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I'm trying to create a home VPN on Windows 10 using a Netgear N600 router.
All goes well, setting up the host and client, up until connection time. I receive an error that states the host is not configured to accept GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) packets on Internet Protocol 47. It says that opening IP 47 might help. But how does one do that? I can't find any setting within the router to open it. Is this a port, and therefore can it be port forwarded? (I'm guessing that it is not a port because port forwarding 47
did not make any change.)
Won't setting my computer as the DMZ create a security hazard? – hmc_jake – 2015-08-09T02:36:30.900
Interesting! Setting the host as DMZ allowed the connection to complete. However everything I've heard about DMZ has been very bad. Is keeping this set a bad thing? – hmc_jake – 2015-08-09T02:38:52.397
@hmc_jake Connecting a machine to the Internet without a firewall is risky, yes. So run a personal firewall software package on that machine to make up for the fact that your router isn't acting as a firewall for it anymore. – Spiff – 2015-08-09T04:25:01.300
@hmc_jake BTW, just to confirm, is your VPN a PPTP VPN? If so were you already forwarding TCP port 1723 to the VPN server? Because PPTP needs that too. If you weren't already forwarding it, that could have been your problem, and the error message may just have been misleading. Also, some routers are smart about PPTP VPN servers behind the router, and know to forward GRE to the host getting 1723/TCP. Or with a more advanced router or aftermarket Linux-based firmware distro, you can write smarter firewall rules yourself. – Spiff – 2015-08-09T04:35:04.547
Yes it is PPTP and yes I had portforwarded 1723 on both the router and system. Apparently the router has no VPN settings at all. So I suppose setting it as DMZ is all I can do. Also, does the connection being used have any effect on whether or not you can connect to a VPN? (Slightly off-topic, but still slightly on.) – hmc_jake – 2015-08-09T04:43:35.370