Question : Automatically start VPN connection

Hi all,

I have a few users who work remotely from a number of locations and who access a shared folder required by an application using a VPN connection. Whenver they start their laptops up, they routinely forget to start their VPN connection before opening their application and then, following that, routinely forget to click the shared folder in order to authenticate to the server first.

Is there any easier way to do this? I've put the VPN connection in the Startup folder so at least it pops up in front of them when they reboot so all they have to do is hit the COnnect button, but then they still have to click the shared folder to reestablish the connection. Can any of these other steps be automated?

What I'd really like is for these people to be able to boot up their computers and have the VPN connection already be established and their authentication to the server/shared folder already be done.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Tom

Answer : Automatically start VPN connection

Hi tgreendyk,

I had the same sort of issue and eventually worked it out.

What i did was use an inbuilt windows command called rasdial.exe.

This command will dial any remote access connection you have on your comptuer. For instance i have a connection in windows called VPN, in this the username and password is stored and i click that to log on.

Using rasdial you can automate this process in a batch file, however the only problem is you cant use the pre stored username and password, so you end up with your password lying in clear text on the computer which is highly undesirable.

To get around this i used a batch to exe converter and made it an executable file which you can then put into the startup folder. I use Quick BFC 1.0.6.3 but i have a registered version of this.

This works great for me, i connect, load a share and then open the share on login.

SAMPLE BATCH FILE (make sure if the connection name has spaces you use Qoutation Marks.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
rasdial.exe VPN username password

net use t: \\192.168.0.*\share

t:\

------------------------------------------------------------

Hope this helps you, let me know if you have any problems.