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Windows L2TP/IPSec Client Config

Here’s the procedure to configure a Windows client to connect to a L2TP/IPsec VPN server. You’ll need to know:

VPN Server Address
IPSec Pre-shared Secret
Username
Password

To get started:

1. Open the “Start” menu, enter “setup a vpn” in the search box and hit Enter. The “Create a VPN connection” dialog will open. You can also get to this dialog by going to:

Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> “Setup a new connection or network” -> “Connect to a workplace” -> Next -> “Use my Internet connection (VPN)”

Windows Set Up VPN

2. Enter the VPN Server Address in the “Internet Address” field. Enter a name for the VPN connection like “My VPN” in the “Destination Name” field. Click the “Don’t connect now…” checkbox. Click the Next button.

Win Type the internet address to connect to

3. Enter the username and password. Click the Create button. Click the Close button.

Win Username and Password

4. Open the network connections dialog by clicking the network icon among the status icons in the tool bar or by going to:

Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> “Connect or disconnect”

You should see your newly created VPN connection listed by the name that you gave it.

Win Connect to a Network_0

Right click on the connection and select Properties. The Properties dialog will open.

Win Vyatta VPN Properties

4. Go to the Security tab and change VPN Type to “Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol with IPsec (L2TP/IPSec)”.

Win Vyatta VPN Security Tab

Click the “Advanced Settings” button. Select “Use preshared key for authentication” and enter your Pre-shared Secret. Click the OK button.

Win Vyatta Advanced Properites

5. OPTIONAL – If you want to allow split routing then select the Networking tab. Now select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and click the Properties button. Click the Advanced button. Uncheck the “Use default gateway on remote network” checkbox and click OK. Click OK.

Win Split Tunneling

6. Click Ok to save modified properties.

Setup is now complete. You can start the connection from the network connections dialog which can be reach by clicking on the network status icon in the toolbar or by going to:

Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> “Connect or disconnect”

Select the connection and then click on the Connect button.

Later you can disconnect by repeating the process and clicking the Disconnect button.