All posts tagged troubleshooting

Always On VPN Error -2146762495

DirectAccess Troubleshooting and the Windows 10 Network Connectivity Assistant

Always On VPN Administrators may encounter a scenario where Always On VPN connections suddenly stop working for all clients using the Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) VPN protocol. IKEv2 VPN connections continue to work, however.

Event Log

Reviewing the event log on a client machine reveals an error event ID 20227 from the RasClient source. The error message states the following.

“The user [username] dialed a connection named [connection name] which has failed. The error code returned on failure is -2146762495.”

Error -2146762495?

Always On VPN administrators will be familiar with error codes such as 809, 691 and 812, 853, 858, and even 13801, 13806, and 13868. However, this error code seems to be formatted much differently. As it turns out, this message is in decimal format. Thankfully it’s pretty easy to convert it to something more meaningful, like hexadecimal. To do this, open the Windows calculator (calc.exe) and switch to programmer mode. Highlight DEC and enter -2146762495. The hexadecimal value will be displayed in the HEX field, as shown here.

Error 0x800B0101

After converting the error message from decimal to hex, use the Microsoft Error Lookup tool (err.exe) to translate the hex value of this error. As shown here, 0x800B0101 translates to CERT_E_EXPIRED.

Expired TLS Certificate

Once again, an expired certificate is to blame! In this case, the TLS certificate installed on the VPN server has expired and is no longer valid.

Resolution

The problem is simple enough to resolve, of course. Obtain a new TLS certificate from your certification authority (CA) of choice and update your VPN server configuration. You can find detailed guidance for updating the RRAS VPN server’s TLS certificate here. You will also find a video demonstration of the RRAS SSL/TLS certificate renewal process here.

Additional Information

Installing or Renewing an SSL/TLS Certificate on Windows Server RRAS for Always On VPN and SSTP

VIDEO: Installing or Renewing an SSL/TLS certificate on Windows Server RRAS for Always On VPN and SSTP

Microsoft Windows Always On VPN SSTP Security Configuration

Microsoft Windows Always On VPN SSL/TLS Certificate Requirements for SSTP

Microsoft Windows Always On VPN SSTP with Let’s Encrypt Certificates

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by Richard M. Hicks on February 15, 2022  •  Permalink
Posted in administration, Always On VPN, AOVPN, certificates, Encryption, Enterprise, enterprise mobility, Mobility, Operational Support, PKI, public key infrastructure, Remote Access, routing and remote access service, RRAS, Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol, SSL, SSL and TLS, SSTP, TLS, TLS 1.3, troubleshooting, user tunnel, VPN, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on February 15, 2022

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2022/02/15/always-on-vpn-error-2146762495/

Always On VPN Error 853 on Windows 11

Recently I did some validation testing with Always On VPN on Windows 11, and I’m happy to report that everything seems to work without issue. However, a few readers have reported 853 errors when establishing an Always On VPN connection after upgrading to Windows 11.

Can’t Connect

After upgrading to Windows 11, an Always On VPN connection may fail with the following error message.

“The remote access connection completed, but authentication failed because the certificate that authenticates the client to the server is not valid. Ensure the certificate used for authentication is valid.”

Error 853

In addition, the Application event log records an event ID 20227 from the RasClient source that includes the following message.

“The user <username> dialed a connection name <connection name> which has failed. The error code returned on failure is 853.”

Server Identity

This error will occur when using Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) authentication. Specifically, it can happen when the option to verify NPS server validity by its certificate is selected, and an explicit list of NPS servers is defined, as shown here.

Case Sensitive

In this specific scenario, Windows 11 now appears to be case-sensitive when it compares the NPS server name entered in the NPS configuration to the Subject Name on the certificate returned by the server. For example, if the Subject Name (or Subject Alternative Name, if present) entry on the NPS server certificate is nps.lab.richardhicks.net, using NPS.lab.richardhicks.net will not match and return an 853 error.

Windows 11

Case matching when validating the NPS server certificate is a change in behavior from Windows 10. Before Windows 11, this comparison was case-insensitive, and any combination of case would match if the entire hostname matched. Going forward, it appears Microsoft has also decided to require case matching to validate the server certificate.

Recommendations

Administrators should look carefully at the server certificate issued to the NPS server and ensure their client configuration accurately reflects the hostname in a case-sensitive manner to ensure a smooth migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

Additional Information

Troubleshooting Windows 10 Always On VPN Error 853

Windows 10 Always On VPN Network Policy Server (NPS) Load Balancing

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by Richard M. Hicks on September 23, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Always On VPN, AOVPN, authentication, certificates, EAP, Enterprise, enterprise mobility, extensible authentication protocol, Mobility, Name Resolution, network policy server, NPS, PEAP, Protected EAP, Remote Access, Security, troubleshooting, VPN, Windows 11
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Posted by Richard M. Hicks on September 23, 2021

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2021/09/23/always-on-vpn-error-853-on-windows-11/

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