›› Advice on network troubleshooting

Advanced Network Troubleshooting

The Microsoft VPN Problem causing Error 721

Recently a client of ours wanted to connect to a Microsoft VPN down in Canberra. He works here in Brisbane with a MS XP Pro PC and is connected with a static ip address to a Linux server. The problem was that he could connect to Canberra from home on a wireless network but not from work. At work he could connect to the internet and send and receive mail but not VPN into Canberra. There is a lot of stuff on the net about opening port 1723 and enabling the GRE protocol 47 but no detailed information about how to do this. Many tech's just give up and buy another router. Here is just another advantage of using Linux with it's IP Tables firewall.

The fix was as follows:

1. On his computer create a new VPN network connection and specify the static ip address of his computer and the dns primary and secondary addresses.

2. Add the following to the Linux firewall iptables

# Forward PPTP VPN client traffic

$IPT -A FORWARD -i $IF -o $INIF -p tcp --dport 1723 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
$IPT -A FORWARD -i $IF -o $INIF -p 47 -m state –state     NEW,ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
$IPT -A FORWARD -i $INIF -o $IF -p 47 -m state --state     NEW,ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT

›› Advice on Picture Manager Activation

Fixing the Microsoft Picture Manager Activation Issue

Download the file  ID_10031.DPC by clicking here or spend 2 hours on the phone to Microsoft.

Save the attachment [ID_10031.DPC’ file] to your Desktop.
Click ‘Start’ and click on ‘My Computer’
Click on ‘Tools’ on the Menu bar on the top and then click on ‘Folder options’
Click on the ‘View’ tab and:
Select ‘Show Hidden Files and Folders’
Uncheck ‘Hide Extensions for known file type’
Click ‘Apply’ and then click ‘OK’.
Search for ID_10031.DPC
You will find two identical files in two different locations

If OS is Win XP
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12 and C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup   Controller

If OS is Vista
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12 AND C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12\Office Setup Controller\Prohybridr

Browse to these locations.
 Rename the files ‘ID_10031.DPC’ to ‘ID_10031.OLD’
 Paste the file ‘ID_10031.DPC’ from your Desktop in these locations

Restart the Computer and open MS Office Picture Manager.

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