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VPN and RDC HELP

E

elucid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 22, 2008
12
0
Hey guys im trying to connect to my computer at work.
Im running the new latest 24 inch iMac.

I got all the settings for the vpn. the ip address user name and password.

I got the vpn to connect in pptp, it says connected

but when i open remote desktop and put my work machines ip to log in
it doesn't connect i get the "the client could not connect to the remote computer".

I log into xp on my mac(bootcamp) and I'm able to connect through vpn and do remote desktop but i really don't want to use xp.

on xp there is a setting i have to uncheck to make it work under TCP/IP Properties i have to click on Advanced and uncheck "use default gateway on remote network"
Anyway i can do that on the mac so it can work as well ?
OR
How can i get it working
 
elucid said:
Hey guys im trying to connect to my computer at work.
Im running the new latest 24 inch iMac.

I got all the settings for the vpn. the ip address user name and password.

I got the vpn to connect in pptp, it says connected

but when i open remote desktop and put my work machines ip to log in
it doesn't connect i get the "the client could not connect to the remote computer".

I log into xp on my mac(bootcamp) and I'm able to connect through vpn and do remote desktop but i really don't want to use xp.

on xp there is a setting i have to uncheck to make it work under TCP/IP Properties i have to click on Advanced and uncheck "use default gateway on remote network"
Anyway i can do that on the mac so it can work as well ?
OR
How can i get it working
Click to expand...

I'm no expert, but is there a reason you need to log into the VPN before you use the remote desktop? I would have thought you would be able to access a PC via remote desktop provided you had access to the internet? I always thought that a VPN was used when you want your laptop (that is situated outside of the office) to become a part of the network while Remote Desktop was used to access take control of a PC within the network - but your laptop using Remote Desktop is not itself connected directly to the network.

Have you tried using Remote Desktop on its own without connecting via VPN?
 
im able to connect to the vpn but when i try remote desktop while connected to the vpn it doesnt work.

im using my local ip address at work which is 192.168.1.144

if i go on windows xp im able to connect.
on xp all i do is a vpn just put the ip address of my workplace and then my user name and password open remote desktop put itn 192.168.1.144 and im connected to my computer at work.

on mac i did a vpn and it says connected but im not able to use the remote desktop it doesnt connect.
 
Is the box at work that you are trying to make an RDC connection to a Windows box or a mac? I've seen several different RDC types of programs out there, most are based on VNC, but some - mainly the Microsoft ones - are not.

Once you get connected to your vpn, try to ping you box at work to see if you have any connection to it at all. Of course for even this to work, you can't have a firewall running on that box that blocks ICMP.
 
If you're trying to Remote Desktop to a Windows machine, use RDC for Mac beta, available via d/l from MS, or CoRD.

The MS client is perfect, I have to remotely support a bunch of W2K3 Servers, most of them after I VPN to my corporate network, RD to our Support server, then RD to the client site. Sometimes there's an extra VPN tunnel or gateway RD on there, too. I've had as many as five layers of that to connect. Fun to keep track of...
 
the box im trying to connect to at work is windos at my work its all windows xp

my work the only thing they gave me was the ip address, username, and passowrd.

i opened system preferences, go to network, on network press the plus button to make a new connections.

on interface i click VPN
on vpn type i choose PPTP

then server address i input the ip adresss and account name put my user name and click connect.

i spoke with my manager and he told me
on windows to make it work you have to do this
*** First go to the GENERAL Tab and UNCHECK the Gateway setting
but i cant seem to find it on the mac.

on the vpn it says connected.
shows the ip im connected at the server. but i dont see any send and recieve bars going or coming.
i open RDC and put my computer at work ip addres and its not connectingg
im doing something wrong at the vpn settings.:( help
 
i also try to ping the vpn server and my machine at work both of them NOTHING.
when i restart my system boot into xp and do the same thing EVERYTHING WORKS.
why isnt it working on a mac.
 
On the Windows side (the one that you connect from), do you use any VPN client software (Cisco, Aventail, etc.)?

If so, you can use the VPN profiles from that and use them in the Mac version of the same client. I do this all the time, eliminates all the configuration issues.

For example, if you use Cisco VPN client (Windows), download a copy of Cisco VPN Client for Mac (just Google it, look for a University site to download it from, it'll be free that way). Then, locate on your local Windows machine the VPN Profiles (search for *.pcf). Copy those files to the Mac. When you launch the VPN Client on the Mac side, select "Import" and locate the pcf files you copied. Then select the connection you want, click "Connect." Authenticate, and you're now VPN'd in.

Now launch the Remote Desktop Client on the Mac, pointing to the remote machine you want to connect to.
 
elucid said:
on xp there is a setting i have to uncheck to make it work under TCP/IP Properties i have to click on Advanced and uncheck "use default gateway on remote network"
Anyway i can do that on the mac so it can work as well ?
OR
How can i get it working
Click to expand...

System Preferences, Network. Click on the VPN device. Under Advanced, there is check box similar "send all traffic over this connection." Try turning it on.
 
Amdahl said:
System Preferences, Network. Click on the VPN device. Under Advanced, there is check box similar "send all traffic over this connection." Try turning it on.
Click to expand...

i tried that and it didnt work im going to work soon im going to see if there using cisco i was told there using a cisco router but i dunno if there using the cisco client.
 
I suspect that the Windows VPN client setups up some necessary routing, whilst the Mac VPN client doesn't.

You need to find out a few things first:
1. The IP address of your work machine.
2. The IP address that's given to your Mac when you connect via VPN. You can find this by going to : Network Preferences -> Your VPN -> Advanced ->TCP/IP

If those IP address are on different subnets, then that's what is probably causing your problem. You just need to setup the correct route to you work machine's subnet.

For example:
Your work machine's IP address is: 192.168.1.144
Your Mac's VPN address is: 192.168.2.99

In order to get your RDP/VNC to work you'd need to open Terminal.app and type:
Code: 
sudo route add -net 192.168.0.0  192.168.2.99
This will make sure that 192.168.0.0 subnet traffic will be routed through the correct interface. (Your VPN in my example).
 
It definitly sounds like you have VPN issues on the Mac side of things. No point in worrying about the RDC until that is worked out. I agree that it may be routing related...
 
I'm using 2.0 beta2 RDC with VPN to hook up my Mac at home to windows at work with no problems. I did not have any problems and don't know much more then that.
 
yaa it is a vpn connecting issue
ok ill give you all the information
by the way my work is not using a cisco vpn client just a normal windows one.

my work machine ip is 192.168.1.144
the vpn ip is 216.208.98.203
i have my user name and password with me


all of these settings are in the advanced settings of the vpn when connected
when im connected my dns is
192.168.1.5
192.168.1.6

router ip is 192.168.1.220

ip address im getting is 192.168.1.229
everytime i connect i get a different ip address.

no subnet mask though because im using auto not manually


keep in mind in advanced the box send all traffic over vpn connection is checked.
 
Try do this in terminal.app:

Code: 
sudo route add -host 192.168.1.144 192.168.1.229

The second IP address being the IP given to your Mac by the VPN server.

You might want to change the subnet of your home network to something a little less common than 192.168.1.x so as to avoid the subnet clash with your work's vpn server.
 
stomer YOU ARE THE MAN I GOT IT WORKKINGGG i did the sudo route and still didnt work i decided to log into my router change my subnet to 192.168.2.1
and BANG IT WORKS THANK YOU THANK YOU

and also thank you everyone for helping me out it feels good that i dont have to use stupid windows on the mac lol :) :D:)
 
Cool. Glad you got it working. My wife had similar problems with her work's VPN server. She uses Vista on her laptop, and our router crashes whenever she initiates a VPN connection. She has to use my Mac Mini in order to use VPN :)
My iPod touch even manages to connect to her work VPN without crashing the network!
 
ok sorryy another problem
im able to connect to my friends machine at work. 192.168.1.100 and another friend at 192.168.1.22

but my machine 192.168.1.144

network problem caused you be disconnected from the windows based computer.
the problem might be temporary

can
sudo route add -host 192.168.1.144 192.168.1.229

be the problem that i added the the info??
how can i undo what i did so i can see if i can connect to my machine
 
aross99 said:
Routes you add like that are not permanent. Just reboot and it will go away...
Click to expand...

never knew it was that simple it worked like a charm thanks.

what would i do without this website thank god i found it:D:D
 
You don't really have to reboot. You can just type:
Code: 
sudo route delete -host 192.168.1.144 192.168.1.XXX

If you still can't connect to your friend's machines, then you simply at a route to the subnet of work computers. This should actually work now, as you've changed the subnet of your home network.

Code: 
sudo route add -net 192.168.1.0 192.168.1.XXX

Obviously replacing the XXX with the number that was given to your Mac by the VPN server.
 
Since he didn't know the route commands, I figured it might be easier just to reboot. :)

Stomer's right though, using "route" to delete the route would work too...
 
What VPN client are you using? if you are using a cisco client, there is a configuration fle, which is pretty much the same for both windows and Mac. If you have the VPN working on windows, just copy the PCF file into the profiles location in your mac.
 
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