I am using Windows 8 Pro. I cannot connect to any VPN servers. I tried another computer, but it connected properly so this is not a server problem. The connection fails with Error 720: A connection to the remote computer could not be established. You might need to change the network settings for this connection.

Event viewer's system logs gives the following error for RasSstp with event id 1:

CoId={430DE7E7-2611-486F-8C71-F8F631AD53BB}:The initial Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol request could not be successfully sent to the server. This can be due to network connectivity issues or certificate (trust) issues. The detailed error message is provided below. Correct the problem and try again.

No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.

I checked on the Internet and found that there are similar reports, but there was no solution. How can I solve it?

  The error message shows that the client is trying to connect using SSTP. Does your server support that? I would change the connection properties on the client to use pptp or whatever protocol the other machine which connects is using.

Yes, I tried all possible methods (pptp,l2tp,sstp,ikev2) methods. For example http://www.justfreevpn.com/ uses PPTP. After setting the security to PPTP to connect that server, I got the following messages in windows application log

CoId={E9275465-1D31-4E27-9300-6018C0169D36}: The user dun\alp has started dialing a VPN connection using a per-user connection profile named us.justfreevpn.com. The connection settings are:
Dial-in User = justfreevpn
VpnStrategy = PPTP
DataEncryption = Require
PrerequisiteEntry =
AutoLogon = No
UseRasCredentials = Yes
Authentication Type = EAP
Ipv4DefaultGateway = Yes
Ipv4AddressAssignment = By Server
Ipv4DNSServerAssignment = By Server
Ipv6DefaultGateway = Yes
Ipv6AddressAssignment = By Server
Ipv6DNSServerAssignment = By Server
IpDnsFlags =
IpNBTEnabled = Yes
UseFlags = Private Connection
ConnectOnWinlogon = No.

CoId={E9275465-1D31-4E27-9300-6018C0169D36}: The user dun\alp is trying to establish a link to the Remote Access Server for the connection named us.justfreevpn.com using the following device:
Server address/Phone Number = 65.111.166.52
Device = WAN Miniport (PPTP)
Port = VPN7-1
MediaType = VPN.

CoId={E9275465-1D31-4E27-9300-6018C0169D36}: The user dun\alp has successfully established a link to the Remote Access Server using the following device:
Server address/Phone Number = 65.111.166.52
Device = WAN Miniport (PPTP)
Port = VPN7-1
MediaType = VPN.

CoId={E9275465-1D31-4E27-9300-6018C0169D36}: The link to the Remote Access Server has been established by user dun\alp.

CoId={E9275465-1D31-4E27-9300-6018C0169D36}: The user dun\alp dialed a connection named us.justfreevpn.com which has failed. The error code returned on failure is 720.

Hi,

Please also try the following suggestions if you don't have tried yet.

1. Delete the network adapter driver from Device Manager. Then reboot to check the result.
2. Use command netsh int ip reset
3. Check if there is WLAN Miniport IP in Device Manager. If so, try to uninstall its driver.

I did all of them, now. Still I cannot connect to VPN.

It seems the connection is rejected by the target computer. I suggest you disable firewall and security software temporarily for a test.

I have the same issue. Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64. Trying to establish VPN connection. On Windows 7 Ultimate, the connection works fine.

Turned off the Windows 8 firewall but same result. I get "Error 629" The connection was closed by the remote computer".

Event viewer reports:

CoId={3D510FA2-62C3-4EC6-A1FA-7ED370DCDE0A}:The initial Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol request could not be successfully sent to the server. This can be due to network connectivity issues or certificate (trust) issues. The detailed error message is provided below. Correct the problem and try again.

The certificate's CN name does not match the passed value.

This is a new install of Windows 8.1. Tried now on 3 new installs and results are the same to this VPN. In this case the VPN is to Windows Server 2003. VPN to Windows Server 2008 seems to work fine from the same machines (both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1). Is this an issue related to Windows 8.1 and older Windows Servers?

Tried Automatic and PPTP in Type of VPN. Tried all combinations of Allow these protocols. But with identical settings in Windows 7 it works and in Windows 8.1 it does not.

Please give us some more debugging techniques for this. We need to sort this out quickly.

Having same problem on Windows 8.0, Don't know why this post is marked as answered, is clearly not.

• Edited by AndresGorzelany Monday, December 16, 2013 2:44 PM typo

Having same problem on Windows 8.0, Don't know why this post is marked as answered, is clearly not.

• Edited by AndresGorzelany Monday, December 16, 2013 2:44 PM typo

I have this exact same problem. 

Happened sometime between 5/30/2014 and 6/14/2014.  Still have not found a solution.  I have event logs for the same connection from before and after. 

The ONLY difference in the event logs is that the connection by VPN on 5/30 succeeded  and the one on 6/14 failed with a 720 error.    All of the other things look the same - addresses, protocols etc.

All of my WAN Minitport devices are Fine - no exclamation points.

 

I wanted to chime in and share what fixed error 720 on our network. Try this- Inside the user's account properties in Active Directory, check the box next to "Control access through NPS Network Policy"