Windows 7 SBS 2003, Win 7 and VPN

[Alouette]

Hi,
My office is using SBS 2003 R2. I routinely connect to my office computer by VPN (IPaddress/remote). I changed to a new computer with Win 7 Pro 32 bits last week and I can't connect. I connect to the server, select my computer and click connect. After a while, I receive a message that the connection couldn't be established and that I should make sure the distant computer is on and connected to the SBS network (which it is).

Any idea ? Sorry for my poor English. French is my first language (and the SBS 2003 version is also French so the error message is loosely translated).

Thanks

 

[Mike]

While this will no doubt be the most difficult solution for you, have you considered setting up a router to router VPN? This encapsulated tunnel can be more secure and reliable than using software as a VPN solution, which is what it sounds like you are using.

Regardless of how you are using the VPN, when you upgraded to Windows 7 it is very probable your computer and or the user accounts on your computer lost authorization to connect to the SBS server due to changes in the SID (security identifier) on one side or the other. Either the SBS server no longer recognizes the system or user account as being securely identified, or the client computer (Windows 7) no longer recognizes the server as such.

You may want to try pinging the server to make sure you actually have connectivity with it if you use a router to router based VPN. To do this, you should either find the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the server, and go to Start -> Search -> cmd

ping 192.168.1.10 (example)

Or use the NetBIOS/DNS name of the server to ping it (use the actual server name)

Example: ping server.example.com

One other option is to launch CMD and type: net view

See if the SBS server appears.

If these methods fail, you may have lost the VPN connection, but if they succeed, the problem may be an Active Directory issue. In this case, you will want to rejoin the Windows 7 computer to your SBS domain by going to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings

Tab: Computer Name

If a domain connection exists, unjoin the computer from the domain. If it asks for a password, enter anything. If the Windows 7 system is part of a workgroup, enter the name of your network domain. If you do not know what I am talking about, you will need to contact your network administrator and get both the AD Domain and administrative password to reconnect the client computer to the domain.

This is the best advice I can give you with the facts you have shared. Any further info could be useful, but I am unsure of your experience level, and not enough information was provided. It may be very difficult for you to re-establish the connection.