HOWTO: PPTP GUI (Connecting to a Windows VPN)

[ernestoongaro]

This is my first attempt at a how-to, please let me know your results.
My school, SHSU, uses a Windows based VPN to allow unrestricted access to the wireless network. I, like many others like a nice GUI to assist in such configurations. The client is a proggie written by Quozl, called pptpconfig.

Here is how to go about getting it:

Open up a terminal and type:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the line

deb http://quozl.netrek.org/pptp/pptpconfig ./

to the bottom of the list, save, close and go back to the terminal and type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pptpconfig
killall gnome-panel

It creates some Gnome menus, but it is unorganized and not run as sudo. Edit your menus by following this simple tutorial - Gnome Menu Editor
Delete the entry it created and make a new one under Applications>Internet or wherever and using the command gksudo pptpconfig
Good Luck!

[tritium3]

The following explains both pptp-linux and pptpconfig, for Breezy (Ubuntu 5.10):
http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/howto-ubuntu.phtml

[jim.guenzel]

I followed the directions by ernestoongaro and it worked correctly the first time! Thank you!

[fratiijderi]

I have tried and it'w works perfectly.

05.09.2006

[Geoff2077]

What works perfectly first time - presumeably the connection to your windows server.

Can you explain how you access the server after connection please. In my case, I connect perfectly too, but I am unable as yet to open the folders on the server.

I am interested to learn how you access the server after connection - maybe this will throw some light on my 4 week old problem,

Cheers
Geoff

[Johnathon]

Try clicking on Places, "Connect to server", Choose windows share, and enter the details. HTH..

[Geoff2077]

Thanks for the follow up. yes I eventually worked it out.
To mount the folder on the remote server:
Places/Connect to Server
Service type: windows share
Server (url): 192.168.16.2 (no slashes etc - just the number address)
Folder: Company (or whatever the shared folder is on the server)
Username: fnerk
DomainName: XXXX (not needed I think)
Name for Connection: XXXVPN (not important)
then click on Connect.

[mgmiller]

This was exactly what I was looking for!

One last tweak. After you have opened your remote and are displaying it in nautilus, add it to the nautilus bookmarks. This way, after you open the VPN with pptpconfig, all you have to do is go to Places and click on your bookmark. You can edit the bookmark name to call it whatever you want after you save it by clicking in nautilus bookmarks, edit bookmarks. Notice all this is in nautilus, not firefox. Thanks again. This was an annoyance for me for my work computer that is finally resolved.

[etank]

Has anyone got this working correctly on Edgy? I know that I had it working in Dapper but I have been trying for an hour or so on Edgy and it seems to be a no go.

[johnnymac]

The PPTPCONFIG utility will not work correctly on Edgy.

So, what you have to do is:

1. Use the pptpconfig to create your initial pptp configuration and make sure you choose client-to-lan.
2. Create an executable script in /etc/pptp/ip-up.d/ which contains the routing information you need.
3. Use the commands sudo pon <vpn-name> and sudo poff <vpn-name> to get it working.

Here's an example of the script you'd want...

#!/bin/sh
if [ "${PPP_IPPARAM}" = "tunnelname" ]; then
   route add -net  192.168.100.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev ppp0
   # ...etc...
fi

It's irritating I know....