Why am I receiving - Error 781: no valid certificate was found

[chowell18]

I am trying to setup a VPN through a Qwest DSL modem, and I think I have the configurations right, but when I try to connect from a remote PC, I get the following error:

Error 781: The encryption attempt failed because no valid certificate was found.

Am I really missing some kind of certificate on my VPN machine or is something else going on? This is a newly setup Win2k server (basic setup).

Thanks,
Cory

 

[John Lewis]

You don't mention one, but older BEFSR41s are known to cause this. Upgrade firmware if you have one of those.

If you are using L2TP/IPsec, the default is to require a certificate on each end. You can edit the registry to use a preshared key. My biggest argument against L2TP, it's a real pain to configure.

If that doesn't fit, or if you need more help . . .

What version of Windows are you using on the client side? Everything all service packed current (including the new server)? What kind of connection are you trying to make (L2TP or PPTP)? Anything showing in the event log on either side?