You are hereHow to connect using a VPN in Windows 7
How to connect using a VPN in Windows 7
 | The VPN as most of you might be knowing stands for a Virtual Private Network. It ha gained immense popularity today as it has become a secure way of connecting to a network. Folks who telecommute or work from home must have this. Our article today, discusses how you can configure your Windows 7 machine to connect to a Microsoft based PPTP (Point to Point Tunneling protocol) VPN. The step by step article with screen captures will walk you through in connecting to your work network using the secure VPN. |
| We did our instructions on a Windows Seven Ultimate edition machine, but they are largely the same for any other flavor of Windows Seven such as Windows Seven Home or Business. The requirement is that you do need to be logged in as a user with administrative privileges to configure the connection. You only have to configure your VPN connection once and depending on the choices you make during installation, it can be available to all the other users on your machine. Before you get started, you would need to ask your network administrator at work, the IP address of the VPN server you have at work. Lets get started! Log on to your machine as an administrator or a user with administrative privileges If you are interested in how to connect to setup a VPN connection with Windows Vista , you can look at an earlier article we did some time back |
 | Step1: - Click on Start then control panel |
 | Step 2: - Make sure the view is selected to "small icons" on top right, and then click on "Network and Sharing Center" |
 | Step 3: - Click on Setup a New Connection or Network |
 | Step 4: - On the Window that pops up, choose "connect to a workplace" , next |
 | Step 5: - Next click on the "How do you want to connect screen" choose, "Use My Internet Connection (VPN)" |
 | Step 6: - Provide the IP address of your work VPN server and provide a meaningful name for your connection such as "My Work VPN Connection". Depending on your environment and security, you can check the option of making this connection available to all users of the computer or just yourself. |
 | Step 7: - Provide the username, password and if applicable, you domain name for work. You can choose to store this password so you don't get prompted next time and press create |
 | Step 8: - Click on Connect Now to connect |
 | Step 9: - To disconnect the VPN connection, click on the computer looking icon in the task bar and from the list right click on the VPN connection you just connected with and click on disconnect. |
That's it, you now know how to connect to the Work VPN from Windows 7. To connect to this VPN Connection next time, click on Start -> Control Panel -> (make sure the view is set to small icons on top right) click on Network and Sharing Center -> Click on Connect to a Network -> Pick th connection you just created and click connect
PPTP VPN is the most common VPN around, their are other solutions, such as CISCO, but they are beyond the scope of this write up. If you come across one and need help connecting to it, you can always contact us by leaving us a comment here or by using the Contact Us form.
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You are welcome, I am glad this was of help. Here are the steps to delete your VPN connection from your Windows 7 Machine.
- Click on the Start button then go to Control Panel
- If your control panel is sorted by category, click on Network and Internet, then click on View Network status and Tasks. On the left hand column, choose "Change Adapter settings" , right click your VPN connection icon and hit delete
- If your Control Panel is sorted by the small icons view. Click on Network and Connection Settings, then from the left hand column choose Change Adapter Settings, then simply right click your VPN connection icon and hit delete.