Issues connecting to private APN with Dell Latitude 10 / Windows 8

[marklamond]

Hi there,

I have a Dell Latitude 10 tablet, running Windows 8 and have a few issues with a private Vodafone APN.

The Latitude 10 uses a Dell DW5565 Mobile Broadband modem, and is using the latest driver v8.0.8.4. BIOS and all other drivers on the Latitude 10 are right up to date.

The mobile broadband adapter in the laptop appears to Windows 8 as an ethernet adaptor, not as a modem (most mobile adapters appear as modems in Windows 7/XP).

I can connect to the Vodafone “internet” APN without any problems using the Windows Mobile Broadband API. This is accessed by going to the signal indicator in the taskbar, selecting the “Vodafone UK” connection under “Mobile Broadband” and connecting. I obtain an IP address and all is well.

However, when I try to configure a private APN I cannot get connected. To configure an APN you right click the “Vodafone UK” connection under the “Mobile Broadband”, go to properties and enter the APN name, then the username and password used for authentication. However crucially there are no options to set what authentication method is being used and this is why I think it is failing. Normally you can configure PAP/CHAP/MSCHAPv2 as authentication methods. Our private APN with Vodafone only supports PAP authentication, but I have no way of telling Windows 8 this.

Interestingly, i found this (not very helpful though):

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/a386f9fb-c9dc-4fde-9c5c-ed232e59b83d/pap-ch...

So I’m kind of stuck. I have no idea what authentication method Windows 8 is trying to use in the background. I don’t even see an auth request coming from the Vodafone GGSN node over to me for authorisation. This makes me think that the Vodafone GGSN is ignoring the request on its front door because the authentication method is wrong. Or perhaps our APN is mis-configured, and we should be able to use methods other than PAP?

Are there any other private APN users out there who can comment on authentication methods supported by Vodafone?

To troubleshoot issues such as this I would normally create a new “Dial Up Networking” connection manually. This gives me full control over the phone number and init strings being sent to the modem, and choose which authentication method I want to use. However I can’t create a dial up networking connection on the Latitude 10 as the mobile adapter does not appear as a modem!

So I try the route of last resort and install the Vodafone Mobile Broadband software. It displays the signal strength of the mobile connection, so it is obviously communicating with the mobile broadband hardware to some extent. However when I try to connect it says It cannot find the hardware, or another application may already be using it.

Can anyone advise?

Many thanks,

Mark.

[headcheese]

Hmmmm, tricky one!

So essentially you don't have the option to configure the right authentication within Windows 8, or your Mobile Broadband device installed as a modem. As this rules out potential methods of configuration I can totally understand why you went for the Vodafone Mobile Broadband software. It's just a shame that's not working.

If you access the charms, then click on settings, then click right click on the connection icon with the Vodafone icon next to it, then click on "view conneciton properties", then click the security tab are there no PAP/CHAP options here?

If it is another application that's preventing Vodafone Mobile Broadband from correctly addressing your Mobile Broadband device then it might be worth trying a clean boot/selective start up as this will prevent intrusive background applkcaitions running on start up. Windows 8 should be pretty similar to Windows 7 as far as setting up a clean boot goes. Windows 7 instructions can be found here.

Alternatively you could request that different authentication methods be enabled on your private APN. I guess this would mean that the engineers within Vodafone would have to make some config changes to your APN, so it would probably be somehting that you'd have to request through a contact within your organisation who looks after your network as they are likely to have the correct contacts within Vodafone to request this.

Alternatively it might be worth scouring your system for other connection managers. In windows 7 a lot of dell machines had their own, dell proprietary connection manager, so there's a chance that this might be the same on Windows 8. If it is, and you manage to find the dell conneciton manager (if there is one), then this might have PAP/CHAP options in it.

These are just ideas really, but I'd be open to further discussion if it helps you in any way.

Cheers

HC

[marklamond]

Thanks for the reply Headcheese, yes a tricky one indeed!

I tried a number of different connection managers and none of them recongise the modem hardware.

However i did find a solution today after much research. :smileyhappy:

It turns out that Microsoft don't really want you speaking direct to modem hardware for Mobile broadband in Windows 7 and increasingly in Windows 8 - you have to use the API. This makes sense for lots of reasons, and i really like the built in connection manager - it's simple and works (at least when you get access to the settings you want). The Vodafone Mobile Broadband client is great for domestic users but an absolute pain for enterprise use, so i'm glad to get shot of it.

In a nutshell there are two ways you can gain access to the settings i want, knock up something in a programming language of choice to talk to the API, or use the "netsh" commands from in Windows. Though i probably should check to see if you can get access to the settings via group policy - must make a note to do that!

Anyway, the quick and dirty way is to use the netsh commands to delete all existing mobile broadband profiles on the device, then create a new one using an .xml template with basic information such as the subscriber ID, APN name, auth settings etc. You can also apply custom branding etc - making things very slick and fiddle free in a corporate enviroment.

As i suspected the default the authentication method is set to none - changed it to PAP, uploaded the profile (after much messing around) and it now works perfectly! Auth requests come through via RADIUS as i expect.

I was also having issues with a Lenovo T430 on Windows 7 - though in this case the mobile broadband adapter appears as a modem so you can manually create a dial-up networking connection. It turns out updated drivers were available for the adapter which makes it integrate with the Windows API like the adapter on the Dell Latitude 10. As soon as you update the drivers your mobile network appears as af it were a wifi connection letting you use the .xml template to configure the connection - this works a treat too.

Will post full details on what you need to do when i've written it up, but that's enough for today.

Cheers,

Mark.

[headcheese]

Top work!

Now there's a solution that goes above and beyond!

Your mention of group policy raises an eyebrow, and this may well be the more automated and recommended way of acheiving what you've just done manually... it's detailed on technet here and does contain authentication type options.

It would still be good to hear how you went about the manual config though, so I'm looking forward to your write up.

Cheers

HC

[brinkruaan]

---

@marklamond wrote:

Thanks for the reply Headcheese, yes a tricky one indeed!

I tried a number of different connection managers and none of them recongise the modem hardware.

However i did find a solution today after much research. :smileyhappy:

It turns out that Microsoft don't really want you speaking direct to modem hardware for Mobile broadband in Windows 7 and increasingly in Windows 8 - you have to use the API. This makes sense for lots of reasons, and i really like the built in connection manager - it's simple and works (at least when you get access to the settings you want). The Vodafone Mobile Broadband client is great for domestic users but an absolute pain for enterprise use, so i'm glad to get shot of it.

In a nutshell there are two ways you can gain access to the settings i want, knock up something in a programming language of choice to talk to the API, or use the "netsh" commands from in Windows. Though i probably should check to see if you can get access to the settings via group policy - must make a note to do that!

Anyway, the quick and dirty way is to use the netsh commands to delete all existing mobile broadband profiles on the device, then create a new one using an .xml template with basic information such as the subscriber ID, APN name, auth settings etc. You can also apply custom branding etc - making things very slick and fiddle free in a corporate enviroment.

As i suspected the default the authentication method is set to none - changed it to PAP, uploaded the profile (after much messing around) and it now works perfectly! Auth requests come through via RADIUS as i expect.

I was also having issues with a Lenovo T430 on Windows 7 - though in this case the mobile broadband adapter appears as a modem so you can manually create a dial-up networking connection. It turns out updated drivers were available for the adapter which makes it integrate with the Windows API like the adapter on the Dell Latitude 10. As soon as you update the drivers your mobile network appears as af it were a wifi connection letting you use the .xml template to configure the connection - this works a treat too.

Will post full details on what you need to do when i've written it up, but that's enough for today.

Cheers,

Mark.

---

Hi Mark

Can you please send me an xml example and steps exactly how you manage to do this? PLEASE! we have around 60 Revolves with win8 being shipped tomorow and after a month of trying we still can't connect to our private apn.

Your help will be greatly appreciated! I am situated in SA and have escalated to Vodacom, HP and MS but no one wants to take responsibility or give us any real help.

Your solution seems to be a winner.

Hope to hear from you soon1

Regards

Ruaan Brink

[brinkruaan]

I got it working! Now to deploy it to all the laptops...

[headcheese]

I had a bit of a look into this as it was bothering me slightly.

What seems to be causing the problem is that Windows 8 uses it's own connection manager for a lot of Mobile Broadband devices.

When you're using the VMB/VMC software you can specify the authentication type, but when you're uisng the native WIndows 8 connection manager you can't, so it defaults to CHAP (I think). So if the private APN uses a different authentication type (PAP for example), authentication fails. AND there's no authentication options relating to PAP/CHAP in the Windows native connection manager.

Whilst you can change this by fudging the XML, it looks like this is BY DESIGN and that you'd specify PAP/CHAP using group policy. Here's how Microsoft recommend you do it.

I hope that eases any respective XML related headaches.

Cheers,

HC

[brinkruaan]

Hi HeadCheese, you are 100% correct in the Authentication, but on Win8 the default is set to NONE.

I did try the GPO route, but I can not for the life of me get the Windows Mobile Settings.

We have created for our helpdesk a Step for Step guide on how exactly to fix this issue by creating an XML file and using netsh to import it.

This works a treat and it will take about 10 to 15min. 

MS did send us a workaround, which basically does the same, but with a script they created.

Cheers

RB

[kalyansiva]

Hello all!

I am facing the same issue with a windows 8 HP PC! Trying to access my private APN. I understand that it is failing because Windows default is No encryption and not PAP, which my private APN needs.

Could you please help me with the xml work that I have to do to get it working? I have very little experience in the field and the corporation that I am implementing this for wants it done quickly.

Would be grateful for any help regarding this! Thanks in Advance.

Regards

Kalyan

[brinkruaan]

Hi kalyansiva, Send me your email address I can send you some details from MS and our fix.

I am sure though MS fixed this with updates. Maybe you should update first? But in the meantime I can send you what I have.