Get "information store cannot be opened" error when trying remote VPN

[Mannstech]

Hi,

I'm trying to set a user so that they can remotely access their email using a VPN client, but keep getting the error message "information store cannot be opened" when firing up Outlook.

We are using SBS 2000 for the exchange server and ZyWALL VPN client for the remote connection. The dial-up and connection via the VPN client works fine and I can even ping the server with no problems. However, every time I try to get to the emails (through Outlook 2000) I get the above error message.

I'm really not sure what can be causing the problem so any help would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

 

[paulha]

At what stage does the user do their Windows authentication ?

 

[Mannstech]

Basically, the steps taken are:

1) User boots up laptop and logs in with usual network login details (as if on the network).

2) Once logged in, the user fires up the VPN client connection which connects straight away.

3) The user then fires up Outlook, which fails.

So presumably, the only Windows Authentication is at start up. FYI, the remote laptop is running XP Pro and has no problem when actually connected to the LAN onsite.

 

[paulha]

It sounds like the user is logging onto the laptop with cached network credentials ? He/she is therefore not authenticating to the windows network, and thus not receiving access to any network resources ? (i am making an assumption here, the zywall website is not the best in terms of support documentation)

Once your user has connected via vpn, remote desktop to your server and run the session there ?

Alternatively, configure the user a local account on the laptop, once the vpn tunnel has been established, when the user tries to connect to exchange using outlook, it should prompt for a username / password / domain

Another, and perhaps the best alternative, is to configure a local account, establish a vpn connection, and run a remote desktop session on the server.

You will need to look at the licensing issues, although there is some dim memory in my head somewhere that tells me that SBS comes with TS CALs

 

[Mannstech]

Hi Paulha,

Many thanks for coming back to me. Just a couple of quick questions then, if I may...

1) If the user is logging on with cached network credentials, is there a way of clearing them?

2)Sorry, not sure what you mean by "remote desktop to server". Do you mean to use the Remote Desktop facility within XP on the client then actually run the Outlook session from the server?

The local account idea sounds a good alternative, so thanks for that. I'll be trying that later this afternoon.

Thanks again.

 

[paulha]

I am assuming you use roaming profiles on your network.

Clear the cached credentials by right clicking on My computer / properties / advanced tab/ user profiles settings button. Delete the domainname/username profile. (There will be no need to do this however, if you are going to try the local account setup this afternoon, it will create a (seperate) local profile).

With this setup, your user will log on to the network and authenticate to the SBS server when on site. When off site, the user will log on to the laptop locally and gain access to local laptop resources, connect via vpn and authenticate to your VPN box (I am assuming not a windows authentication) then will authenticate to your network and gain access to network resources when doing the remote desktop connection to your SBS box

Yes, remote desktop facility in XP and run outlook on the server

Good Luck

Paul

 

[Mannstech]

Many, many thanks... now working fine. Very simply, I cleared the cached credentials and then realised that there was a version of McAfee running in the background that was blocking ports, so I stopped this as well and it all worked fine.

Thanks for all the options though, that's good to know there are some alternatives if the same problem arises elsewhere.

 

[paulha]

No Problem

Paul