Running VPN Client UNDER Terminal Services

[mhalligan]

Hello,

I have installed the Cisco VPN client on a Win2K Server and can successfully use it to connect to a company network. However, there are times I am on a remote machine and need to do the same thing. So, I connect to the Win2K server via Terminal Services and then try to connect the VPN client. However, in this instance, the VPN client connects, but simply hangs at the authorization until I cancel it. Does anyone have any ideas on this, or know if it's possible to run the VPN client from within a Terminal Services client session?

Thanks.

[gmiiller]

Suspect your problem may be that spliut tunneling is disabled, meaning that when your W2K server connects as a VPN client, no unencrypted traffic (ie: your term services session to the W2K server) is allowed.

To fix this you will need to adjust split tunneling on the concentrator, so that when the W2K server is connected to the VPN3000, it still allows term server traffic to the W2K box unencrypted.

All of this is a huge security loophole, so it may be worthwhile looking for a better overall solution.

[plambrecht]

Hi,

I'm having the same issue.

What I've seen is this :

When connecting from the console, there is no problem. All works fine.

When connectinf from a session, the clients connects and then has to popup the logon dialog box.

For some reason, the box is shown on the console, and not in the session.

After entering the username and pwd on the console, the console has access to the remote network, but not the session.

all very strange

[mhalligan]

Yes! You describe the symptoms exactly. It works fine from the console, but I did not realize the the login dialog actually appears on the console when you're logged into a TS session. I'm wondering if it would be helpful to change the TS Server's mode from remote administration to application. Not sure how yours is set, but I left mine in the "small footprint" remote admin mode. Maybe changing to application mode allows better interaction of applications in the session and not direct things to the console. I'm also looking to see if there are any known TS bugs that cause popups to go to the console rather than the session. As you say, all very strange.

[mhalligan]

Looks like the problem is not the VPN software itself, but in the fact that it runs as a system service and therefore cannot interact with anything but the console. I did some research and found this article;

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308403

It looks like this is simply not possible. I'll probably just have to go with pcAnywhere rather than TS.