Troubleshooting Shrew Soft VPN Connection Issues on Windows 10

=================================================================

If you're experiencing difficulties connecting to a Shrew Soft VPN from your home computer running Windows 10, this article provides step-by-step instructions and potential solutions for resolving the problem.

Symptoms:

--------

* The user's client software (Shrew) indicates they are connected.

* Their firewall shows that the connection is active.

* However, pinging other devices by IP or name fails. Additionally, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) sessions cannot be established.

Troubleshooting Steps

----------------

### Step 1: Verify Network Configuration in Shrew Soft VPN

Firstly, ensure that your network settings within Shrew are properly configured:

1. Open the Shrew Soft VPN Access Manager application.

2. Click on Edit > Properties for the relevant connection entry.

### Step 3: Modify Policy Settings to Allow Specific Traffic Through

In some cases, Windows may be blocking traffic between your local network and the VPN tunnel. To resolve this issue:

1. In Shrew Soft VPN Access Manager, go to Edit > Properties.

2. Navigate to the Policy tab.

3. Uncheck 'Obtain Topology Automatically or Tunnel All'.

4. Click on Add.

### Step 5: Identify Your Default Gateway

Finally, if none of these steps resolve your issue, please check that you have correctly identified and entered your default gateway address in Shrew:

1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator by right-clicking the Start menu > select 'Command prompt (Admin)'.

2. Type 'ipconfig /all' to view detailed network adapter information.

By following these troubleshooting steps carefully, you should be able to identify and resolve any connection issues preventing your Windows 10 clients from connecting successfully via Shrew Soft VPN.

Shrew soft vpn not connecting