Startup, Error: The WinGate Engine could not be started

[den04]

Problem occurs right after successful installation on Win XP Pro when trying to go online for the first time through GateKeeper. FYI, there is a icon in the system tray with two red terminals and the hovering text says "WinGate VPN Engine stopped."

Log-in details (Online Options dialog box):
- Administrator
- password is blank
- "Use current Windows login" is selected
- server=localhost and port=808.

After clicking OK there is a msg "The WinGate Engine is not running. Do you wish to start it?". When clicking OK there is an error msg "GateKeeper Error: The WinGate Engine could not be started." It should be noted that this msg appears instantaneously.

The following msg says "problem connecting to server...Check your server name and port number". Which server is meant here? Assuming localhost is my local PC why can it not find it? Why can the Engine not be started?

* * * * * *

I have searched through the VPN forum and the Knowledgebase but cannot find this problem at all. It seems to be typical start-up problem that would be part of the FAQ so I find it strange that no-one else has reported it.

Re my environment:
* WinGate VPN v2.0.3. and GateKeeper v6.0.0.
* Win XP Professional and SP2. My account has Admin rights.
* have Norton IS and AV 2003. Does not help if both are temporarily dectivated.
* Windows XP firewall is turned off.
* have a LAN card and WAN Miniport (PPPoE) with broadband connection and IP phone.

I have installed/uninstalled/re-installed WinGate VPN many times given my problems and experimented with different log-ins and everything else I could think of. I am good with computers but terrible at networking.

I would appreciate a response from the support team.

[Pascal]

WinGate VPN runs as a system service. Can you check in the list of "Services" for "Qbik WinGate Engine". Can you sucessfully start it from there?

[den04]

Hello and thanks for quick reply. It's seems we are on to something substantial here as I cannot find a relevant entry in the "Services (Local)" list. There is no service starting with Q or WinGate.

FYI, wgvpnmon.exe is in my Startup folder. I deleted the original entry and it back later.

In my Program Files\WinGate\ folder there are exactly 22 files and 4 subdirectories.

[Pascal]

The service should definately be automatically registered - if you go to "Control Panel" -> "Administrative Tools" -> "Computer Management" and then scroll down to "Services and Applications", "Services", no Qbik WinGate Engine?

You've said that when you login with Administrative rights; does it make a difference if you log in as "Administrator"?

That aside, do you have a WinGate.exe in your installation directory? If yes, you can run "wingate.exe -i" from a command line. That installs the service for you.

[den04]

Thanks Pascal.

I managed to install the service from the command prompt. To be on the safe side I uninstalled/re-installed WinGate VPN again and noted after reboot that Windows XP did not start properly. At the black screen Windows does not load if I choose "Start normally" (it crashes and reboots); instead I must chose "Use last known configuration". I believe this was always the case for all the previous WinGate installations and probably explains why the Engine service was not started.

[Pascal]

That is very interesting. It should definately not do that on startup. Are you running a 64bit processor? (AMD64, etc.) There is a known startup problem with 64 bit processors if you have DEP (Only with XP SP2) turned on.

[den04]

Indeed I have the Athlon 64, well spotted! I was thinking of adding this info to my last post but did not believe this could actually be the cause. By the way, what does DEP stand for?

* * *

I am now connected to WinGate on localhost but the next problem relates to the next step, adding a new VPN. I import a Config file supplied by our company. The Remote Server port is 809.

When click OK, there is a message "You must enter a control channel and a data channel port for the VPN to operate properly. They can be in the range of 1 to 65535." Is this an error msg, warning or just for my information? (I have seen a successful installation at my company and know this msg should not appear. I also have not had a chance to set the port numbers in WinGate yet.)

The next screen is VPN Configuration - General. I enter a name in "Who am I" because I can't leave it blank. I do not amend the default values given for Control Port (809) and Data Port (809). Note: same as remove server, so what is the problem?

I click OK and finish, but the new VPN is not listed above "VPNs to join". There is one entry in Local Network window (Microsoft Windows Network) and the Remote Networks (VPN) window is empty.

Have a hunch this is going to be a long struggle...

P.S. You might want to add the General tab to the Help files as it's not included and potential problems with Channel/Data ports could be explained.

[Pascal]

http://forums.qbik.com/viewtopic.php?t= ... hlight=dep

It sounds as if that VPN configuration file is not correct. You can open it with a text editor, which should clearly show if it contains the correct information.

[den04]

I switched off DEP as described - did not help.

The VPN configuration file does not appear to be corrupted but I don't know what a working config file looks like. Mine has 4 entries: Fingerprint, Name, Location and VPN Port: 809.

The Channel and Data ports (which caused the error msg) are not in the config file - is that OK?

Another thing, must I be connected to the internet when I import the config file and join the VPN? (stupid question perhaps but want to know.)

[Pascal]

Is ENS enabled and running? It might have been disabled when you reverted to "Last known good configuration".

(Although, you should have received a syslog for that) If you don't even see an ENS entry on the configuration pane, I'd recommend you reinstall with DEP switched off. (To get it installed and active)

The entries in that configuration file sounds correct (That's what I'd expect to see). You don't need to change the port numbers though, they should be filled in by default and apply only to your local setup. (And shouldn't be in the config file) I.e. the ports you want your local machine to use for VPN. When you setup the VPN to Join you actuallly tell it what port you want to connect to on the remote VPN.

No, you don't need to be connected to the Internet when you import the file. If you are using dialup and it's been configured, WinGate will dial it for you when you try to join the VPN. Otherwise, you do need an active internet connection to be able to participate in the VPN.

[den04]

I followed your suggestion and the re-install of WinGate and subsequent import of the VPN config file was smooth and succesful. DEP was off and Windows rebooted normally. ENS is up and running. (Indeed it was off before re-installed as you guessed.)

Conclusion: DEP was the stumbling block for the Athlon 64 chip.

I still have not been able to log in to the remote PC but that's another issue I will deal with in the next few days.

Two questions:
1. Does the Win XP SP2 firewall interfere with WG VPN? Since I have Norton I.S. 2004 can I safely the Microsoft firewall off? It's off at the moment but I'd prefer it to be activated.

2. Related question for LAN properties "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks"? Can I uncheck it for my stand-alone home PC?

Thanks again for your great support.

[Pascal]

Not so much the Athlon64. It's simply that DEP prevents drivers from doing things which might have been part of their original design and DEP is only natively supported by the Athlon64 and one of the Intel chips (Don't recall which one). Still a great CPU though ;-)

Potentially, the firewall could be interfering with it. At the moment, you have three firewalls running.

* Norton IS
* WinGate VPN
* Microsoft's one

I'm not sure if that gives you more protection or just a maintenance nightmare. In any event, if you want to keep more than one of them, make sure that port 809 TCP and port 809 UDP is open, so your machine can receive the traffic.

With regards to the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks". In some cases we've seen that disabling that in a single interface machine effectively switched off networking. I can't recall what the cases were, exactly. Best thing to do there is, try it connected with that on. (Firewall will still protect you). Then, once you have it so that you can connect to machines, check the network, etc. disconnect and disable, then reconnect and verify that you can still do everything you want to do.