How to Open Port for VPN Connection

[robastewart]

Recently I added VPN network access to my home office computer in order to connect with my university's network. But the VPN connection won't establish. Each attempt to connect results in Error 678: The remote computer did not respond. A check with university IT Help states that I need to open port 1723 on my router, but reviews of user documentation and forums for my router (Linksys WRT54G) indicate that it probably already is set for VPN access, and that the problem is probably my firewall. I run PC Tools IS on my computer, so that's the firewall. What I need to know is how to open a specific port (1723) in the PCT firewall.

Thank you.
RAS

[mjq424]

Hi
Have a look at the following topic:
http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46225
Hopefully this will solve your problem.

[robastewart]

Hi
Have a look at the following topic:
http://www.pctools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46225
Hopefully this will solve your problem.

Thanks for that suggestion. I tried following the instructions, interpolating from the example to setting Port 1723 open and IP Protocol 47 GRE open (per recommendations from my VPN admin), but it doesn't work. Maybe I'm not following the instructions properly. Maybe VPN is beyond me.

[robastewart]

Following is a description found in a post on the PC Tools Firewall Plus subforum. I am reposting it here because there is no activity on it in that other subforum, and because my product is actually PC Tools Internet Security. But the issue described about the firewall is exactly what I need to know how to do:

[quote] Originally Posted by SteveBragg View Post
The VPN configuration in PCT Firewall does not work with the Windows software VPN.

I have found that Windows VPN uses port 1723 instead of Port 500 as in the Firewall. However even though I have now allowed port 1723 and allowed both TCP and UDP the connection times out on the remote VPN server with an error 721.

However if I turn the firewall off the connection works fine. Looking at the logs in the firewall I see that the remote server is being block, as though on purpose, with a comment of "protocol 47"

What is this protocol 47 and how can I open up the firewall to allow the pass through for Windows VPN.

** PROBLEM SOLVED **

You have to open up UDP Port 47 GRE as well, as a seperate rule!! Silly me!

Cheers
Steve [quote]

What I need to do is open Port 1723 and Protocol 47 GRE. How is that done in PCTIS Firewall?

Thank you.
Rob Stewart

[mjq424]

Hi
Using the link I gave you will give you the relevant instructions for PCTIS, it uses the same user-interface as PCTFW. The firewall settings are under Settings > Firewall Settings.
What gave you the impression that the Firewall forum was inactive?

[robastewart]

Hi
Using the link I gave you will give you the relevant instructions for PCTIS, it uses the same user-interface as PCTFW. The firewall settings are under Settings > Firewall Settings.
What gave you the impression that the Firewall forum was inactive?

I didn't mean that the Firewall forum is inactive; that particular thread appears inactive--i.e., long lags in replies.

The link you gave with relevant instructions doesn't provide clear enough instructions. I followed them line by line as best I could and got no positive result. Thank you, though.

[mjq424]

Hi
If you disable the Firewall component of PCTIS, can you then connect to the VPN?

[robastewart]

I disabled PCTIS firewall from within the user control panel and already had Windows firewall disabled. The connection to VPN still failed.

[mjq424]

Hi
Instead can you please try disabling both SiteGuard and EmailGuard from the OnGuard section?