Problems connecting VPN. Error 609 and error 800 WAN Miniport

I just updated some of my home Virtual Machine software this weekend. Virtual Box and VMware.
Also last week there were numerous Windows, application and Browser(s) updates.
Somewhere along the line my ability to connect VPN stopped working.
The errors I was getting were:
"Error 800: Unable to establish the VPN connection. The VPN server may be un-reachable, or security parameters may not be configured properly for this connection."
and
"Error 609: A device type was specified that does not exit"
and
"VPN Connection Error 800: Unable to Establish Connection"

I searched long, deep and hard and found all kinds of information but none helped. Until I found one article that suggested my actual ‘devices’ and their listing in the ‘inf’ file(s) may have been removed. So I dug deeper and tried to find the entries for the PptMiniport. And found it. It was however missing on the machine that wasn’t working!

Seems that a bunch of entries in one of the very important ‘inf’ files got ‘wiped’ along with the devices!

So how to easily fix this.

This is how to do it:
Download devcon.exe from some Microsoft site HERE.

Open netrasa.inf in c:\windows\inf (c:\winnt\inf on win2k3) (I used notepad.exe to view the file – "open with")

In the DeviceID column, you can see the installable devices.
Look for the section [Msft.NTx86] You will probably see a bunch of the below listed devices missing – I did!

Open a command prompt (choose ‘Run as administrator’ if on Vista or Windows 7).
Navigate to whatever folder you extracted the devcon.exe file to – example c:\Devcon
Then:
Run these commands (one at a time/individually) to install the WAN Miniport (PPTP) and other devices:

devcon.exe install c:\windows\inf\netrasa.inf MS_PptpMiniport

devcon.exe install c:\windows\inf\netrasa.inf MS_L2tpMiniport

devcon.exe install c:\windows\inf\netrasa.inf MS_PtiMiniport

devcon.exe install c:\windows\inf\netrasa.inf MS_NdisWanIp

devcon.exe install c:\windows\inf\netrasa.inf MS_PppoeMiniport

The commands may take a while to complete.
Once done try and connect your VPN again and see if it works. You may have to reboot.
This was one heck of a bugger till I figured it out. I hope some others will benefit from this information.

How to create a VPN Connection on MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard

How to create a VPN Connection on MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard

This is a step-by-step guide on how to create a VPN Connection on a MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard System.

I recently had to do this again for some of our remote staff, so I thought I’d post it as a reminder to me and maybe help others who have asked in the past.

1. Go to ‘Apple’ –> ‘System Preferences’

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2. Select ‘Network‘ from system preferences

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3. In ‘Network‘ system preferences, click the ‘+‘ icon on the bottom left cover of window to make a new VPN Conection.

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4. As shown in the image below, a new window appears. Click on the ‘Interface’ menu and see the list of choices and select ‘VPN’.

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5. Next, Change the ‘VPN type‘ from ‘L2TP over IPSec’ to  ‘PPTP‘. And then In the ‘Service Name’ field, type in ‘VPN Office’ or ‘Company Name VPN’ or make one up. Once you have done, Click on ‘Create’

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6. Next, we need to make a configuration. Select the ‘Confguration’ drop menu and select ‘Add Configuration’

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7. A window will pop up, asking to name your new configuration. Type you ‘Company Name VPN’ here and then click ‘create’

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8. Next, enter in your company’s ‘Server Address’ example; ‘server.domain.com’ or ‘72.14.213.x’ and ‘Username’, for example ‘administrator’ or ‘LarryHolmes’ or what ever

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9. Next, Select the ‘Authentication settings’ button

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10. Enter in Your ‘password’ and click ‘OK’

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11. Next, Click on the ‘Advanced’ Button

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12. Make sure that ‘Send all traffic over VPN Connection’ is unticked. Then Click ‘OK’

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14. Once you have done that, click ‘Apply’. And connect to your New Vpn Connection by clicking on ‘Connect’.

There you go…