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Orbi RBR750 4.6.5.14 firmware seemed to have affected connection over VPN
Anyone running into this issue? After the Orbi RBR750 4.6.5.14 firmware update, I can no longer connect to VPN. I'm running Windows 10 with a VPN connection setup over L2TP/IPsec with pre-shared key....
So I'm posting this in case it may help someone else. I contacted support and they recommended I try to reserve an address for my system under the LAN tab. Then set that reserved IP as DMZ server to open all ports to verify if the VPN issue had to do with ports. If it was an issue with ports, I would just need to setup port forwarding for the VPN. So I went ahead and gave it a try.
So this was really strange. Before I performed the steps to reserve IP and set as DMZ Server, I tested both my desktop and laptop and Windows VPN was not working. Then I reserved the IP for my laptop, set it as the DMZ server, then tried the VPN. At that point, it started working, great!! Then, I removed the DMZ server setting since I figured I need determine what ports need to be forwarded and set port forwarding up. But before I tried that, I tested the VPN again just for kicks. Low and behold, it was still working without the DMZ setting. Then I tried my desktop which has no IP reservation, was never set as DMZ, and was not working before and now, even the desktop is working with VPN. This was a very strange fix since I had even already factory reset the Orbi which didn’t fix the issue. Must be a software bug in there somewhere? Either way, seems to be working for me for now. Hope this may help someone else out.
I believe the previous firmware was 4.6.3.7. I don't have a modem from my ISP. I have Frontier FIOS fiber and it connects directly from the ONT into the Orbi RBR750 via Cat6. Note, I have a different PC using a VPN over Cisco's Global Connect client and that works fine. It's just the VPN connection using windows built-in VPN that has a connection issue.
I've powered off multiple times since the firmware update since it gave me issues with one of the satellites at first. That issue was resolved by re-syncing the sattelite. Then today, I noticed the VPN connection issue.
Seems like a problem at the Windows VPN level and this FW. IF the othere PC and the Cisco VPN is working currently, not sure what would cause the Windows VPN not to work.
Is Armor or Smart Parental Controls enabled?
Other other thing to try would be to factory reset the RBR and setup from scratch with out any additional featuers enabled and test the Windows VPN and see...
I had Armor and Parental controls on. I had previously tried disabling parental controls only which didn't work. Now, I tried disabling both Armor and Parental controls and still a no go sadly.
I think you're right about the Windows VPN and this FW. I have my desktop setup prior with the same VPN that also is no longer working when connected to home internet. Mobile Hot Spot works fine. I thought about the factory reset but that is a real pain to do. Too many parental controls rules setup. I guess I could backup my config, reset, and test to see if it fixes it. Then restore my configs at some point. This will have to wait till after work hours. I was just hoping someone ran into this issue already and had a fix. Thanks!
If you had Armor and SPC enabled, lets try a full factory reset on the RBR, turn OFF the RBS for now. You can use the ERASE fuction on the RBS web page to reset the RBR then set up from scratch. Just don't enable Armor or SPC this time. Then test Windows VPN...
Okay. Did a full factory reset. After reset, Armor was automatically installed so I disabled it immediately. I also did not install Parental controls so the router was in a new state. Attempted to connect from laptop to VPN and it was a no go. Tried VPN from desktop and it was also a no go. Connected both systems to mobile Hot Spot and it works fine. It definitely seems like this new firmeware has a problem working with Windows VPN client. Since this factory reset did nothing, I've restored my config, re-enabled Armor and re-setup Parental Controls. Very frustrating to have to connect to Mobile in order to connect through Windows VPN.