Re: Trouble configuring a VPN interface to access a Windows network

[Kevin Gilbert <kmg952 bigpond com>]

On Sat, 14 Mar 2009, Dan Williams opined:
> Ok, those should have the domain fixes.  One thing to debug with would
> be to enter the full domain+username in standard Windows format into the
> "username" box, and clear the domain box.
>
> Dan

No, that didn't work. Tried domain\user, domain\\user, domain/user. All 
failed.

I then tried a few experiments and, after a bit of fiddling, checked the 
"Advanced / Use Point-To-Point encryption (MPPE)" and the connection was 
successfully established!!. So, in the end, this is a (l)user problem. :(

For the record, the following is the system log (again slightly edited for 
security/privacy reasons).

~~~

NetworkManager: <info>  Starting VPN service 
'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp'...
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp' 
started (org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp), PID 24115
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN service 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp' just 
appeared, activating connections
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN plugin state changed: 1
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN plugin state changed: 3
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN connection '???' (Connect) reply received.
pppd[24118]: Plugin /usr/lib/pppd/2.4.4/nm-pptp-pppd-plugin.so loaded.
pppd[24118]: pppd 2.4.4 started by root, uid 0
pptp[24119]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[main:pptp.c:314]: The synchronous pptp 
option is NOT activated
pppd[24118]: Using interface ppp0
pppd[24118]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/pts/1
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_rep:pptp_ctrl.c:251]: Sent 
control packet type is 1 'Start-Control-Connection-Request'
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_disp:pptp_ctrl.c:739]: Received 
Start Control Connection Reply
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_disp:pptp_ctrl.c:773]: Client 
connection established.
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_rep:pptp_ctrl.c:251]: Sent 
control packet type is 7 'Outgoing-Call-Request'
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_disp:pptp_ctrl.c:858]: Received 
Outgoing Call Reply.
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_disp:pptp_ctrl.c:897]: Outgoing 
call established (call ID 0, peer's call ID 24506).
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_disp:pptp_ctrl.c:950]: 
PPTP_SET_LINK_INFO received from peer_callid 50185
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 log[ctrlp_disp:pptp_ctrl.c:953]:   
send_accm is 00000000, recv_accm is FFFFFFFF
pptp[24128]: nm-pptp-service-24115 warn[ctrlp_disp:pptp_ctrl.c:956]: Non-zero 
Async Control Character Maps are notsupported!
pppd[24118]: CHAP authentication succeeded
pppd[24118]: MPPE 128-bit stateless compression enabled
pppd[24118]: local  IP address 172.25.194.17
pppd[24118]: remote IP address 172.25.194.10
pppd[24118]: primary   DNS address 10.20.7.202
pppd[24118]: secondary DNS address 10.20.7.200
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN connection '???' (IP Config Get) reply received.
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN Gateway: 0.0.0.0
NetworkManager: <info>  Tunnel Device: ppp0
NetworkManager: <info>  Internal IP4 Address: 172.25.194.17
NetworkManager: <info>  Internal IP4 Prefix: 32
NetworkManager: <info>  Internal IP4 Point-to-Point Address: 172.25.194.10
NetworkManager: <info>  Maximum Segment Size (MSS): 0
NetworkManager: <info>  Internal IP4 DNS: 10.20.7.202
NetworkManager: <info>  Internal IP4 DNS: 10.20.7.200
NetworkManager: <info>  DNS Domain: '(none)'
NetworkManager: <info>  Login Banner:
NetworkManager: <info>  -----------------------------------------
NetworkManager: <info>  (null)
NetworkManager: <info>  -----------------------------------------
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN connection '???' (IP Config Get) complete.
NetworkManager: <info>  Policy set '???' (ppp0) as default for routing and 
DNS.
NetworkManager: <info>  VPN plugin state changed: 4

~~~

The difference starts at the line
    pppd[24118]: MPPE 128-bit stateless compression enabled
in the failed run it was:
    LCP terminated by peer (^BM-?-M-K^@<M-Mt^ ^@^BM-f)

Is there any way of detecting that the connections required MPPE and at what 
level? (OK, I suppose it doesn't hurt to leave the option set at "All 
Available (Default)".)

Thx for your help, greatly appreciated as I know have one less reason to use 
Windows! ;)

Cheers,
Kevin