I’m setting up an XP VPN using a DSL Static IP through a Qwest Actiontek GT701-WG Modem. <\/p>\n
First I had to set the Actiontek router to allow Port Forwarding for two ports.<\/p>\n
\nActiontek access: Browser set to http:\/\/192.168.0.1 (Actiontek default, Linksys default is 192.168.1.1)
\nSelect Setup\/Configuration
\nSelect Advanced Setup
\nSelect Port Forwarding
\nIP Port Range 1723 to 1723 — TCP — 192.168.0.3 (my computers ip found through ipconfig)
\nIP Port Range to — GRE — 192.168.0.3 (GRE is selected from the drop down list
\nSelect Save and Restart<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nNext I had to open the Actiontek built in Firewall. I then enabled the XP Firewall, which continued to block outside contacts but let the VPN connection in. The non-Qwest firmware version of the modem has a feature to allow VPN connections with the firewall but the Qwest version does not.<\/p>\n
I updated the firmware on the Qwest Actiontek modem. Turns out it needs a special firmware version. It took me quite a while to discover it at this address:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/actiontecstore.com\/qwest\/gt701wg_upgrade-5.5e.html<\/a><\/p>\n
I used a variety of tools. XP has a VPN helper tool (Pptpsvr.exe) that can be downloaded with other tools to determine if the server is set up correctly (XP Pro has a VPN server included, XP Home does not have it. The XP VPN will only accept one connection at a time). Once started Pptpsvr.exe will wait for an attempted connection, so I used a Win98 VPN client on a separate ISP to attempt a connection and that helped identify a problem I can’t remember right now…oh yes, that strange -GRE setting in port forwarding needed to be allowed.<\/p>\n
I used http:\/\/www.onecomputerguy.com\/networking\/xp_vpn_server.htm<\/a> to get a good idea of how to set up the VPN on XP.<\/p>\n