Question : VPN Connection times out when authenticating user name and password

Hi,
   I'm trying to set up a standard client-server VPN for a customer. They have a Windows SBS 2003 server and are connected to the internet with a Netgear DG814 ADSL Modem/Router. I setup the VPN server by the remote access tab in SBS Server management which is very straight forward. I forwarded TCP port 1723 to the server and it reports the port is open ok. I created a VPN connection from our office to the router, it then says veryfying username and password and just sits there. After about 30 seconds it says it's timed out waiting for a response from the server.

I setup a VPN this morning with a 2003 SBS server and that works fine. The only difference between the 2 sites is that the site that works has a Linksys Modem/Router rather than a Netgear.

I've restarted the VPN service several times and reconfigured it but to no avail. Any help is much appreciated thanks.

Answer : VPN Connection times out when authenticating user name and password

This error means that the Netgear router is not correctly passing the GRE packets needed for PPTP to the server.

Redirecting port 47 will have no effect as GRE is a protacol that does not use port numbers only TCP/UDP use port numbers.

I would suggest that the Netgear router may need a firmware upgrade to get it to pass though PPTP correctly.  

There appears to be issues with early versions of the firmware.

http://kbserver.netgear.com/support_details.asp?dnldID=654

Download lates firmware here.

http://kbserver.netgear.com/products_automatic/DG814.asp