Dial-Up issue.

  • Thread starter Thread starter mrjodie
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M

mrjodie

I've reviewed the post from KM about the primary components needed to
enable dial-up in XPe but, after verifying I've got every component
(except Dial-Up Server Q318138, which isn't listed in my components in
Target Designer but IS in the Component Designer) I'm still having a
problem. When I run XP Pro on the very same machine (different HDD)
I'm able to dial in to the target system and navigate the hard drive
just as though I'm connected through our LAN. However, with XPe
installed and RAS set up it answers the phone and establishes the
connection but I can't ping the system nor see it or any of it's
contents (the funny thing is it drops the LAN connection, too, until I
disconnect the remote computer, flush the DNS and repair the
connection). So, I'm assuming that it's not using the correct
connection protocol or some other networking component that I've left
out. I've tried to fix this for over a week (I wish I was
exaggerating here, folks) and haven't had any success. Please let me
know any suggestions or if I can provide, or even find, more
information that will help. I really am at the end of my rope (the
one they tie me to my desk with) and don't have anywhere else to turn.

Does anyone have any idea what I can do?

Love and light.
 
I must admit Dial-up issues on XPe are always hard to investigate. The reason is that that particular part of the XPe (XPPro) stack
has NOT been componentized in the granularity we'd want.

Anyway, a couple of ideas and questions:
1) What build you are playing with? SP1, SP2, SP2+FP2007?
2) Since XP Pro shows the right results there, did you try creating XPProEmulation image for the target for testing purposes to
see if the issue is indeed there because of a missing component(s)? (XPProEmulation image you can find on www.xpefiles.com, highly
recommend only use the latest FP2007's version)
3) Make sure to turn OFF the firewall on your XPe image. I don't really think this is your problem but just in case it was worth
to mention.
4) For all the networking connection you have set up on your XPe image (incoming, LAN, etc.) go to the properties and remove all
the protocols and clients you don't really need. Often on big fat XPe image, since you might have unintentionally added some
components in your image like Novel client, IPX protocol and etc., you may see how many objects are linked to particular network
adapter that you don't need and never wanted. Remove those unnecessary protocols, clients and services and re-test.
 
KM, I'm always amazed at how the more I learn about all of this the
more I realize my own ignorance. Translation: this stuff makes me
feel like a learned IDIOT.

Anyway, enough self-bashing, to answer your questions:

1) I'm running SP2+FP2007 (I thought there was a problem so I
reinstalled and ran the updates again... only to discover that I
couldn't see most of the components because my visibility was set too
high... geez, I wish I could afford the &$!!$*#@ classes, but it's
just not possible)
2) I have NOT tried creating an XPPro emulation and didn't know that I
could do such a thing. I've spent the past three weeks massaging this
particular image to work with a custom shell and the propietary
software written by our software development company (who had the
honor of doing this job before I showed up and made the mistake of
saying, "Sure, I can learn how to do that. No problem." My father
was taught, in the Marine Corps, to NEVER VOLUNTEER. Guess it didn't
pass to this generation... c'mon, laugh with me...)
3) The thing is, the firewall component for internet connection
sharing (ICS) was installed but I didn't add the Control Panel
component until just this morning.
4) I did add far too much, I'll admit. It stopped being precision
surgery and turned into good old fashioned "shotgun therapy" many days
ago. I've just been guessing (relatively educated guesses but still
less-than-confident hail Mary passes... so to speak) and would rather
be more aware of what the problem really is than accidentally fix it
and not understand the how/why of it all.

Here's the exact detail that I need to resolve. I'm able to create an
incoming connection and allow the machine to automatically accept the
incoming call, verify the login and establish the link. It all boils
down to the transport (possibly protocol) or networking (maybe the
same thing). I keep hearing this small voice in my head say that it's
related to DNS, but that shouldn't matter if I manually set the IP
addresses of both systems, right? (which I've done) So the question
is, what will force IP over PPP and allow the systems at both ends to
recognize each other as being on the same workgroup generated P2P
network?

Okay, another admission of ignorance (I'm learning quickly, though).
Do I stand a better chance of doing the process of running regmon,
filemon and/or sysdiff on the separate installations to find the
missing link? Even though I've heard of those things, I'm new to all
of this and have never done it. Which means, stepping up and teaching
myself how. Which I can do.

Anyway, enough rambling. I do, very sincerely, appreciate all of your
help and input.

- Jodie
 
Jodie,

It is hard to be guessing what components you might be missing. The list of components required for the dual-up networking is huge.
Also, you said you already gone through the list of components for RRAS I posted long time ago, right?

Thinking about what you've got there I still recommend the following approaches that may help you to narrow down the issue:
1) XPProEmulation image. This should be a prove of concept that it is going to work for you on XPe without major registry
changes.
2) PPP logging. If you enable it (e.g. with the following command: netsh<Enter>ras<Enter>set tracing PPP enable) you'll find the
log file under %systemroot%\tracing folder.
3) Regmon and Filmon tools. Very helpful but sometimes laborious. Btw, you should actually try new ProcessMonitor (the same
sysinternals.com) that combines both tools.
4) DependencyWalker (www.dependencywalker.com), specifically its Profiling feature. You probably should start somewhere around
launching the proper control panel stuff or etc.
 
KM,

Thank you. My saving grace here, I think, is that I don't have to
worry, at all, about the footprint of the image. These are full-blown
desktop systems with 40GB hard drives. The only "sticky" issue that I
have to deal with is that I need to run a custom shell instead of the
Windows Shell, in order to get rid of the desktop, start menu/bar and
lock down the system (disabled ctrl+alt+del and Win-key in the
registry). Essentially, we've set it so that administrative access
(i.e. desktop) is only available with a password. So, maybe I'm
looking at this from the wrong perspective. Are there instructions
out there for creating a "bloated" image? Essentially, one that has
everything available but runs with a custom shell? At this point,
even if there are features available that we'll never use (like themes
and games, for example) it won't matter, because they wouldn't be able
to get to it without the password. Does that make sense?

The reason that I'm asking that is that I've noticed some other issues
(like CD burning... which I need to enable, as well, for data file
backup but I've put that off until it's written into our software)
that have been directly related to dependencies in the Windows Shell.

Otherwise, I'll follow your suggestions. I already have and have used
Dependency Walker. I use that to check the .DLLs in our proprietary
software and related device drivers. XPProEmulation image, check, PPP
Logging, check, and ProcessMonitor (LOVE sysinternals.com), double-
check.

Thank you, again, and I'll let you know if I find out anything
helpful... or interesting.

~ Jodie
 
Update:

I WIN!!!

I love being able to say that. FYI, the resolution sounds simple but
was very difficult to diagnose. Simply put, I had to add the Internet
Information System Technologies (IIS) macro and the Windows Firewall
Control Panel in order to manually enable an exception for File and
Printer Sharing. I was also able to configure exceptions for the
ports needed for the remote program we use... a free program called
RealVNC. It works, what can I say.

I have to publicly say thank you to KM @ BSquare for providing the
"trail of breadcrumbs" for me to follow. I didn't have to use the XP
Pro Emulation (though I will need it for future development... we have
to add CD Burning... dun, dun, dunnnnnnn) but his previous post with
the list of primary components for DUN, RAS & RRAS were absolutely
invaluable.

Thank you!!!

I hope I can be of help to others, as well. See you around! I've got
a couple of computers to box up and ship out... license stickers
affixed and gleaming, of course. Whee!

~ Jodie
 
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