Ubuntu to Windows VPN

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
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1

I have two Windows VPN servers (work & home). I cannot for the life of me get Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to connect to them using the built in VPN. Both VPN servers allow PPTP or L2TP, using MS-CHAPv2 (also tried EAP). The built-in VPN Client in Ubuntu does not have an option for L2TP/PreSharedKey so PPTP it is w/ MS-CHAPv2, but for the life of me it won't connect. Anyone else using Ubuntu and successfully connecting to Windows VPN? If so, please share how you're doing it. I've tried in install other VPN clients, but I couldn't get anything working.

Thanks in Advance!

EDIT: The error message in Ubuntu says it fails to connect because the VPN service stopped. The Windows VPN Server shows no connection attempt / error log.

Also, Windows Computers and iOS phones connect without issue.

2

There has to be some IT guys out there that have already run into this.

3

I'm not familiar with this. I've always had a hell of a time with VPN's on Linux. I'd try using OpenVPN to get it up and running.

4

Dear Lord thank you for a response! I did try OpenVPN but it doesn't look like it supports l2tp/ipsec. I found GUI support for l2tp/ipsec for Ubuntu 12-13 but not 14. It does appear StrongSwan may work, but it is only configuration file based which is a deal breaker if I want coworkers and/or family using it. I'll probably end up waiting for it to become native to Ubuntu. Such a shame, because I really want Ubuntu to become an everyday machine not only for myself but for coworkers / family. Unless of course anyone can point me in the right direction to something I may have missed.

5

You do realize openvpn is generally stronger than ipsec excluding certain circumstances and that the entire configuration can be shared via a password and an .ovpn file right? It's not that hard if good directions are given and it needs little maintenance..

6

Remolding VPN policy for a hand full of Ubuntu machines is out of the question.

7

Remolding VPN policy

There's the kicker. Wasn't sure what level of policy you had adopted. Sorry we couldn't get you the easy solution.

I wonder if I can help you sort though the VPN issue though.

I'm going to operate under the assumption you've got the VPN server properly configured and it is accessible through the proper channels.

Have you tried making a connection through the command line? This article should help you through that process. The command line may also be more verbose about the issue if it still happens this way. At the very least, doing this will help us find out if the issue is NetworkManager. (the GUI software that handles net connections for most distros)

8

I may be wrong, but OpenSwan is no longer available and it was replaced by StrongSwan (at least for Ubuntu). I did install StrongSwan but truthfully, I did not try StrongSwan because it is terminal / configuration based. While I may be able to get it up and running, I do not expect a user to start and stop vpn services via command line (though I suppose a script of some sort could be made - but what a pain).

I truly appreciate everyone's eyeballs and time but I think I may be out of luck.

9

My reasoning for the command line was to narrow down where the issue was coming from, then we can figure it out so you can configure all the user's machines in a way that they won't encounter the issue. From there, you should be able to use the GUI.

If you want to troubleshoot here, I'm all ears.

10

Ah, I think you're getting at that PPTP should work, and perhaps StrongSwan can help us determine why?

11

yes. That's exactly what I'm saying.

Most command line tools have a -v or --verbose option that can give us a lot of information about what's happening. We can see what happens right before and right after the error occurs to help track down what's causing the issue.

12

fair enough, I can give it a try with StrongSwan assuming I find some decent documentation.

13

The strongswan wiki should have a lot of information for you.

I just found something I think you'll like: StrongSwan claims to have a NetworkManager plugin. Have a look here. the package is network-manager-strongswan, so if you'd like to try installing it, go for it. It appears to be a valid package in Wily, Xenial, and Yakkety, so it should work.

This plugin ~will~ should enable NetworkManager to handle all strongswan connections.

14

Just an update here:

I got it to work after installing 16.04.1 but only after running "sudo apt update" which I do not understand because to the best of my knowledge sudo apt udpate only updates repositories and not any software. I was so puzzled by this that I tried it on another test machine and sure enough it only works after I run that command. I'm willing to let a happy sleeping dog lie, unless anyone else has any insight on why what I described may be. (I'll also add that I did add the google chrome repository and install google chrome on both machines too, so that may also have something to do with it - what I don't know).

15

Also: This was one of the things holding me back from daily Ubuntu use. I needed to be able to work from my machine efficiently. It has been great to me since this update. I'm even considering wiping or at the very least grubbing my $2k desktop to Ubuntu.