PPTP Won't work after 4.3 Upgrade

I am doing all of my testing against a Buffalo router running DD-WRT's builtin PPtP implementation. This is failing silently with 4.3 and 4.3.1 but works with 4.2.1 and MacOS x.

You should try to also mention what version of DD-WRT you're running. (i.e.: v24 SP1 Build10020) Even when people say "the latest version", that doesn't help since we don't know if they updated the day before a new release comes out, etc. So specific versions, build numbers, hardware details, etc.

I'm not trying to pick on you, but just pointing out that there's still a lot of information that is not being posted that is probably very important to the troubleshooting process.

So here is what I have:
iPad1, 64GB, AT&T 3G, iOS 4.3 (8F190)

PPtP endpoint:
Cisco Linksys RV042 (firmware 1.3.12.19) over Toshiba Cable modem (I don't have model of Toshiba at the moment.)

L2TP endpoint:
Windows 2003r2 server, NATed through above RV042 over Toshiba cable modem

IPSec endpoint:
Cisco ASA5510 (Cisco IOS 8.3) connected over Time Warner T1.

Connection to all three of the VPN endpoints works over iPad1's AT&T 3G in Honolulu, HI.

Additional info: updated iPad1 to iOS 4.3.1 (8G4) and VPN is still working. All three protocols working to previously specified VPN endpoints. No changes made to VPN endpoints.

I work for a large software company and we have hundreds to thousands of employees that connect to our enterprise VPN every day from all over the country. unfortunately I am not on my companies internal IT team and therefore do not know the details of the hardware they are using. I suspect it is a top of the line Cisco enterprise solution. since the upgrade to 4.3 I am no longer able to connect to VPN from my iPhone. I have never been able to connect to VPN from my iPad 2 since it come with iOS 4.3. I have followed the same instructions to set up VPN on both the iPhone and iPad. I have also verified that I am not the only one having this problem at my company.

jarelgw wrote:
I work for a large software company and we have hundreds to thousands of employees that connect to our enterprise VPN every day from all over the country. unfortunately I am not on my companies internal IT team and therefore do not know the details of the hardware they are using. I suspect it is a top of the line Cisco enterprise solution. since the upgrade to 4.3 I am no longer able to connect to VPN from my iPhone. I have never been able to connect to VPN from my iPad 2 since it come with iOS 4.3. I have followed the same instructions to set up VPN on both the iPhone and iPad. I have also verified that I am not the only one having this problem at my company.

As with the other poster, I'm not trying to pick on you, but just pointing out that your post has no new information other than "me too." If you are not the only one at your company having issues, then it would seem to be worthwhile to have your IT department contact Apple...assuming it is "top of the line" Cisco equipment. Since HP, Juniper, Adtran and many others make enterprise grade networking equipment, it is not a certainty that a large company "must use" Cisco equipment. Thus the people with the specific info and access to the VPN endpoints and VPN logs need to be contacting Apple. Again, not trying to pick on you, but trying to get get the issue moved forward.

Asatoran,
I want to thank you for your level head in this thread. After you said that PPtP to your RV042 was working I dusted mine off and set it up last night and now I'm up and running.

So since the same settings on the iPad now work I can only assume that Apple made some tweek to their implementation of PPtP that broke it with some other implementations of PPtP servers.

I'm still not happy with how Apple has handled this incident but I don't think anything is going to come of that displeasure.

c0t0d0s0 wrote:
Asatoran,
I want to thank you for your level head in this thread. After you said that PPtP to your RV042 was working I dusted mine off and set it up last night and now I'm up and running.

So since the same settings on the iPad now work I can only assume that Apple made some tweek to their implementation of PPtP that broke it with some other implementations of PPtP servers.

I'm still not happy with how Apple has handled this incident but I don't think anything is going to come of that displeasure.

You're welcome and I'm glad you're up and running. 🙂

I read a forum post elsewhere that the RV series is going end-of-life. It was an unsubstantiated posting, but the fact that Cisco has not released IPv6 compatible firmware for older routers and is inferring that they won't for any existing routers is giving me some worries about using the RV042 indefinitely. Thus the reason I configured a Windows server as a L2TP endpoint. I doubt I'll be forced to stop using the RV042 anytime soon, but I can sleep better at night with the Windows VPN being available.

I agree that it was something Apple changed in iOS4.3. I'm of the opinion that it was a "hardening" of the settings, so more closely adheres to the protocol and industry standards, rather than incompetence as has been inferred by other posts, but I have no more insight than anyone else here.

Ahhhhh! Come on Apple. Please tell us you are at least aware of the problem and are working on it. Your failure to acknowledge problems like this is getting old.

I also cannot connect via PPtP. My setup:

Client:
iPad1 on 4.3.1

Server:
Linksys WRT-150N
DD-WRT v24-sp2 VoIP build 13525

Upon switching VPN to on, it says "connecting > starting > disconnected."

Cisco IPSec still functions as expected.

It worked every time on 4.2.1. My iPhone 4 on 4.2.1 also has no problems connecting.

Same here:

iPad 1 16GB 3G iOS 4.3 - no VPN Connection
iPad 1 16GB 3G iOS 4.3.1 - no VPN Connection
iPad 2 64GB 3G iOS 4.3.1 - no VPN Connection


iPad 1 64GB 3G iOS 4.2 - VPN works fine!
iPad 1 16GB 3G iOS 4.2 - VPN works fine!

MAC OS Snow Leopard - VPN works fine!
Windows 7 Professional - - VPN works fine!

VPN Gateway: Linksys WRT160NL
Firmware-Version: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (08/07/10) std - build 14896
VPN Implematation: PPtP

APPLE: It`s your turn!

Can add my experience:
Server
DD-WRT v24-sp2 (08/07/10) mega (SVN revision 14896) Netgear WNR3500v2/U/L

VPN. PPTP

Clients:
iPad 2 don't work 4.3.1
iPhone 3GS working no problem (also 4.3.1)
Windows PC working no problem
OSX 10.6 MBP working no problem

Message was edited by: Silence0

Affter 55 posts in this thread, the last several posts, having supplied more detailed info, seem to be indicating a trend: DD-WRT is in the failing PPTP VPNs.

[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13213180#13213180|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13213180#13213180]
[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13298965#13298965|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13298965#13298965]
[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13299915#13299915|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13299915#13299915]
[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13287453#13287453|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13287453#13287453]
[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13306857#13306857|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13306857#13306857]

And many of the fails are with Linksys "home" router hardware. (Although some did not report what hardware model.)

And two successes with the Cisco RV042 on PPTP:

[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13229758#13229758|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13229758#13229758]
[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13287654#13287654|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13229758#13229758]

And one success with PPTP on unknown model VPN equipment:

[http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13289566#13289566|http://di scussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13289566#13289566]

Plus successes with non-PPTP VPNs.

The [last DD-WRT fail|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13306857#13306857
] is interesting since it is the first to mention a fail with non Linksys hardware, but also mentions success with a iPhone 3GS on 4.3.1. So thus far, DD-WRT and Linksys "home" router hardware could be significant contributors, although obviously there is not enough data points to be conclusive.

And a reminder, Apple doesn't necessarily read these forums so those of you having problems should be sending this info to Apple, not just posting in these forums. (e.g.: [http://www.apple.com/feedback|http://www.apple.com/feedback] or [calling support|http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57].)

I do not think it has anything to do with what kind of router you are using. I think the fault is with IOS 4.3 and 4.3.1 because I can access the VPN through the same router on my macbook pro, a pc running windows 7 and an iphone4 running IOS 4.2. The problem only started when I upgraded my Iphone4 to IOS 4.3 and then 4.3.1 (both were accessing the VPN on PPTP before this) and foolishly did the same with my first Ipad (which also accessed the VPN before). I bought Ipad2 which already has IOS 4.3 on it and it has never worked on that and it only got worse when I upgraded it to IOS 4.3.1. I do think it may have something to do with upgraded security in IOS 4.3 and the VPN is not receiving the password because it shuts down so fast.

livinginamoment wrote:
I do not think it has anything to do with what kind of router you are using. I think the fault is with IOS 4.3 and 4.3.1 because I can access the VPN through the same router on my macbook pro, a pc running windows 7 and an iphone4 running IOS 4.2. The problem only started when I upgraded my Iphone4 to IOS 4.3 and then 4.3.1 (both were accessing the VPN on PPTP before this) and foolishly did the same with my first Ipad (which also accessed the VPN before). I bought Ipad2 which already has IOS 4.3 on it and it has never worked on that and it only got worse when I upgraded it to IOS 4.3.1. I do think it may have something to do with upgraded security in IOS 4.3 and the VPN is not receiving the password because it shuts down so fast.

I'm not saying it does NOT have anything to do with iOS4.3. What I have been trying to point out is that the majority of posts are "me too" without mentioning anything about their setup or equipment. We all know that updates "break" things sometimes. This is an inherent problem with everything in our computerized world. So iOS4.3 "breaking" some VPNs is not in dispute.

However, if one is going to argue that "it's not the router", _then one should also have evidence about all the different model routers and different versions of firmware that are not working_. All we have are a bunch of "me too", and how does that help you (and Apple) solve the problem? So if you really believe it is "not the router", then the same info I'm using that hints at the router as a contributor, should eventually show that it is "not the router". IOW, you should help gather the same info since it should prove your belief. (BTW, you have not provided ANY info about the routers you're connecting to, even at your friend's house. And to be specific, you're connecting to a VPN endpoint. The VPN endpoint may or may not be in the router. For example, my L2TP tunnel goes to a Windows 2008 server, which is passed through my router, but the router does not do anything else with the VPN tunnel.)

And like I said, there are too few data points to be conclusive, but when I suggested that everyone provide _+detailed & specific+_ info about their equipment, it was exactly to show that the "extra info" can provide more insight and thus, possibly a solution. Again, I'm not saying it's the router, but just a few posts of extra info in just a few days has shown a potential lead that no one was even thinking about amongst all the vitriol.

4.3.1 (8g4) does not work with any pptp vpn end device, it apears to be authentication issue. Please fix asap

Asatoran

You are not thinking this through logically

As many posters have pointed out, the iPad/iPhone with iOS 4.2 worked with PPTP VPN connections and have now stopped working on the same networks with 4.3 and 4.3.1.

No-one has changed their routers so this removes them from the equation.

Discussing routers and their configuration is meaningless and distracts from the problem which is that Apple have broken PPTP VPN connections in iOS 4.3 - PERIOD.

I think livinginamoment explained it and I have a similar experience - within my WiFi network I have working PPTP VPN connections (Mac OSX, Windows 7 and iOS 4.2) and non-working PPTP VPN connections (iPad 4.3, iPad 2 4.3.1, iPhone 4.3)
They all use the same router.

So to be clear - this problem has nothing whatsoever to do with the Router.