tell you this on
screen though. It would just sit and stay at "Verifying username and
password).

SOLUTION:
It was my ZoneAlarm software causing the problem. Now before everyone
starts saying "You idiot why didn't you shut that down when trying to
diagnose the problem".... I was. Whenever trying to establish my VPN
connection I would shutdown ZoneAlarm first. However Tech Support said that
the installation of SP1 can sometimes corrupt Third Party firewalls. As
soon as I uninstalled ZoneAlarm from my system and rebooted my laptop my VPN
connection started working fine again.
I'm guessing now I should be able to reinstall ZoneAlarm again, but I
haven't tried yet. But be aware that if you do run a third party firewall
on Windows Vista and install SP1 you may have a similar problem.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "BradH" <[email protected]>

| To anyone that has read this post and has the same problem, I have received
| support from Microsoft on this and have solved it. Looking at my event logs
| the VPN connection would actually establish itself, but then would
| immediately disconnect with error code 829. (It wouldn't tell you this on
| screen though. It would just sit and stay at "Verifying username and
| password).
|
| SOLUTION:
| It was my ZoneAlarm software causing the problem. Now before everyone
| starts saying "You idiot why didn't you shut that down when trying to
| diagnose the problem".... I was. Whenever trying to establish my VPN
| connection I would shutdown ZoneAlarm first. However Tech Support said that
| the installation of SP1 can sometimes corrupt Third Party firewalls. As
| soon as I uninstalled ZoneAlarm from my system and rebooted my laptop my VPN
| connection started working fine again.
| I'm guessing now I should be able to reinstall ZoneAlarm again, but I
| haven't tried yet. But be aware that if you do run a third party firewall
| on Windows Vista and install SP1 you may have a similar problem.
|

Thank you for updating this thread with this most valuable information!

 

[Bob F.]

ok Brad...what did the MS dialog have in it that made you remove ZA and the
people here could not could not get you to do it?

 

[BradH]

Sorry I'm not following you... no one here told me to uninstall ZoneAlarm?
MS Support did tell me to try uninstalling it.

And in answer to the "Frankster" post I don't normally use ZoneAlarm (I was
trying it out), so I didn't know about needing a deinstallation. The
ZoneAlarm website states that it works with Vista...however after totally
removing it and reinstalling ZoneAlarm again it causes the same problem with
my VPN. There appears to be a component that is installed with ZoneAlarm
that causes a problem with the inbuilt VPN functionality on Vista. With
ZoneAlarm completely uninstalled the VPN works fine.
Have decided not to use ZoneAlarm....

 

[Bob F.]

Sorry, but I am curious. I am asking, in the name of helping others here,
and as you confirmed again, what convinced you to remove ZA and the group
didn't. Did we miss it? ...or assumed you had done so?

 

[BradH]

I didn't mention it in my previous posts here (and no one asked if I had in
installed). Because I'm unfamiliar with ZoneAlarm I assumed that if I shut
the program down it wouldn't be able to interfer with making a connection,
and so wasn't relevant (e.g. like windows firewall...if it's turned off it
can't interfer with connections). During troubleshooting with MS I was
asked to turn off all firewalls I had running, so I told them I had both
Windows Firewall and ZoneAlarm turned off. After a couple more attempts
failed he then suggested I try uninstalling ZoneAlarm.