Question : Problem: RDP Login to Win03R2 via RRAS

This is a head scratcher for me... I can perform a direct RDP connection to a Win03R2 (standard) server without any problems.  (Client is WinXPPro SP2.)  That direct RDP connection is how I'm working to configure the server, so I'm doing it a lot.

I got the RRAS VPN working.  When I try to RDP through the VPN connection, the server rejects my credentials and prompts for new credentials.  The RDP is essentially working because I get a very nice login screen from the server after it rejects the credentials that were initially sent.  If I try to then enter the credentials, it still rejects them.  These are the exact same credentials that I'm entering when performing a direct RDP connections.

Here's a particularly strange twist to the story.  When I connect *direct* and supply the wrong credentials, I get a Win03 login screen.  When I connect via the RRAS, I get a WinXP login screen.  I realize this strongly implies that I'm talking to the wrong machine, but I'm entering the numeric IP address that IPCONFIG is reporting for the VPN connection.  I'm not using a machine name.  I can ping that IP address while the VPN is open and it answers.  If I close the VPN connection, ping no longer answers and RDP cannot find the VPN IP address.  (It can find the server via the direct IP address.)  This game continues to occur even when RRAS has rotated me through three or four different VPN IP addresses, so it's definitely not another remote machine that's answering the RDP.

Anybody seen anything like this?  Any chance I'm getting some kind of bounce-back to my own client machine?  Would my client WinXP machine be offering to answer the RDP request if it was bounced back?  Why would such a thing only be triggered while the VPN connection was active and not when it wasn't active?

Answer : Problem: RDP Login to Win03R2 via RRAS

For starters, RDP is encrypted, so making the RDP port public is an option.

One thing you didn't specify is whether the VPN server is the same machine you're trying to RDP to?  I will assume it is.

You went on to say that you are trying to connect to the IP address that RRAS gives you, but that's your address.  So are you connecting to the server address or what?  Is it like 192.168.5.1?  You need to do more than ping it then.  If there are other services running such as telnet or www or ftp, you should try to connect to those through the VPN.  You can also try nbtstat to check the computer's name and things like that.