Mac OS X 10.3 or later: Can‘t connect via PPTP with some Internet service providers

Symptom

Your attempt to authenticate (or log in) fails, even when you are certain that your name and password are correct.

An entry similar to this one will appear in the connection log, but with IP address and time code information that matches your situation:

Mon Aug  4 20:56:02 2003 : acsp check options
Mon Aug  4 20:56:02 2003 : PPTP connecting to server '169..192.1.253' (169.192.1.253)...
Mon Aug  4 20:56:02 2003 : PPTP connection established.
Mon Aug  4 20:56:03 2003 : Using interface ppp0
Mon Aug  4 20:56:03 2003 : Connect: ppp0 <--> socket[34:17]
Mon Aug  4 20:56:03 2003 : MPPE required, but MS-CHAP[v2] auth not performed.
Mon Aug  4 20:56:03 2003 : Connection terminated.
Mon Aug  4 20:56:03 2003 : PPTP disconnecting...
Mon Aug  4 20:56:03 2003 : PPTP disconnected

Solution

First, be sure you have updated to Mac OS X 10.3.4 or later.

Follow these steps:

1. Open Internet Connect.
2. Click VPN (PPTP).
3. From the Configuration pop-up menu, choose Edit Configuration.
4. From the Encryption pop-up menu, choose None.

Notes

• The change is persistent.
• This PPTP connection must be used only to connect to the ISP for which you configured it.
• If you need an additional VPN PPTP connection, you must create a new one using Internet Connect.