VPN Forum access and IP addresse Tests

**DocAElstein** · 12-29-2017, 12:20 AM

**DocAElstein** · 02-07-2018, 03:49 PM

khkjjhkjhlkhlkhlkklhj

**DocAElstein** · 02-08-2018, 12:53 AM

Some notes to be added to in preparation for a Tutorial Thread…

http://www.excelfox.com/forum/showth...se-Tests/page4 http://www.excelfox.com/forum/showthread.php/2384-VPN-Forum-access-and-IP-addresse-Tests/page4

Introduction to "VPN"

Aka. In Forum posting, hide your identity so that the insane Moderators don't get ya!

Very broadly speaking, there are 3 main ways to do this "hiding"
_ a "low level" solution: In Windows you can set up VPN using existing operating system things, if you know what you are doing.
_ a "high level" solution: Download and install all encompassing "App". Then click the button to Hide yourself.
_ An intermediate solution, requiring some software, but also requiring some understanding of your operating system in order to get it working like a an "App"

Here I will look at the last option. Later I might try out the first option

VPN Tunnelling What are we talking about
By virtual private network (VPN), in very simplified terms, we are talking about here about making it seem to everyone, except very qualified and resourceful computer sources, as if the computer that you are using is somewhere else.
As often with these sort of things, the History helps to explain it in simple terms…. Originally large companies used a form of encoding to route their computers or terminals to a central large private computer ( Server ) over a public network, the internet. It effectively made it look like all computers came from the single main private source, where the main computer was.
The term tunnelling was used to explain the encoded link. That was the main use at that time. The fact that it made it look like all computers were where the main computer was, was a by product.
The basic idea was then used to allow single sources/ normal users to "hide" behind people or companies allowing such a link to their main computer / Server, or more commonly to a large number of Severs which they have access to. This is often referred to as a virtual private network tunnel or virtual private network tunnel (VPN tunnelling).
Microsoft allow a way to set up such a link using the various operating system Internet system controlling features along with a Microsoft developed encoding.
That could be considered as one fairly low level/fundamental way to do VPN tunnelling requiring some good computer knowledge and experience at the "low level" computing.
At the other extreme, companies offering the service via a number of Servers , will often provide their own software which is at a "high level". In other words, you download their software , install it, after which typically you have a desktop icon or Smart phone type "Icon/App" to double click on, after which a fairly obvious to use user friendly interface pops up.

VPN and forum posting
The psychiatric illnesses/ Metal obsessions with many senior Forum Members and Moderators will likely remain a problem for people posting in forums for several years to come. Their desires to support their illusions of having a job of responsibility / authority, shows itself in the attempt to punish or control Members, imposes restrictions, and other tedious Nursery school children type rules. They attempt to give the illusion of controlling individuals as a form of proxy their sub ordinates. Stronger identities , that is to say, more longer term posting allows the identification as such an "individual" easier. It is therefore advantageous to have the ability to post using multiple accounts. ( Forum owners, ( who generally accept the idiosyncrasies of the "controlling" members , since they work for free), both secretly encourage and at the same time publicly give the appearance of discouraging multiple accounts. This helps with "business", as the increased apparent real Membership number raises).
Email accounts are very easy to create for each account registration; but the use of your real location , ( your real "IP address"* ) , can sometimes be monitored by Forum Moderators. So using a VPN service is an advantage.
(*In very simplified terms: The "thing" enabling your access to the internet, ( the "box" connected to your telephone cable, or the thing in your favourite Coffee bar giving you free internet access), has an identifying number, the "IP address").

Working example. hide.me VPN and SoftEther and OpenVPN clients
A general explanation of using a VPN is of little practical use, since the organisation of internet and associated network systems within computers, in windows is an imprecise jumbled up mess. I will report on a practical working example from start to finish. The example will use the provider hide.me. They have a free and paid service which from the perspective of setting up a working system is similar.
I will cover the operating systems of XP, Vista, Windows 7 and windows 8.1.
In this example I will go for a middle complex solution. This will not use the high level simple to use software("hide.me App") , but will not go as far "down" as the use of the Operating systems built in way to do VPN tunnelling. Later posts will explore this more fundamental "deep down" way.
The initial solution will discuss in detail the use of two popular freely available "Client" software, which is a medium level solution: It finally gives a final "App" type icon which on double clicking brings up a user friendly interface interface , but which also requires some knowledge of operating systems internet control systems, both for the extra setting up steps needed after the initial Client software instillation, and in dealing with typical problems that often crop up.

**DocAElstein** · 02-12-2018, 08:38 PM

Clients. Getting the VPN to work. Setting up VPN Clients, SoftEther Client , and OpenVPN Client

Very broadly speaking, there are 3 main ways to do this VPN stuff
_ a “low level” solution: In Windows you can set up VPN using existing operating system things, if you know what you are doing.
_ a “high level” solution: Download and install all encompassing “App”. Then click the button to Hide yourself.
_ An intermediate solution, requiring some software, but also requiring some understanding of your operating system in order to get it working like a an “App”

Here I will look at the last option. Later I might try out the first option

Client
In the context of things VPN, a Client is only loosely defined. It broadly is referring to the software part of the final VPN tunnelling solution that is on the users computer.
So we need to get at this software.
For the low level solution, it is hard to define a "Client", since the software is all or mostly already there, buried / integrated into the Internet parts of the controlling system/ operating system. Here we would be broadly referring to the control panel as the part of the operating system that we can influence. Within that are, amongst other things, various Internet sections and related Network sections. They are all imprecisely defined and organised. Hence giving a working solution example is preferable to a general discussion which would be of little practical use.
At the other, high level extreme, a simple to use “App”, such as that from hide.me for operating systems Windows 7 and higher ( https://hide.me/de/software/windows ) , would be referred to as their “own VPN Client-Software”

Getting the VPN to work
The software that we will be mostly using in the worked examples, is from two popular free sources, SoftEther and OpenVPN. Principally the software from those free sources is involved with VPN things. Specifically the software from them that we want either has the word Client somewhere in name of the files that we need, or is referred to loosely as their “Client software” or “VPN Client software”.
As we are at a “mid/intermediate level”, we will see that we have to have some knowledge of various parts of the control panel associated with Internet and Network.
Using the high level option such as the hide.me app, the solution would simply involve downloading and installing the app. After doing this, a simple to use , user friendly window then pops up after double clicking a desktop icon which appears after a successful instillation. Sometimes the pop up may come up when restarting the computer.
For the option of using SoftEther or OpenVPN, there are some extra steps to be taken after the client software is installed.

Recap: To remind us what we are doing
Lets just step back, and say again clearly what we are doing.
We will be looking at a way to do VPN. There are a few ways to do this. I am looking at the way that uses one of two popular freely available softwares. (Later I will look at OpenVPN)
The software’s basic function is to organise and encrypt what you send to and what you receive from, a Server elsewhere. It does that in such a way that the Server sends and receives as if it had sent itself from that Server: Think of it as you digging a tunnel from your house to the Server. Then you somehow make a connection possibility through various cables from your computer via the tunnel to the Server. You organise the connection such that you can both
use the server as a normal computer surfing the internet,
and
then send back what the Server receives from the internet to your computer via the connection in the tunnel.
The main reason usually for doing this is to effectively “hide” behind the server – You want everyone to think that you are using that server , rather than your own computer. (In this case, the remote Server is just acting as a computer for you, surfing the internet.)
SoftEther or OpenVPN could be thought of the thing that digs the tunnel and makes your connection, or rather gives you a switch to allow you to connect or disconnect to the remote Server as and when you choose to. ( Usually witjh such Client software, a final user friendly interface will allow you to connect or disconnect to different Servers situated at different remote locations around the real World ).
VPN has generally been around for some time, and there will be software in many Servers allowing this sort of connection to be made. Usually, once you have the Client software installed and/or organised , then only 3 further things are required to allow your chosen Client software to make use of such a connection, all of which you will usually receive from your VPN provider :
_ An internet address, ( one for each Server that you want to be able to connect to - ( Either the provider owns them or has some agreement with the owner to allow them/you to use them))
_ A Username
_ A Password
The last two may or may not be the same Password and Username which you use to create an account with a VPN provider. This will likely vary with provider.
For example,
_for the VPN provider hide.me , with the free service allows you to have one connection at any one time. Your account Password and Username is also used in this case to allow that one connection at any one time to any of the 5 servers available. For each server you will need an internet address:
For Netherlands - free-nl.hide.me
for Singapore -free-sg.hide.me
for Canada - free-ca.hide.me
for US free-us.hide.me
for US-East free-us-east.hide.me
for US-West free-us-west.hide.me
https://imgur.com/rXWYAyz
_ for the VPN provider hide.me with the paid ( premium ) service allows you to have up to 5 simultaneous VPN connections. In this case, you still use your normal account Password , but have a modified Username@devicetwo for each separate connection. These different passwords may be referred to as devices .

Most Clients, such as SoftEther VPN Client and OpenVPN Client will, once set up, allow you to have a user friendly interface from which you can select from a list of Servers. You will typically need to repeat a set of steps for each of the Servers you want to use. In Other words you need to repeat a set of steps to add them to the list in the user friendly interface from which you select your Server when you want to use VPN

Usually, if you use a providers own Client software, which is the “high level” solution for VPN, ( sometimes referred to as their Client “App” ) , then all their available Servers are effectively already set up in it, and the list to choose from is already there. To get your VPN up and running using such a solution , you need to do little more than download and install their “App”. Often their app will start each time you start your computer thereafter. Its use is fairly obvious.

We are looking at an intermediate level solution for VPN, so we need to do a bit of extra work after installing the Client software

**DocAElstein** · 02-17-2018, 05:06 PM

Clients. Getting the VPN to work. Setting up VPN Clients, SoftEther Client , and OpenVPN Client

Very broadly speaking, there are 3 main ways to do this VPN stuff
_ a “low level” solution: In Windows you can set up VPN using existing operating system things, if you know what you are doing.
_ a “high level” solution: Download and install all encompassing “App”. Then click the button to Hide yourself.
_ An intermediate solution, requiring some software, but also requiring some understanding of your operating system in order to get it working like a an “App”

Here I will look at the last option. Later I might try out the first option

Client
In the context of things VPN, a Client is only loosely defined. It broadly is referring to the software part of the final VPN tunnelling solution that is on the users computer.
So we need to get at this software.
For the low level solution, it is hard to define a "Client", since the software is all or mostly already there, buried / integrated into the Internet parts of the controlling system/ operating system. Here we would be broadly referring to the control panel as the part of the operating system that we can influence. Within that are, amongst other things, various Internet sections and related Network sections. They are all imprecisely defined and organised. Hence giving a working solution example is preferable to a general discussion which would be of little practical use.
At the other, high level extreme, a simple to use “App”, such as that from hide.me for operating systems Windows 7 and higher ( https://hide.me/de/software/windows ) , would be referred to as their “own VPN Client-Software”

Getting the VPN to work
The software that we will be mostly using in the worked examples, is from two popular free sources, SoftEther and OpenVPN. Principally the software from those free sources is involved with VPN things. Specifically the software from them that we want either has the word Client somewhere in name of the files that we need, or is referred to loosely as their “Client software” or “VPN Client software”.
As we are at a “mid/intermediate level”, we will see that we have to have some knowledge of various parts of the control panel associated with Internet and Network.
Using the high level option such as the hide.me app, the solution would simply involve downloading and installing the app. After doing this, a simple to use , user friendly window then pops up after double clicking a desktop icon which appears after a successful instillation. Sometimes the pop up may come up when restarting the computer.
For the option of using SoftEther or OpenVPN, there are some extra steps to be taken after the client software is installed.

Recap: To remind us what we are doing
Lets just step back, and say again clearly what we are doing.
We will be looking at a way to do VPN. There are a few ways to do this. I am looking at the way that uses one of two popular freely available softwares. (Later I will look at OpenVPN)
The software’s basic function is to organise and encrypt what you send to and what you receive from, a Server elsewhere. It does that in such a way that the Server sends and receives as if it had sent itself from that Server: Think of it as you digging a tunnel from your house to the Server. Then you somehow make a connection possibility through various cables from your computer via the tunnel to the Server. You organise the connection such that you can both
use the server as a normal computer surfing the internet,
and
then send back what the Server receives from the internet to your computer via the connection in the tunnel.
The main reason usually for doing this is to effectively “hide” behind the server – You want everyone to think that you are using that server , rather than your own computer. (In this case, the remote Server is just acting as a computer for you, surfing the internet.)
SoftEther or OpenVPN could be thought of the thing that digs the tunnel and makes your connection, or rather gives you a switch to allow you to connect or disconnect to the remote Server as and when you choose to. ( Usually witjh such Client software, a final user friendly interface will allow you to connect or disconnect to different Servers situated at different remote locations around the real World ).
VPN has generally been around for some time, and there will be software in many Servers allowing this sort of connection to be made. Usually, once you have the Client software installed and/or organised , then only 3 further things are required to allow your chosen Client software to make use of such a connection, all of which you will usually receive from your VPN provider :
_ An internet address, ( one for each Server that you want to be able to connect to - ( Either the provider owns them or has some agreement with the owner to allow them/you to use them))
_ A Username
_ A Password
The last two may or may not be the same Password and Username which you use to create an account with a VPN provider. This will likely vary with provider.
For example,
_for the VPN provider hide.me , with the free service allows you to have one connection at any one time. Your account Password and Username is also used in this case to allow that one connection at any one time to any of the 5 servers available. For each server you will need an internet address:
For Netherlands - free-nl.hide.me
for Singapore -free-sg.hide.me
for Canada - free-ca.hide.me
for US free-us.hide.me
for US-East free-us-east.hide.me
for US-West free-us-west.hide.me
https://imgur.com/rXWYAyz
_ for the VPN provider hide.me with the paid ( premium ) service allows you to have up to 5 simultaneous VPN connections. In this case, you still use your normal account Password , but have a modified Username@devicetwo for each separate connection. These different passwords may be referred to as devices .

Most Clients, such as SoftEther VPN Client and OpenVPN Client will, once set up, allow you to have a user friendly interface from which you can select from a list of Servers. You will typically need to repeat a set of steps for each of the Servers you want to use. In Other words you need to repeat a set of steps to add them to the list in the user friendly interface from which you select your Server when you want to use VPN

Usually, if you use a providers own Client software, which is the “high level” solution for VPN, ( sometimes referred to as their Client “App” ) , then all their available Servers are effectively already set up in it, and the list to choose from is already there. To get your VPN up and running using such a solution , you need to do little more than download and install their “App”. Often their app will start each time you start your computer thereafter. Its use is fairly obvious.

We are looking at an intermediate level solution for VPN, so we need to do a bit of extra work after installing the Client software

**DocAElstein** · 03-18-2018, 04:01 PM

ljc

**DocAElstein** · 03-20-2018, 04:09 PM

flflffhh

**DocAElstein** · 03-22-2018, 01:29 PM

Notes in support of these Threads
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...46481#59346481
http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtop...=33775#p261670
http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtop...=33775#p261670
http://www.excelfox.com/forum/showth...ll=1#post11608

**DocAElstein** · 03-23-2018, 12:48 PM

Further notes to XP SoftEther problems....
Automating fixes and investigations in XP

Information as text string, programmatically obtaining
In addition to time saving, advantages of automating the fixes discussed allow for more consistent results, since it was apparent from initial investigations that the timing at which commands such as ipconfig /release and ipconfig/ renew where typed manually seemed to have an effect.

It turns out that automating off theses commands via VBA is very simple, in principle a single code line does the main action http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtop...=33775#p261628
of doing the command, and additionally storing the contents displayed as a result of the command, into a text file

Further manipulation of the text file information
Using VBA lends itself to bringing the data into a convenient form into Excel such as in columns for ease of comparing.
When doing this manually, some untidy behavior was sometimes seen, such as extra unnecessary blank lines and information spilling into adjoining columns. So some initial investigation into the actual build up of the text file is useful.
The complete text in a text file, or a column in Excel , is actually just a single long text string. The different “lines” of text as we perceive it is made possible by the inclusion “invisible characters” of the so called “line feed” and / or “carriage return” form. If we analyze typical strings in detail then this will help us in deciding how to manipulate them in order to get consistent / tidy results
We need to first produce a simple long text string, which we can then analyze, for example using this coding: http://www.excelfox.com/forum/showth...ts-of-a-string
The following macro example, will give us the required complete string for ipconfig /all in variable strIPcon

Code:

  Sub cmdconsoleContentsToString()
    Shell "cmd.exe /c ""ipconfig /all > """ & ThisWorkbook.Path & "\ipconfig__all.txt"""""
' Get the entire text file as a string
Dim FileNum As Long: Let FileNum = FreeFile(1) '
Dim PathAndFileName As String, strIPcon As String
 Let PathAndFileName = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\ipconfig__all.txt"
  Open PathAndFileName For Binary As #FileNum 'Open Route to data. Binary is a fundemental type data input...
    strIPcon = VBA.Strings.Space$(LOF(FileNum)) '....and wot recives it hs to be a string of exactly the right length
    Get #FileNum, , strIPcon
  Close #FileNum
' Analyse string
Call WtchaGot(strIn:=strIPcon)
End Sub

( Sub WtchaGot(ByVal strIn As String) can be found here : http://www.excelfox.com/forum/showth...ll=1#post10946

The results from Sub WtchaGot( ) can be used in analyzing the text format given out by the command prompt code live.

Alternatively, if you already have the results in a text file, then you use the same basic coding without the initial commend prompt code line. You will need to know the file name and location of the text file.

Code:

Sub StringContentsFromTextfile()
' Get the entire text file as a string
Dim FileNum As Long: Let FileNum = FreeFile(1) '
Dim PathAndFileName As String, strIPcon As String
 Let PathAndFileName = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\test1B"
  Open PathAndFileName For Binary As #FileNum 'Open Route to data. Binary is a fundemental type data input...
    strIPcon = VBA.Strings.Space$(LOF(FileNum)) '....and wot recives it hs to be a string of exactly the right length
    Get #FileNum, , strIPcon
  Close #FileNum
' Analyse string
Call WtchaGot(strIn:=strIPcon)
End Sub

Some Examples:
When trying to compare some similar measurements for Vista and XP operating systems, two annoying characteristics were noticed
_ In XP there seemed to be extra lines, XP Extra Blank Lines.JPG : https://imgur.com/flm1pjQ

Looking at the first part of a typical Vista output from Sub WtchaG( ) , we see this First Part of Typical Vista Output ipconfig all.JPG , https://imgur.com/Zxkyxkq

vbCr & vbLf & "Windows" & "-" & "IP" & "-" & "Konfiguration" & vbCr & vbLf & vbCr & vbLf & " " & " " & " " & "Hostname" & " " & "…………..
Comparing that with a similarly generated text in XP we see this First Part of Typical XP Output ipconfig all.JPG : https://imgur.com/nXtTeQH

vbCr & vbCr & vbLf & "Windows" & "-" & "IP" & "-" & "Konfiguration" & vbCr & vbCr & vbLf & vbCr & vbCr & vbLf & " " & " " & " " & " " & " " & " " & " " & " " & "Hostname" & "."…………….
Clearly we see in the XP output a doubling of vbCr where we might more typically see a single vbCr
We can use a simple VBA code line to easily replace double occurrences of vbCr with a single vbCr

_ Spilling into neighboring columns when pasted into Excel
Another annoyance shows up as contents spilling into neighboring columns when pasted into Excel : XP Spilling into neighboring columns.JPG : https://imgur.com/8aWq5uj
Examining parts of the offending string, we see that there are some occurrences of vbTab, XP Spilling into neighboring columns due to vbTab.JPG :
…………" & " " & " " & "192" & "." & "168" & "." & "2" & "." & "105" & vbTab & " " & " " & "25" & vbCr & vbLf………..
In sinple text, vbTab is used as a sort of ordered positioning separation by empty spaces. Unfortunately , VBA uses them to indicate a cell vertical wall.
To overcome this problem we can use a simple VBA code line to easily replace occurrences of vbTab with a few empty spaces.

A final code to tidy the text given, by a command such as ipconfig /all , would have this form:

Code:

Sub cmdconsoleContentsToStringTidy() '  http://www.excelfox.com/forum/showthread.php/2384-VPN-Forum-access-and-IP-addresse-Tests?p=11568&viewfull=1#post11568
 Shell "cmd.exe /c ""ipconfig /all > """ & ThisWorkbook.Path & "\ipconfig__all.txt"""""
' Get the entire text file as a string
Dim FileNum As Long: Let FileNum = FreeFile(1) '
Dim PathAndFileName As String, strIPcon As String
 Let PathAndFileName = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\ipconfig__all.txt"
  Open PathAndFileName For Binary As #FileNum 'Open Route to data. Binary is a fundemental type data input...
    strIPcon = VBA.Strings.Space$(LOF(FileNum)) '....and wot recives it hs to be a string of exactly the right length
    Get #FileNum, , strIPcon
  Close #FileNum
' Tidy the string
 Let strIPcon = Replace(strIPcon, vbCr & vbCr, vbCr, 1, 1, vbBinaryCompare)
 Let strIPcon = Replace(strIPcon, vbTab, "   ", 1, 1, vbBinaryCompare)
End Sub

_

**DocAElstein** · 03-24-2018, 02:17 PM

Automating command prompt combinations

There are two main reasons for the automating of command prompts and associated coding which we have been discussing. One is the obvious time advantage compared with doing the commands manually.

A second important advantage is in consistency of results, since the specific time at which some commands were done were seen to effect the results.

It is easy to Call any combinations of the Functions , along with wait periods in between. Simple macros of this form can be written , Calling on the Functions which we have already developed.

Code:

Option Explicit
'     '      https://www.myonlinetraininghub.com/pausing-or-delaying-vba-using-wait-sleep-or-a-loop
    #If VBA7 Then ' Excel 2010 or later
     Public Declare PtrSafe Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal Milliseconds As LongPtr)
    #Else ' Excel 2007 or earlier
     Public Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal Milliseconds As Long)
    #End If
'                                                                             '_


'  Calls
Sub Calls2()
 Call ipconfig_release
 Call Sleep(500)
 Call ipconfigall_routeprint("  after rel in single rel ren pair")
 Call ipconfig_renew
 Call Sleep(500)
 Call ipconfigall_routeprint("  after ren of single rel ren pair")
End Sub

We can further use either buttons or event coding to trigger conveniently various coding combinations.

The uploaded file is an initial file version which I am currently using to do some experimenting with XP and SoftEther.

I will probably develop this further and edit this post accordingly.

“Test ipconfig XP.xls” https://app.box.com/s/hk3cl2sp9nmmyigcun71w54vn38xi6zq