RVS4000 - QuickVPN client on Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

Hi, I've recently purchased a Cisco / Linksys router RVS400 VPN. The only reason I got this model was to use the VPN connection from my laptop.

I am running the latest version of QuickVPN (1.4.1.2) on Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on the client computer. It seems that's impossible to communicate with the router. When starting QuickVPN, the connection stalls at "Verifying Network" then it all ends with "The remote gateway is not responding. Do you want to wait?".

I spent quite a bit of time talking with Cisco technical support, and their conclusion was that it's because of Windows 7 Ultimate. I was told that any version of Windows 7 works, except for the Ultimate. Or at least they don't know what extra layer of security Windows 7 Ultimate might have that doesn't allow the comunication.

Is there anybody having a solution for Win7 Ultimate?

Thank you,

Alin

[davbarre]

Hi Alin,

I would like you to answer the following and report back your results.

• Can any other Operating Systems connect via Quick VPN to your router?
• Do you have any 3rd party firewalls installed?

If other OS can connect and no 3rd party firewalls please try the following steps:

• Right click on your My Computer icon
• Select Manage
• Select Services and Applications
• Select Services
• Sort list by Name
• Look for and Right click on IKE and AuthIP IPSec Keying Modules.  Make sure they are enabled (started)
• Make sure the IKE and AuthIP IPSec Keying Modules are set to Automatic start up type

Please then reboot your PC and try again

Thanks!

Dave

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

Hi Dave,

I was successful connecting to the router from a computer running Windows XP.

The firewall is the one from Windows and I checked to make sure that QuickVPN is on the list of allowed programs.

I checked and I have iPsec enabled and it starts automatically.

The connection cannot get past "Verifying Network".

Maybe it helps somehow, I've sent you as private message the log information from the router.

Thank you,

Alin

[davbarre]

Hi Alin,

Can you please reset the Windows Firewall back to it's defaults?

I do apologize ahead of time if this causes any inconvenience if you have several things setup.

Please report back your results.

Thanks!

Dave

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

Hi Dave,

As you've recommended, I did reset the firewall, with same result.

The weird thing is that even Windows XP has some issues with the connection. What happens is that the first connection on XP works fine. I disconnect, then try to re-connect again after a while and I get an error message. Basically I could only connect once on XP, any subsequent connections would not work. I checked the status on router's web page and it shows the VPN connection established, although I disconnected it from QuickVPN. The XP computer doesn't see the network anymore, but the router gets stuck thinking that it's still connected.

Is there any way Cisco could test the router from their side?

[davbarre]

Hi Alin,

We can certainly test from out side. 

Please give us a call at 1-866-606-1866 so that we can create you a case and begin troubleshooting.

Thanks!

Dave

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

Thanks Dave.

I've called Cisco's tech support and spoke with Jason, who was very helpful. He tried and succeded to establish the connection from a computer running Vista and also from one running Windows 7 Professional 32 bit.

With regards to the second connection I was told that once disconnected from QuickVPN, it takes some time until the router releases the connection. I guess I've tried too quickly to re-connect on Windows XP and that's why I was getting the error message.

Since it worked fine from Cisco's lab, we've established that the router is ok with XP, Vista and Win7 Professional. This doesn't help me much because I still have to figure out why I cannot connect from my computer with Win 7 Ultimate 64bit.

One other thing that I've done, I reseted the router to its factory default settings and re-configured the VPN accounts. Tried again the connection with no luck. Same problem when "Verifying Connection".

I also asked around and found 3 people who have Windows 7 Ultimate 32 and 64 bit on their computers. They are getting the same error message "The remote gateway is not responding. Do you want to wait?". This tells me that it's something common on all Windows 7 Ultimate computers,  it's not that I have some wrong settings on mine.

The engineer who spoke with me the other day (sorry I forget the name) said that he tried but was unable to use QuickVPN from Win 7 Ultimate, so I should contact Microsoft.

Now I am quite lost, don't know which way to go. I understand that Cisco's engineers don't support Windows issues, but on the other hand I've purchased a Cisco router on the base that it  supports VPN connections from remote computers using QuickVPN. And there's nowhere any indication that it doesn't work with the Ultimate version of Windows 7.

I firmly believe that is Cisco's duty to provide a working solution for its own product.

Thank you again for your help, please let me know what is the next step to be taken.

Alin

[raymond]

Hello everyone,

unfortunately I have the same issue with a Windows 7 professional 64bit system. So it seems like the problem does not affect the ultimate edition only.

I am able to connect to the same router (WRVS4400N) using a WinXP.

Is there a way to use the native Windows 7 VPN client?

[davbarre]

Alin,

Just as a check, have you tried to run the Quick VPN software in compatibility mode to see if that makes any difference?

Thanks!

Dave

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

Hi Dave,

This is the list with actions that I performed:

1) Reset the router to its default settings

2) Installed fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit, without any other software, not even antivirus

3) Tried a different laptop with fresh installation of Windows 7 Professional 32 bit

4) I ran QuickVPN on the fresh Windows installations before and after installing the Windows Updates from Microsoft.

5) I've noticed that ipsec service is started automatically by default on Win7 so there's no issue with this

6) Tried every compatibility mode possible for QuickVPN, also tried to run it as administrator.

7) I took my laptop to several different locations, therefore different internet providers.

8) Always the firewall was on.

9) Chose each option possible on the router's side firewall to be on then off. Same with VPN passtrough

The result of the above is the same, I get stuck at "Verifying Network", then get the error message.

Until now I was able to connect from a computer running XP at work, a friend of mine got his XP machine on, however he couldn't connect from his same location with Win7. Same person got connected with Win 7 Ultimate from his workplace, and also one other got on with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 from a different place.

All together it worked on 2 computers with Win 7 Ultimate (32 and 64), one Win 7 Professional (32), one Vista and two XP.

I couldn't connect from 4 computers running Win 7 Ultimate (64), one with Win 7 Ultimate (32), one with Win7 Professional (32). (all from different locations / ISP)

My problem is that it's meaningless that other friends' computers can or cannot connect to my router, as long as my laptop cannot do it. And as I said earlier, both Windows 7 Ultimate 64 and 32 haven't worked.

It cannot be related to the ISP blocking ports since other people, including Cisco's tech support were able to connect.

Is there any other step we can take to solve this issue? Could we escalate this to a different department at Cisco where they might have a better idea of what's going on?

Thank you,

Alin

[davbarre]

Hi Alin,

My apologies for all of the inconvenience.

What I'd like you to do is call into the support center at 1-866-606-1866 and have a case opened.  Please refer to this posting so that it can be copied into the case notes as well.

We can then get your case escalated.

Thanks!

Dave

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

HI Dave,

I will call again, although I had a case opened (#615718759) and after speaking with different technicians these are the answers that I got:

1) The router is fine and I should call Microsoft to figure it out

2) QuickVPN doesn't work with Windows 7 Ultimate

3) The router is fine and I should call in a specialist to figure out what's wrong with my laptop

4) I should install Greenbow VPN because other people reported succesful connections.

I looked into it, however Greenbow VPN is absolutely not a solution for me as it requires to configure each time the network settings of the places I am traveling to. A working QucikVPN is precisely what I've purchased this router for.

Anyway, I will call tomorrow and ask to be escalated, hoepfuly we'll get somewhere.

Thank you for your prompt answers.

Alin

[davbarre]

Hi Alin,

I apologize for the run around you have been getting.

I'm reviewing your case right now.

I am going to work on replicating here in our lab.  We have a Win7 PC, however it is not Ultimate, so I am going to work with our Escalation team who does have such a PC.

I will report back my findings.

Thanks!

Dave

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

Hi Dave, thank you very much for your help.

Please send me an e-mail if you need the QuickVPN client's username and password; I've changed them since I spoke with Cisco.

Now to make things even more confusing, here's one more test that a coleague of mine did. From his laptop with Windows 7 Pro 32 he cannot connect while at work. Also he cannot connect from a different location where they have a simple router setup. However, from his home he got connected on the same laptop in no time. This points the issue towards the network setup or different ISP, right?

What really confuses me now is that from the same work location where his laptop and mine cannot connect, I have a desktop computer running Windows XP that works just fine with QuickVPN, the network settings being the same for all of them.

I look forward to hear about your tests results.

Thanks,

Alin

[UrsuletulAdministrator]

Hi Dave,

I finaly got connected from my laptop, this time using the free internet connection available at Starbucks. So I can confirm the following:

1) My laptop using Windows 7 Ultimate (32) was able to connect from Starbuck's open wi-fi network

2) The same laptop, no changes, cannot connect from my work location, nor from a friend's home network

3) My desktop computer, running XP at the same work location, works perfectly with QuickVPN

4) Every time I couldn't connect I got the message that Network is not available, with the choice of waiting or not?

5) Despite the error messages, with every failed attempt to connect, on router's web access page actually showed the client being connected. I tried waiting but got the same message. When I selected "No" the connection was terminated, including on the web access page.

It looks to me that QuickVPN communicates with the router and establishes some kind of connection. The problem is when it verifies the network, the reply doesn't get back. I read somewhere that QuickVPN uses different ports, one for the main connection and port 500 for checking ping replies.

If there's an issue with which ports are open, could you please tell me what ports to check?

I used the 'netstat' function and I see connections established on the following TCP ports: 443, 445, 5050.

I don't know how to check the UDP ports to see whether 500 is open.

I would think that the issue is maybe more related to network setup; however I cannot understand why my XP computer works on the same network (with the same user log in), while the laptop doesn't.

Thank you,

Alin