Cannot Create a VPN Connection in Vista

[Brian Piesik]

I have Windows Vista Business edition and I cannot create a VPN
connection in it. I also am not able to find any errors in the logs.

I go through the wizard, it tries to connect and all I get is "The
wizard cannot connect". I get 3 options, Try Again, Diagnose the
Problem, and Set up the connection anyway.

Clicking Try again, I get Setting up the connect.. and it just sits
there with the green status bar moving. I can click on Next which will
take me back to the "The Wizard cannot Connect" screen which after 20
minutes I clicked on.

Clicking Diagnose the Problem seems to do absolutely nothing at all.

Clicking on Set up the connection, closes the dialog box and no vpn
connection is created.

I also tried creating a VPN connection with the "Don't connect now; just
set it up so I can connect later" and it brings me to the same spot and
no VPN connection is created."

[dpakatheman]

I'm having the exact same problem. No matter what I do, I can't get Vista to save out the connection so I can tinker with the properties. My only option is to run through the wizard which acts exactly as described by Brian. It doesn't work when you use the "Don't connect now; just set it up so I can connect later" option and/or the "Set up the connection anyway...your settings will be saved and you can try to connect later." Those options don't create a connection for me like they do on the various web tutorials I've seen.

I'm also running Vista Business. I have a Sony VAIO. I'm running this with full administrator privileges.

If anyone knows a workaround to try, please let me know. This seems to be the only relevant post I can find on on the internet regarding this issue.

Looks like this thread deals witht he same issue:
https://forums.techarena.in/windows-vista-network/706291.htm

Unfortunately the only fix reported is to reinstall with factory defaults.

[reverendtimothy]

I don't have a TabletPC, but this is the only forum I can find with this
exact issue.

I'm running a Dell nSeries laptop (centrino duo) with Vista Business.

For me, the issue was associated with the RSA windows client. I don't
know if you guys have recently installed anything network-related, but
that's what did it for me.

It's long-winded, but I'll outline exactly what I did to recreate and
resolve (kinda, not really) the issue:

1. Created a VPN connection (no problems)
2. It didn't connect (no wonder, needs RSA token client)
3. Installed RSA Client for Windows
4. Rebooted
5. My original VPN connection has disappeared, and all attempts to
create a new connection do not work. They don't appear to fail either,
they simply don't save anywhere.

So I uninstalled the RSA Client, rebooted, and my original VPN
connection is there again (but not any of the new ones I tried to create
whilst having the issue).

This time, I tried something different:

1. Install RSA client
2. DID NOT reboot
3. Went into advanced properties of my existing VPN client (which was
still there for the moment), and enabled RSA.
4. When I tried to open the VPN connection, Vista returned an error:
-"Network Connections: Cannot load dialog. Error 126: The specified
module could not be found."-
5. Rebooted
6. The VPN connection had disappeared again, and any attempts to create
new ones again went nowhere.
7. Removed RSA and rebooted, original VPN connection back again, and
system behaving normally (but sans RSA token capability).

I hope this helps. It looks like the mystery non-saving VPN connections
has something to do with network modules not being found.

I've googled the error a little, but not for long, and it didn't return
much anyway - just lists of windows error messages with that one
included (but no description or resolution).

Right now I'm looking for alternatives to the RSA client, but I'd also
be interested to know what's going on with this error.

[naikel@gmail.com]

This usually happens when a service like "Terminal Services" has been
disabled by some program or by human mistake.

Run your msconfig, and go to the services tab, and sort them by "Date
disabled".

If you remember the day the problem started you'll see it immediately.

[destrukktor]

I have the same problem with Home Premium SP1. I also already had
Terminal Services started. The problem showed up about the same time as
I installed SP1, so that is a likely cause. Before that I would
regularly connect to my schools VPN. Now, that VPN connection is gone
and I am unable to create another one.

Would appreciate any help.

I'm having exactly this problem. I just installed a Vista 64 Home
Premium, got it all updated with SP1 and everything else.

I simply cannot create a VPN connection. The connection creation
wizard completes (apparently successfully, other than being unable to
connect). But then the VPN connection does not show up in the Network
Connections list. I do have RSA EAP installed before hand. I'll try
uninstalling RSA EAP and then trying it.

I've seen quite a few mentions of the problem on the intarwebs, I'm a
bit suprised that a solution hasn't been discovered yet. :(

I am confirming that this has something to do with the RSA EAP.
Without RSA EAP installed, I can create VPN connections normally. As
soon as I install RSA EAP, the previously VPN connection vanishes
without a trace. Further attempts to create VPN connections fail as
described in this thread. Uninstalling RSA EAP seems to restore the
vanished VPN connection.

I've had this exact same problem. I opened a ticket with Microsoft Support. Per their instructions, I uninstalled (temporarily) Symantec Antivirus. I was then able to run the VPN setup wizard. The, I re-installed Symantec.

[tiger582]

I had a similar problem that was caused when I disabled the Telephony service in an attempt to speed up my machine. I found the following error in the event log:

The Remote Access Connection Manager service depends on the Telephony service which failed to start because of the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.