Question
The underlying code from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 has been changed by Microsoft. In Windows NT, it is possible to read all the dial-up account details from the RAS phonebook and use them to start up dial-up session. In Windows 2000, any NEWLY created RAS entries are encoded differently and not all the details are available through the API.
In Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft’s API returns the password of new RAS phonebook entries as a string of asterisks rather than the password (when the process is run as the System process). A work-around to change the process user account is provided below.
Windows 2000 Professional is a single user system and there is currently no known work-around for newly added RAS entries.
NOTE: if you upgraded from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 Professional, the old RAS entries will continue to work as usual.
NOTE: This problem is related to Windows 2000 Professional only, Windows XP is not affected.
Answer
In order for GMS to manage your dial-up access for new RAS book entries on Windows 2000 Server, you will need to make the Gordano WWW server operate under a different user account (the default is System). That user account can then access the information correctly and manage the dial-up connection in the usual way. In order to do this, do the following:
- Go to Control Panel > Administration Tools > Services, select the GMS Configuration Server.
- Click on Startup and another dialog will appear.
- Enter the details for the user account it should run under. This can be any existing account on the system.
Keywords:Windows 2000 W2K Win2K dialup connection ISP RAS phonebook win2000