Unable to get VPN connection working

Hi all. Pretty boring subject, I'm sure, but this is really frustrating. I have a VPN connection from home to work and now that I have moved to Win8 I can't get it to work. I have tried pretty much everything I can think of and find on forums and YouTube videos, eg turning off Norton (virus and firewall), opening ports on my router and configuring all manner of settings for the VPN connection.

I have my old Win7 laptop and I can still instantly connect to the VPN using that. So, I have copied all of the settings from there, but still no result.

I constantly get the 'Error 800' message (Unable to establish the VPN connection).

One video showed the steps of setting it up and there were no mysteries to it. It was pretty much all default settings.

So, what could be my problem? I don't feel I'm being too specific, but if someone has a foolproof way of getting around this 800 error then I would be thrilled to hear from you.

Thanks

Paul

It usually helps to set the VPN to use the default gateway of the VPN server, there is a specific setting for this.

You can also try Upgrading the router firmware to a version known to pass GRE Protocol 47 traffic.

If you are using PPTP and receiving error 800, you should try the following steps:

1. Check to ensure your router actually lets VPN pass through. PPTP operates over GRE/Protocol 17.

2. Check to be sure you do not have any hardware or software based firewalls = Norton?

3. Open command prompt, and be sure you can ping the IP of the VPN server.

4. If you cannot, please use the tracert command to test and see where it breaks down.

5. Contact support if you still have issues connecting.

Error 800: Unable to establish the VPN connection. The VPN server may be un-reachable, or security parameters may not be configured properly for this connection.

You should double check your firewall settings, pay attention to the profile step when you create the rule.(check all the options: domain, public and private)

Another suggestion is to reset firewall to default, then add the rules for a test.

VPN and Remote Access Connections Fail
VPN and Remote Access Connections Fail: Windows Firewall (WF)

Windows 7 - Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Enable Incoming VPN Connections
Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Enable Incoming VPN Connections - Windows 7 Help Forums

Source: VPN connection problem, error code 800 "The remote connection was not made because the attempted VPN tunnels failed".

Hi chev65. Thanks for your response. I have tried most of this already:

1 - yes, I can connect using my old Win7 laptop and other people can connect from their own homes
2 - I have turned off Norton and this has had no effect (also, the Win7 laptop has Norton too and it does not cause a problem
3 - yes I can ping the server
4 - I will try tracert later (I'm in the office now)
5 - hmm, 'support' kind of starts and stops with me

A tiny bit of additional info - the VPN server runs Windows Server 2003 V5.2 SP2. So, is there any issue with Win8 connecting to Win2003?

I'll continue to plug away. If there's any additional help, please send it!

Thanks

Paul

pgbarker said:

Hi chev65. Thanks for your response. I have tried most of this already:

1 - yes, I can connect using my old Win7 laptop and other people can connect from their own homes
2 - I have turned off Norton and this has had no effect (also, the Win7 laptop has Norton too and it does not cause a problem
3 - yes I can ping the server
4 - I will try tracert later (I'm in the office now)
5 - hmm, 'support' kind of starts and stops with me

A tiny bit of additional info - the VPN server runs Windows Server 2003 V5.2 SP2. So, is there any issue with Win8 connecting to Win2003?

I'll continue to plug away. If there's any additional help, please send it!

Thanks

Paul

Click to expand...

Yes, in fact there are specific settings required when connecting to older servers with Windows 8.

You need to make adjustments to the lanman server settings and the encryption level usually requires adjustments as well in order for Windows 8 to connect to server 03. I'll post a link to the required settings.

http://www.eightforums.com/network-...-computer-cant-see-w2k-server.html#post177162

Hi chev65. Thanks for your help. It seems I am not going to be able to do this as I have Win8 Home, so I don't have Local Security Policy. This is really annoying. Is there some kind of registry hack to do the same thing? I did change from 128 bit security as per an entry in the post you pointed me to, but this was not enough.

So, I seem to have 2 choices - go to Win 8 Pro or find a hack. Any ideas?

Thanks

Paul

As you found out, with Windows 8 Home you dont have the local security policy settings to play with so you need to make adjustments to the registry to turn down the lanman sever settings to allow Win 8 to work with certain older servers. These adjustments are about the only chance you have. I haven't seen this work yet but may you will be the first, these adjustments worked with Windows 7 Home Premium.

You should back up the registry before making any adjustments to it.

Go to your Start Menu and press ‘Run’.
If you do not have Run in your start menu you can find the Run program in your Programs folder, then select Accessoires and select Run from that list.

Type in ‘regedit’ and press OK.

Search for the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\
Double click on 'everyoneincludesanonymous' and change the value data to 1.

If the key doesn't exist you need to create it. There needs to be a DWORD named LmCompatibilityLevel set to value of 1(one) at
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

Double click on ‘NoLmHash’ and change the value data to 0.

Search for the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanServer\Parameters\
Double click on ‘restrictnullsessaccess’ and change the value data to 0.

Close the register editor.
Restart your PC.

Thanks chev65. More excellent help.

I've done the registry editing and unfortunately it has not worked. I still get the original 800 error.

It seems my only option is to upgrade to Win8 Pro, although if I have made the changes already that I would do with the local security policy editor, then I can't see how this will help. Perhaps the whole thing is doomed

Thanks again for all of your help to now.

Paul

pgbarker said:

Thanks chev65. More excellent help.

I've done the registry editing and unfortunately it has not worked. I still get the original 800 error.

It seems my only option is to upgrade to Win8 Pro, although if I have made the changes already that I would do with the local security policy editor, then I can't see how this will help. Perhaps the whole thing is doomed

Thanks again for all of your help to now.

Paul

Click to expand...

So far nobody has had any success trying to connect to a Domain type server using Windows 8 Home version, when they upgraded to Windows 8 Pro it worked to allow access with Windows server 03.

Hi chev65. Oh well, seems I'm not going to be the pioneer here. I checked the upgrade to Pro for here in Australia and it is $300 (about 4x what it costs in USA!). I'll have to check if the boss wants to pay that.

Thanks again for all of your expert help

Paul