Configuring a VPN connection on Windows 7

To set up a Windows 7 system to use Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) for establishing a virtual private network (VPN) connection, take the following steps:
  1. Click on the Windows Start button at the lower, left-hand corner of the screen, or tap the Windows key on the keyboard and select Control Panel.
  2. From the Control Panel, click on Network and Internet

    Windows 7 Control Panel

  3. Click on Network and Sharing Center.
  4. Click on Set up a new connection or network.



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    Windows 7 - Network and Sharing
Center

  5. Click on Connect to a workplace at the "Choose a connection option" window.

    Windows 7 - Choose a connection option

  6. At the Connect to a Workplace window, click on Use my Internet connection (VPN).

    Windows 7 - Connect to a Workplace

  7. At the next window you will see "Type the Internet address to connect to".

    Windows 7 - VPN Internet address

    Type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address for the VPN provider, e.g., example.com, in the Internet address field. The default destination name is "VPN Connection," but you can change it if you wish to reflect the particular VPN provider, e.g., "Ajax VPN Connection". Check the check box next to "Don't connect now; just set it up so I can connect later" and then click on the Next button.

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  8. At the next window, you can provide the user name and password for the VPN account. If you don't want to have to provide those each time you establish the VPN connection, check the check box next to "Remember this password" then click on Create.

    Connect to Workplace - User name and 
password

  9. When you see "The connection is ready to use," click on the Close button rather than Connect now.
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    Connecto to a Workplace - ready to use

  10. Then back at the Network and Sharing Center window, you can click on Connect to a Network and select the VPN connection.

    Windows 7 - Network and Sharing
Center

    Or you can click on Change adapter settings which will show you the available network connections. You will need to be already connected to the Internet via a wired or wireless connection to establish a connection to the VPN. You can then double-click on the VPN connection entry in the list. You should see "WAN Miniport (IKEv2)" on that entry.

    Network connections

    If you need to make any changes to the settings, you can right-click on the relevant VPN connection and choose Properties.

    VPN Connection Properties

  11. A window will open with fields for the user name and password for the domain. If you chose to save those values previously, you can simply click on Connect at this point to establish the VPN connection.

    Connect VPN Connection

Once the connection window goes away, you can verify you are now accessing the Internet through the VPN connection by going to a site such as WhatIsMyIP that will show your current IP address and the geographical location associated with that IP address.

When you want to disconnect the VPN connection, you can right-click on the VPN entry from the Network Connections window and choose Disconnect.



Network Connections - Disconnect VPN

Or you can click on Connect or disconnect from the Network and Sharing Center window.

Network Sharing - Disconnect VPN

You will then see the network connections; you can click on the VPN one which will cause a Disconnect button to appear.