Verify the Client VPN Connection

  • Article

Updated: April 30, 2010

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

After you have configured the VPN remote access server, verify that a remote client computer can establish a VPN connection to the server and access resources on the private network. You should be able to do anything from the remote client that you can do from a client that is physically connected to the private network.

  • Test the VPN tunnel type. Depending on the type of VPN tunnel you configured and the version of Windows installed on the remote client you plan to use, use the following procedures to test the VPN tunnel:

Important

Make sure that you know the host name or IP address of the VPN server and that the user account you use to test the tunnel has remote access permission to the VPN server. 

## To test a PPTP-based tunnel
1.  On a remote computer running Windows XP or later, use the New Connection Wizard to create a VPN connection to the VPN remote access server.

2.  In **Network Connections**, double-click the VPN connection that you just created.

3.  On the **Connect** *Connection\_name* dialog box, click **Properties**.

4.  On the **Networking** tab, verify that **Type of VPN** is set to Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), and then click **OK**.

5.  Enter the account credentials, and then click **Connect**.
## To test an L2TP-based tunnel
1.  On a remote computer running Windows XP or later, use the New Connection Wizard to create a VPN connection to the VPN remote access server.

2.  In **Network Connections**, double-click the VPN connection that you just created.

3.  On the **Connect** *Connection\_name* dialog box, click **Properties**.

4.  On the **Networking** tab, verify that **Type of VPN** is set to Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), and then click **OK**.

5.  Enter the account credentials, and then click **Connect**.
## To test an SSTP-based tunnel
1.  On a remote computer running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows Server 2008, create a VPN connection to the VPN remote access server.

2.  In the **VPN Connection Properties** dialog box, on the **Networking** tab, make sure that **Type of VPN** is set to **Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP)**.

3.  In the **Network Connections** window, double-click the VPN connection that you just created.

4.  Enter the account credentials, and then click **Connect**.
## To test an IKEv2-based tunnel
1.  On a remote computer running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, create a VPN connection to the VPN remote access server.

2.  In the **VPN Connection Properties** dialog box, on the **Networking** tab, make sure that **Type of VPN** is set to **Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2)**.

3.  In the **Network Connections** window, double-click the VPN connection that you just created.

4.  Enter the account credentials, and then click **Connect**.

5.  \<Also test VPN Reconnect feature: Disconnect and then reconnect the network connection. Make sure that the VPN connection automatically reestablishes your session.\>

  • Test network connectivity. After you connect to the VPN server, ping a computer on the private network connected to the intranet interface of the server. For more information, see Using the Ping Command (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=192173).

  • Test application connectivity. Map a network drive to a client computer on the private network. For example, map a drive to \\ClientComputerName\c$.

  • Verify that you can access a file server on the private network. Open a folder on the file server, create a file, add some text to the file, and then save it.