Question

I have a VPN connection setup to connect to my hosted exchange server. I would like to have this VPN open automatically when either

a) MS Outlook 2007 starts

b) There is an open connection to the internet.

I am using Windows 7 Home Premium and I do not wish to use any costly third party tools to manage the VPN connection. The VPN was setup through windows own network and sharing center.

My goal is to be able to turn on my computer and open outlook without having to first connect to the VPN connection.

Answer 1

I am not entirely certain how to make it key off either of those two events without some programming on your part - but you can use the RASDIAL command to launch the VPN connection.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490979.aspx

Some ideas:

Create a batch file that launches the VPN connection and then launches Outlook as well, maps network drives, etc.

Create a batch file that runs every minute, pings the gateway on the server end of the VPN connection, if the ping fails it launches the VPN connection using RASDIAL?