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ludi
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Odd issue with Barracuda VPN appliance and RDP

Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:10 am

My home desktop PC (Windows 10, 1803) has suddenly developed a problem. I sometimes work from home by connecting to my office PC via a Barracuda VPN appliance that IT installed in our server room for that purpose. Normally I do this:

1) Start the Barracuda SSL VPN Agent (v2.0.3) on the local PC, request a new session.
2) The Agent launches a brower window, connects to the Appliance web interface with a login screen.
3) Login using my domain credentials. At this point, if my local PC didn't meet the server's minimum rules (active antivirus software, mainly) it would deny the login.
4) Complete the login and wait for the user Dashboard to appear, then request a My Computer session.
5) It will pop up with an "Are you sure...?" window and the connect to 127.0.0.1:PORT which launches the Remote Desktop session using RDP on the remote computer (Windows 7 Pro).

Here's the thing: On my desktop, after requesting the connection it stalls at the end of Step 5 while initiating a remote desktop connection. If finally times out with an error suggesting that the remote PC is turned off or RDP is othewrise unavailable at the remote end. But everything still works fine on my personal laptop on the same network running the same version of Windows 10, Agent, and Chrome, with Windows Firewall. Here's what I've tried:

1) Reinstalled the agent on the desktop PC. Same behavior.
2) Virus scan (Avast). Nothing turned up.
3) Dug through some troubleshooting suggestions for RDP, but RDP is working fine on the remote PC so not sure how the local PC factors.
4) Tried walking back through the Windows Firewall settings but don't see anything there (and nothing should have changed there, either).
5) Tried installing the Agent on another virgin laptop (same version of Windows 10 and Chrome) and it connected on the first try.
6) Looked through Device Manager to see if any shadow copies of network adapters had appeared from somewhere, but don't see anything (and Internet is working fine otherwise).

I haven't a clue where to look next. This is one of those "it always just worked" things. No hardware or software changes occurred on the local PC AFAIK, but the problem is evidently localized to it.

The only other thing that happened recently is that our home had an extended power outage Friday afternoon, which depleted the UPS to the PC and the UPS to our home network closet. But everything came back up when power was restored, and seems normal.
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration
 
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Re: Odd issue with Barracuda VPN appliance and RDP

Sun Jan 13, 2019 3:17 am

I know you looked at them already, but, this REALLY sounds like a problem with the firewall settings. Something is blocking the outbound connection. Maybe try temporarily turning the firewall off, as a test? (I wouldn't run that way long-term, for obvious reasons.)
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
ludi
Lord High Gerbil
Topic Author
Posts: 8646
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 10:47 pm
Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: Odd issue with Barracuda VPN appliance and RDP

Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:35 pm

Fair point, I tried it but no change. Also tried a Windows 10 Network Reset, no effect.

I'm also trying to figure out if there is a problem with Terminal Services on the local machine per this discussion but no hits yet. Also, this Microsoft KB. Unfortunately most of these seem to assume the problem is on the RDP server. The possibility that the process could break on the connecting client seems to be less discussed.
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration
 
ludi
Lord High Gerbil
Topic Author
Posts: 8646
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 10:47 pm
Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: Odd issue with Barracuda VPN appliance and RDP

Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:13 pm

I'm close to writing off this Windows installation. One thing I've noticed is that when I attempt to start the RDP session, the Agent's RDP tunnel listener shuts down almost immediately (thankfully it issues tray dialogue boxes for this stuff), as though some critical service is corrupted or unavailable. But so far Terminal Services appears to be enabled and running, and I'm not sure what else could be involved.
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration
 
ludi
Lord High Gerbil
Topic Author
Posts: 8646
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 10:47 pm
Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: Odd issue with Barracuda VPN appliance and RDP

Sun Feb 03, 2019 1:05 am

I have no idea why, but the latest Windows update push seems to have resolved it. Just found and installed the latest update this evening and everything appears to be working again.

Go figure.
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration

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