Creating a PPTP VPN connection in Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid)

olaf — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:43:52 +0000

Update June 22, 2010

The configuration described below is still valid up to the most recent Ubuntu release (10.04) !

Update December 8, 2008

The following solution does not work for everybody as there are multiple issues with VPN connections, the network manager etc. Bug fixing is in progress and it appears a number of patches where already included in recent ubuntu updates.

I recommend checking the ubuntu bug database for the latest state of the VPN issues:

Search for “VPN” in the ubuntu bug database (launchpad.net)

This monday was sweet. I finally had the time to make a fresh install of ubuntu 8.10 on my thinkpad r52, and what can i say, just as all the other releases before, things got better.

I am especially happy about the re-programmed network manager, which works a whole lot better than in hardy.
Except that i didn’t get the PPTP VPN connection to my office to work instantly.

Turns out there is some kind of problem that prevents the network manager from obtaining the configured password, resulting in the error message:

The vpn connection X failed because there were no valid VPN secrets.

Furthermore, point-to-point encryption is not enabled by default any more. Here is how i got it to work:

1: Prerequisites: Install the required packages

If you don’t have pptp VPN support for network manager yet, install it…

sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp

… and configure your VPN connection using the network manager.

2: Clear the password field in the vpn settings dialog

This should make the manager prompt you for the password.

3: Enable point-to-point encryption on the “Advanced” settings page

This should do! Now the PPTP settings should be about the same they where in hardy.

If you still experience problems, you might want to check the syslog for messages from the network manager, like so: