Yeah, I know this is a bit off topic to graphic design, but I wanted to put it out there because I spent about a month looking for this answer myself, so hopefully I can save the next person a bit of time. If you want to skip my journey and go straight to the solution, you can.

The Problem

I was successfully connected via VPN and remotely connected to a computer elsewhere, but one day it just stopped working. When I tried to make a VPN connection on my Windows computer, I got this:

“A connection to the remote computer cannot be established. you might need to change the network settings for the connection.”

I did not make a change, so I did not expect the connection to stop. Futhermore, this error message is deceiving, as the problem was not within my VPN network settings, so it sent my down a path of trying to continuously doubt I typed some input wrong or checked a box wrong.

I tried agonizingly for hours trying to fix the VPN connection issue by doing things like:

• restarting my computer,
• the router,
• the modem,
• checking my router settings,
• checking my firewall settings,
• making a new VPN connection with the same connection information,
• repeatedly checking to verify the CHAP protocol was set, the preshared key was right, and my password was right,
• having an IT guy look at my computer to try to fix it,
• resetting the VPN password,

… but nothing was working!

I kept doing work arounds, and managed to get by for some time, like uploading files to OneDrive, emailing them to myself, or putting them on a ticket.

Well, I am pretty lazy, or comfy at home. I was facing having to physically go to the computer to look up something that would just take 30 seconds, and I really did not want to make that drive, so I started my Google search again. 

To further troubleshoot the issue, I was able to do a VPN connection and remote desktop using my laptop, but using the same settings, I could not connect with my desktop. This led me to figure that the problem was with my specific computer, not my internet or VPN credentials/settings.

I found the answer in an obscure YouTube video, and low and behold, it worked. I guess a virtual device went corrupt, and by proceeding with the solution, WIndows re-built a new one.

The Solution

Here is the actual video. I did not record it, but you can follow that around. If you don’t want to watch a whole video, I have the steps below.

1. In your Windows computer, open up Run. I normally click the Windows Key and then type “run” and then Enter on my keyboard.
2. In the Run interface, type devmgmt.msc and then click the OK button.
   
3. The Device Manager window will open.
4. Expand the Network Adapters tab. (yellow)
   
5. Now you will right-click, and Uninstall Device for the following devices (green highlighe, above image):
   1. WAN Miniport (IKEv2)
   2. WAN Miniport (IP)
   3. WAN Miniport (IPv6)
   4. WAN Miniport (L2TP)
   5. WAN Miniport (Network Monitor)
   6. WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
   7. WAN Miniport (PPTP)
   8. WAN Miniport (SSTP)
      
      As you do this, the item will no longer be visible in the list.
6. In the top of the UI, find and click the Scan for hardware changes button or go to Action > Scan for hardware changes  in the program menu options.
    
7. You will see the devices that you just deleted, now re-appear.
8. Go try to connect to your VPN again. I hope it works this time!