Problems and Problem Solving with OpenVPN in Vista
I have rarely experienced any serious problem.
Problems encountered with OpenVPN in Vista that I have experienced are mostly the general problems associated with VPN or anything which is involved with adjustments to how your computer is connected to the internet.
The final problem is often not the VPN, but your normal internet connection which has been adversely effected by it: VPN clients are one of many things that can cause Internet connection problems.
In very general terms, such problems are mostly solved by doing various resetting type adjustments.
Think of it as like you have an old b/w television which you have got to give a good picture on a particular day on a particular channel.
Another day you try a different channel. You then spend a lot of time on your house roof with the Arial positioning, fiddle around with various cables, switches on the television, you might turn the television on and off , and possibly take the back off the Television and use various tools to adjust things. You will probably need to repeat these exercises and probably the working solution is rarely the same, even if you are trying to do the same thing on the television on another day! After a while you develop an instinct for what you need to do, and usually can get the thing working as you want, but can’t give an exact set of instructions that would always work…..
The list of trouble shooting below I will add to from time to time as I get more experience. The order of the solutions are approximately in the order that they should be done, but you may need some combination of all of them.
_1) Using internally offered Microsoft diagnosing and problem solving..
Microsoft themselves have noticed the hap hazard and seemingly random occurrences and possibly have an approximate idea of the likely solutions at any one time. When problems occur, various options to repair may appear, or are added to a list of options in other menus which you are likely to use in the course of the associated internet activity.
Here for example , in the system tray the icon for one my usually internet connections ( non VPN ) occasionally shows a yellow warning triangle when my internet no longer works. This occurs mostly when I have recently been doing something with VPN. If I right click on the icon , my list of options may be different to those usually there, and often in such cases, an extra option for Diagnose and/ or Repair is given. What option I finally get seems to vary and the success of them also varies. But this is often the easiest to try. https://imgur.com/5onc5M8
Note that you may find that new options for diagnosing/repairing after you choose an initial Diagnose/Repair option
Do not try to make any conclusions too quickly on any solution that you find to any internet problem.
The following is just one of many solutions to a problem that has come up.
A few of my computers were working OK, a couple via VPN , the others using my normal internet connection without VPN. One computer which was working OK via normal internet without VPN suddenly gave an internet error, https://imgur.com/SkseHrj , https://imgur.com/ESSE4Zf
This particular computer has been extremely reliable for many years, and I rarely had any internet error, until I started using VPN: Since then I occasionally get errors of this nature, but the errors rarely are exactly the same.
I clicked on Diagnose on system tray https://imgur.com/ZhGjDdP
This gives me a set of options https://imgur.com/i1Ix74a The option Neue IP-Einstellungen für den Netzwerkadaptor “LAN-Verbindung” automatisch ermitteln , ( Automatically detect new IP settings for the network adapter "LAN connection" ) is a good one usually, which I don't get offered often, and when I get it and take it, it often brings my internet back to life.
But it did not work this time. After this I was just told to connect all the adaptors , https://imgur.com/tdNyFsD . This does not help, as the LAN cable, my normal internet cable connection for this computer, was connected properly as it had been for many years!!!
So I tried the Diagnose option on the adaptor representation in Network Connections Console, https://imgur.com/aXU3Rp3
This told me that there was a problem with My Router , https://imgur.com/GiFtmo0 . So restarted the Router I and took the option to check if this Router resetting had been successful after restarting my router. On clicking the option to tell me if that had worked, it gave me another option, to rested the adaptor , https://imgur.com/IiKlepV , but I did not take it since all was OK
A few minutes later all my other computers which were still connected reset themselves so that internet was working on the as previously. One exception was a Notebook with XP operating system, which had been connected to VPN using the SoftEther / Hide.me VPN way discussed in earlier posts. Despite many attempts at all the reported workarounds, VPN via the SoftEther / Hide.me VPN proved impossible for a few days on this particular computer following this incident.
_2) Reset IP/TCP to automatic
Get the Network Connections Console up, as described in previous sections. Here is an example of one of my Vista computers: https://imgur.com/6jvj0En
2_1_) Right mouse click on the representation of your internet, in my example the WLAN connection to my house Router: https://imgur.com/J1mP0KB
2_2_) After Right mouse clicking, select the option of Properties in the List of options which should have come up.
2_3_) Look in the list for things of the IP and / or TCP nature. Most likely there will be one or two checked with something like Internetprotokoll TCP/IP,
Left mouse click on the text to the right of the ticked box.
2_4_) After left mouse clicking , select the Properties button
Selecting the Properties button should bring up a second Window. Typically you will see in such a window radio buttons selected which indicate of some form of automated selection.
( If this Properties button is grayed out, then you may need to disable/deactivate the connection, or possibly close something else. A pop up might advise you on what action should be taken, when initially you left mouse clicked on the representation of your internet in the Network Connections Console.
If , instead of automatic options selected, you see something like these: https://imgur.com/Z3bCgC7 , https://imgur.com/r071G6X , then this is likely the cause of your strange internet problem.
If you change the settings to automatic, them typically your internet will immediately start working as normal.
3) De activate / Re activate adaptor.
Get the Network Connections Console up, as described in previous sections. Here is an example of one of my Vista computers: https://imgur.com/oMXTQFJ
Right mouse click on the representation of your internet, in my example the WLAN connection to my house Router. After Right mouse clicking, Select Deactivate/Disable , https://imgur.com/QsKjPhO . Wait a few seconds. Then select Enable/Activate , https://imgur.com/pGRfKaG
4) Restart your computer and/ or restart your Router or device which provides you with internet.
Some other notes when using.
I would recommend closing and restarting the Client software when wanting to change to a different location. This is only a few extra mouse clicks, does not take long, and seems to increase the chances of a successful connection and reduced the chances of problems later.
Ref
https://kb.wisc.edu/66537vista
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...-connection-an
Vista
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