Tutorial Guide to Create and Configure the L2TP/IPSec VPN Connection on Windows XP

A VPN provider generally offers a VPN client with its services to ease the process of connecting with its server for the customers. In case, there is no client from the service provider, you need to manually configure the connection. Steps for creating and configuring the L2TP/IPSec VPN connection on windows xp are given below.

1. To begin with the manual setup of the VPN connection and configuration, you need to access the network connection settings. For this go to Start and then to Control Panel and then finally to Network Connections to get to the connection manager.
2. Choose the option “create a new connection” from the left side of the window.
3. You will get the welcome screen of the connection creation wizard. Click on the next button to continue with the process.
4. In the next step, you need to select the type of the connection. You will get 4 options in the window to choose from. Select the 2^nd option to create a workplace network and click on the next button to proceed.
5. The next step needs you to choose the type of connection that you will be using with this connection. From the list, select the 2^nd option for the VPN connection and click on the next button to continue with the process.
6. Now, you will be prompted for the name of the connection. Enter the name that you wish to recognize this connection with and then click on the next button.
7. In the next step, you need to enter the server address for the VPN connection. Enter the server address that you have got in the welcome mail and then click on the next button to proceed.
8. With this, you are finished with the creation of the connection. You will see the wizard complete window. Click on the finish button to complete the connection creation setup.
9. The connection is now created and now the configuration part is left, for which you need to modify the properties of the connection.
10. In the network manager window, find the connection that you just created and right click on its name. From the drop down menu, select the properties option to get access to the properties of the connection.
11. In the properties menu, go to the security tab and enable the “Typical” option. Now click on the “IPSec Setting” button at the bottom of the security tab.
12. You will be prompted for the server key, which you will find in the welcome mail from the VPN provider. Enter the key and click on OK.
13. Now go to the networking tab in the Properties menu. Here change the value of the “Type of VPN” field to “L2TP IPSec VPN”. Click on OK to finish the configuration of the network connection that you just created.

So, now you are finished with the setup and configuration of L2TP/IPSec VPN connection for windows xp OS platform. Connect to the network from the network icon that you can see in the network connections window. You will be prompted for a username and password, which are the login credentials provided by your VPN provider. Connect to the VPN server and enjoy anonymous surfing.