commandline setting of VPN preshared key?

On Windows XP, a VPN connection can be defined using the GUI
from the properties page of networking. When the VPN is set
to L2TP/IPsec, a preshared key can be entered.

Where is this preshared key stored on the system?
Is it possible to set the preshared key from a batchfile using
some commandline program?

The other settings of the VPN end up in a file named

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk\rasphone.pb k

but the preshared key is not in that file...

You may try the
netsh
command, but I don't know if it supports this. I dumped the entire network
configuration, but couldn't find any preshared keys in plain text inside it.

You may also have a look at the iPSec settings in the registry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\win dows\IPSec\Policy]


George Valkov



"Rob" <> wrote in message
news:...
| On Windows XP, a VPN connection can be defined using the GUI
| from the properties page of networking. When the VPN is set
| to L2TP/IPsec, a preshared key can be entered.
|
| Where is this preshared key stored on the system?
| Is it possible to set the preshared key from a batchfile using
| some commandline program?
|
| The other settings of the VPN end up in a file named
|
| C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk\rasphone.pb k
|
| but the preshared key is not in that file...

George Valkov <> wrote:
> You may try the
> netsh
> command, but I don't know if it supports this. I dumped the entire network
> configuration, but couldn't find any preshared keys in plain text inside it.
>
> You may also have a look at the iPSec settings in the registry:
> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\win dows\IPSec\Policy]
>
>
> George Valkov

Thanks for your reply.
I looked in that registry key and it does have our policy defined IPsec
stuff, but the dialup VPN entry is not defined by policy. It is created
manually.
Maybe I should try to find if it is possible to create a VPN by policy,
that should solve the issue.